I’ve been reading a great blog on the New York Times by evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson. It’s got me thinking about lots of things relating to evolution. One thing is that evolution occurs faster when there is more death. Death is essential to evolution. If no one dies and everyone can reproduce then there is no evolution, if a few die, there is a little evolution, and if only a few survive then there is very fast evolution (the genes of these few are quickly selected).

If you get into a state where there is very little death and nearly everyone can reproduce, then you can end up in de-evolution (DEVO). When mutations occur to the genes there are no longer any pressures to eliminate them. Our civiliziation may be approaching this state (or be in it). Medications allow many diseases to be survivable, artificial insemination allows couples that wouldn’t be able to conceive normally to do so, and cesarian sections allow women with small hips to still have babies. Of course any new diseases that pop up, or perhaps an ability to live in higher temperatures (with global warming) will create new pressure to evolve. But otherwise, what does this mean for humans? Mutations can start collecting up in our genomes, will be survivable with modern medicine and technology, and will continue in our genome. Might we reach some point where these mutations become too much and we die out? Hopefully some sort of technological solution will be found through genetics research (rather than going back to letting these diseases and things kill tons of people).