If we evolved, are we still evolving?

Hi Reality Man,
Your point about technology is most apt when we consider genetic engineering. We are now the only species able to step outside the normal boundaries of evolution and consciously manipulate our genome. If the science improved and we were to start genetically altering our phenotype on any widespread basis, could we still define the results as evolution?

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Mutate and Survive

I would say yes. All you really need is a source of new genetic information and a selective pressure. The source of the "mutation" does not necessarily have to be random and the selective pressure does not necessarily have to be natural for the tenets of the Theory of Evolution to hold true.Dogs evolved via Artificial Selection, although mucking with our genetics wouldn't really count as selection in itself, however, selection would still be a part of the process.And genetic information can arise in ways other than the typical random mutation like through radiation, for example.So, really, there's nothing there that I wouldn't consider to be evolution.

Recent genetic discoveries indicate that not only are we still evolving, we've been evolving more rapidly over the past 5000 years than at any time previous. The speculation about why this might be is that we originally evolved as hunter/gatherers, and that the more sedentary modern lifestyles that came to dominate with the advent of farming and cities place the human race under enormous selection pressures.Certainly it would be expected that the dramatic changes in both living conditions and medical technology over the past 500 years would also change the selection pressures, but this is too recent a change to show up in the data. Some argue that our technology protects us from selection pressures, while others argue that this even greater change from a hunter/gatherer lifestyle can only increase selection pressures.Forget where I recently read this, but I can easily find the reference tonight if anyone's interested.--Percy

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