Eclipsed from the headlines by the ongoing carnage, there is an active
civil resistance in Iraq that opposes the occupation, the torture regime
it protects, and the jihadi and Ba'athist 'resistance' alike.
Submitted by ivo (not verified) on Mon, 11/20/2006 - 11:55.
"However, Dr Curry warns, in 10,000 years time humans may have paid a genetic price for relying on technology.
Spoiled by gadgets designed to meet their every need, they could come to resemble domesticated animals."
I think Dr Curry is wrong about the timetable of our species demise. I believe we are already there.
There are no near-sighted lions. They would not be able to feed. They would not be able to survive. But there are millions of near-sighted humans. They wear glasses. Or Contact lenses. Or have Lasix surgeries to correct their vision. They feed. They survive. They reproduce. They pass on their genetic weakness to their offspring. And this is just one of the easiest to observe differences between human and every other living species on Earth: humans developed technology to shield themselves from the consequences of the brutality of Darwin's natural selection laws. We made it possible for unfit to survive and reproduce: that's part of being human.
And every new generation contains more of us who are less fit to survive under natural laws and more dependent on the technology to keep us fed, alive and reproducing. We, at least in the societies where the influence of technological advances is the greatest, already "evolved" into frail, often obese, weaklings resembling our domesticated animals.
I am more sceptical about blurring the racial lines, though. This can happen only if all races of humanity evenly mix throughout the planet. So far we can observe such mixing to some extent only in select countries (like US, Canada) and some large urban areas elsewhere. In the next century we will have to see huge migrations in/out of Africa, and China to make this theory feasible. There is nothing today that makes those migrations imaginable. China remains a closed country in regard of human travel. Africa is too harsh, underdeveloped and war ravaged to be attractive for tourism and immigration, and the immigration policies of developed countries are not likely to change and allow en-masse African immigration just because white people are not breeding any more. Particularly because 1/4 of Africans are infected with HIV. Therefore I think it is more likely that races of humanity will take different evolutionary steps, than that racial differences will be blurred first and then the humans will split into two species.
Of course that the technologically more advanced but genetically weaker future descendants of humans will harvest DNA from the new robust post-humans adapted to poverty and lack of technology.
One thing that we all may not see is that the so-called robust species, in absence of being pampered, may accidentally evolve to become more intelligent, too, or develop new senses, like ability to communicate via radio waves, or develop ability to sinthesize energy like plants due to presence of specialized photosinthetic molecules in their skin cells, and at certain point lose interest to help their technology-dependent weak ex-brethren with fre DNA samples.
The inconvenient facts and unanswered questions surrounding the attacks are legion, but the endemic sloppiness of the self-styled "researchers" is delegitimizing the entire project of critiquing the "official version." The ostentatiously named "Truth movement" is not clearing the air, but muddying the water.
WW4 Report pamphlets
WAR AT THE CROSSROADS
An Historical Guide Through the Balkan Labyrinth
The Balkan region is intensely multicultural - a point of crossroads and clash for some of the world's major religions, cultural spheres, and economic systems. While there have been vicious wars in Balkan history, these have taken place in the context of manipulation by imperial powers and the self-serving local leaders who cater to them.
opensource technology and the people of May First
Aren't we there yet?
"However, Dr Curry warns, in 10,000 years time humans may have paid a genetic price for relying on technology.
Spoiled by gadgets designed to meet their every need, they could come to resemble domesticated animals."
I think Dr Curry is wrong about the timetable of our species demise. I believe we are already there.
There are no near-sighted lions. They would not be able to feed. They would not be able to survive. But there are millions of near-sighted humans. They wear glasses. Or Contact lenses. Or have Lasix surgeries to correct their vision. They feed. They survive. They reproduce. They pass on their genetic weakness to their offspring. And this is just one of the easiest to observe differences between human and every other living species on Earth: humans developed technology to shield themselves from the consequences of the brutality of Darwin's natural selection laws. We made it possible for unfit to survive and reproduce: that's part of being human.
And every new generation contains more of us who are less fit to survive under natural laws and more dependent on the technology to keep us fed, alive and reproducing. We, at least in the societies where the influence of technological advances is the greatest, already "evolved" into frail, often obese, weaklings resembling our domesticated animals.
I am more sceptical about blurring the racial lines, though. This can happen only if all races of humanity evenly mix throughout the planet. So far we can observe such mixing to some extent only in select countries (like US, Canada) and some large urban areas elsewhere. In the next century we will have to see huge migrations in/out of Africa, and China to make this theory feasible. There is nothing today that makes those migrations imaginable. China remains a closed country in regard of human travel. Africa is too harsh, underdeveloped and war ravaged to be attractive for tourism and immigration, and the immigration policies of developed countries are not likely to change and allow en-masse African immigration just because white people are not breeding any more. Particularly because 1/4 of Africans are infected with HIV. Therefore I think it is more likely that races of humanity will take different evolutionary steps, than that racial differences will be blurred first and then the humans will split into two species.
Of course that the technologically more advanced but genetically weaker future descendants of humans will harvest DNA from the new robust post-humans adapted to poverty and lack of technology.
One thing that we all may not see is that the so-called robust species, in absence of being pampered, may accidentally evolve to become more intelligent, too, or develop new senses, like ability to communicate via radio waves, or develop ability to sinthesize energy like plants due to presence of specialized photosinthetic molecules in their skin cells, and at certain point lose interest to help their technology-dependent weak ex-brethren with fre DNA samples.