
Idea that some species have stopped evolving is finally going extinct (2015) - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/issue/68/context/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-living-fossil-rp
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ykevinator
Unless your species is smart enough to prevent pre-reproduction death and cure
infertility.

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rjf72
Evolution is only guided by survival alone in situations where as survival
approaches 100%, so does fertility. In humans this is very much not the case
for an immense number of reasons even beyond sexual selection. One of the
biggest is simply social decisions. For instance there are ever more people
that are fully capable of reproducing are 'responsibly' choosing not to. At
the same time other populations, including in developed areas, are recklessly
reproducing without much concern for anything at all other than themselves.

This means the genetic pool of the future will begin to select against the
'responsible' group. Outside of genetic evolution this also has a major effect
on cultural evolution. There are strong correlations between fertility and low
income, low education, and high religiosity. 'Responsible fertility' means
children from these groups will make up an ever larger percent of all new
births. Makes one question the notion of 'responsibility' in this regard.

There are also survival factors that are not so in your face as e.g. being
eaten alive by a predator or starving to death. For instance obesity is
becoming ubiquitous, yet it is strongly connected with a wide array of factors
leading to infant death - including neonatal. Having a child means nothing if
that child is not ultimately able to, in turn, also able to procreate. Another
example of this issue would have been in olden times when royalty would
sometimes inbreed to the point of committing genetic suicide. See, for
instance, the Habsburgs.

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levosmetalo
To bring this point to the extreme, after some time we may have two races of
humans, one "higher" race, that would be more intelligent, educated, cultural,
and would rule over a much more numbered "lower" race that would be physically
stronger, has better mass-reproduction ability, but lower intellect, becoming
less and less intelligent over time.

In even more far distant future, those two races may even split so much, that
they become separate species, without ability of cross-breeding. Higher
species would continue to call themselves humans, and the lower species will
quickly drop to the status of animals in the eyes of the higher species.

Then someone will learn that there was once Home Sapiens, which was an
ancestors of Home Modernus, and Home Animalis, which is an evolutionary dead
end.

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astazangasta
No, this will never happen. Genetic isolation of the kind you describe is
impossible. Even attempts to maintain racially pure castes are stymied by
people's propensity to fuck the wrong person, never mind this happening
through passive means.

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kiriakasis
also if you consider the fact that the process would last quite a few
centuries of stable society and that illegitimate "hybrids" would be stronger
and healthier. (the split would not be 50/50, but more like 99.99/0.01 so the
"upper humans" would be a terrible bottleneck)

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hamilyon2
I always found the idea of species "frozen in time", as crocodiles were often
described, highly doubtful and uneducated.

Rather, phenotypes may be similar. What we know for sure, very similar
phenotypes evolve via very different paths, e.g. eyes.

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flippyhead
I never thought of crocodiles as frozen in time as much as they have a body
plan that is so well suited for their environment it is simply kept for want
of any better design.

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SketchySeaBeast
Yeah, if you are constantly evolving, but those offshoots aren't as effective
as the root, evolution is still occurring, and if the environment changes the
species will, but if you're at a high level of suitability, you'll remain as
you are.

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8bitsrule
_By scrutinizing understudied and recently uncovered fossils, Brochu and other
paleontologists demonstrated that ... Crocodiles were once as diverse as
dinosaurs._

Another fine example of how holding fast to preliminary models and conceptions
is a good way of _holding back_ science, not defending it.

And so it was a fine thing that physics did when it built probability and
uncertainty into model-building ... formal recognition of how important it is
to stay open-minded.

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kevinbomber
What a great story

