Evolution has stopped?
robinson at evoserv.univ-lyon1.fr.univ-lyon1.fr
Thu Apr 27 11:55:01 EST 1995
In article 10708 at raven.ukc.ac.uk, mjg5 at ukc.ac.uk (ShereKhan) writes:
> [...] But the thing is
> I am confused as to whether evolution has stopped now? I mean, many
> scientists agree that Humans have reached the pinacle of their evolution,
> but I think that it may well be the case that maybe the whole of the
> eukaryotic domain has ended its evolutionary process, in terms of the
> characteristics of species being perfect as they are. Can anyone
> put their ideas forward because I find this dilemma quite interesting.
I would be surprised to see any reference to *evolutionary* scientists who
beleive "that Humans have reached the pinacle of their evolution". What's
a pinacle and who defines it ? The guy who thinks he's reached it ?
Yes all living beeings you see seem perfectly adapted to their environment,
but so would those 100 million years ago too if you had been able to see
them. Those who are not adapted disapear. Things go on changing because :
1 - the environment changes (easy example : glaciations)
2 - there are "arms races" between prey and predator, parasite and host, etc
3 - new mutations occur all the time, which can impose themselves through
random (neutral) drift, or sometimes even be advantageous and selected for.
Finaly an example of living beings not being perfect IMHO : I'm sure green
mammals would hide much better in green vegetation. Yet there are none for
all I know.
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