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GLD 457.82+1.3%Jan 23 4:00 PM EST
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To: Maurice Winn who wrote (8712)8/30/2006 12:20:55 AM
From: carranza2  Read Replies (1) of 219674
 
Education and contraception:

americanscientist.org

How Will Our Descendants Differ From Us?

In a Week in Review piece in the New York Times, Nicholas Wade considers the future of human evolution. Wade cites recent findings that human ancestors acquired black skin at least 1.2 million years ago, and that humans began wearing clothing between 72,000 and 42,000 years ago. Our genes reflect recent adaptations against malaria and sickle-cell anemia, and continuing sexual selection implies that we'll all become more attractive. But what else can be predicted?

Wade notes that the defining element in our modern evolutionary struggle is not a harsh environment but an increasingly complex society. This implies further adaptations in behavior, and not necessarily in the direction of "progress." "I suspect that our social behavior evolves rapidly but that much of it changes direction over time," said Dr. Henry C. Harpending, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Utah.

British biologist Ronald Fisher noted in 1930 that genes for mental ability are more common among higher social classes, but that fertility is higher in the lower classes. Fisher inferred that selection opposes intelligence and creativity, but others suggest that education is the deciding trait. "Education is the best contraceptive," said Mark Pagel, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Reading in England. "Fisher's empirical observation is correct, that the lower orders have more babies, but that doesn't mean their genotypes are inferior."
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