Have humans peaked as a species?

Having recently refreshed some Natural Selection theory, I started wondering about how humans fitted into the whole big picture. You see there are basic rules to the process of natural selection. Let me summarize:

Natural selection is effectively the recognized process by which living organisms on a species level are able to improve and optimize traits they posses to allow them to be more competitive both with other species and their own kind. This kind of specialization and adaptation doesn’t simply happen; it requires a particular set of circumstances to initiate and develop into something that translates into a physical/behavioural change that increases an individual’s fitness. I’ve listed the particular set of circumstances below:

1. Variation – change cannot happen unless there is some sort of background variation between individuals (outliers kick ass…)
2. Fitness consequences - that background variation needs to give some individuals the edge over others (never complain about life being unfair).
3. Inheritance - a favourable trait must be passed on to the next generation to be of any use (don’t keep secrets).
4. Limiting resources – basically you can’t win if you don’t have anything to fight for (so the ideal world is one where we are running out of everything… who’d have thought).

We often perceive ourselves (humans) as the most influential living force on the planet. Quite a naïve view considering the only real power we have is an amazing ability to wipe out all life on Earth in the space of a few hours... It doesn’t take a genius to realize that our lifestyles at the moment are not sustainable. In order to restore some form of balance we could use a healthy shot of natural selection…

…Or couldn’t we?

Let us see how humans fare under those ideal natural selection circumstances mentioned above:

1. Variation - I think it’s fair to say that humans are quite diverse. As long as there is room on this planet for people like Steven Hawking and Julius Malema or Sarah McLachlan and Lady Gaga… I’ll give this a YES, MOST DEFINITELY (consider them opposite sides of the scale).
2. Fitness consequences – Hmmm, a tricky one considering basic human rights and upholding those rights (ahaha!)… Theoretically we should all be on par with regards to fitness consequences. Of course in an equal society some are always more equal than others. Then again, there is always the pattern suggesting that lower class society tend to have more children compared to middle/upper class society. In terms of natural selection, these should be the individuals with lower fitness that should be weeded out. In fact modern advances in health care have provided our unfit individuals ample opportunities to continue existing (it would be rather immoral to castrate all men before administering diabetes treatment or having mandatory hormone replacement therapy for women without 20/20 vision). Fitness consequences could theoretically work in human populations, I’m not too sure the whole “live your life but don’t have kids” idea will appeal to the flawed masses. Of course we could just as easily create a super race by starting an Olympian breeding program…just a thought.
3. Inheritance – I’m pretty sure we can once again blame modern health care for giving flawed humans more opportunities to breed than are absolutely necessary. This unfortunately leads to a future wherein the majority of humans rely more and more on artificial means of survival. Are we cultivating a future society of medicated wieners? Perhaps, we are already at that stage…
4. Limiting resources – I don’t think we have a problem here. Humans will fight over something as trivial as a rugby ball. We are so trigger happy that we will even go to war over petty meaningless speculation. People are rarely happy with what they have these days so the successful pursuit of wealth and material could be an excellent way to develop traits. Wait they have a word for that, it’s called capitalism.

The Verdict!!!

Humans are nature’s rebels. We are perfectly aware of and acknowledge the existence of natural selection yet we do all in our power to avoid the process. One could argue that if we want to do what is best for our species in terms of sustainability and improvement over generations, we would need to do quite a lot of unethical weeding or immoral rule implementation w.r.t. breeding. On the other hand, if we continue down the path we are currently on, we will more than likely end up a society constructed from a bunch of materialistic, capitalist, idiot druggies…

…so there

When I grow up...

I wonder how many adults actually become what they wanted to be when they were kids?

We all had a vision of ourselves as adults when we were kids. Some profession that was very appealing to us when we first realised that we would have to do some sort of work in the future.

Mine changed several times as I grew up. The process of deciding what I wanted to do with my life all started after visiting the Durban aquarium with my family. My sister and I were really thrilled by the dolphin show and shortly after being splashed by Flipper (I can't remember his real name) we both decided that we would become... wait for it... Dolphin trainers. Yipee! What fun!

This lasted about a year. In that time my sister and I would constantly bicker about who was the first to decide to become a dolphin trainer and try to convince the other not to do the job (so we could have the dolphins all to ourselves). Eventually I backed off, there were plenty of other cool jobs way better than training dolphins (sobs...). I now had to decide on a new future job. Fortunately my parents took us for an air show and in doing so inspired new hope in my young mind.

I would become... a pilot. Woohoo! Take that sis. Flying aeroplanes in stunts and seeing the world from the heavens would keep me occupied for a long time to come. I remember spending hours fantasizing about all the destinations I would visit. I would even deliberately take the the long route on my walk home from religion classes so I could fly my model aeroplane on 'secret spy missions'.

I also recall wanting to become a toy designer and even a cartoonist in my early teens. These were never really obsessions though. The next obsession was car mechanic. I have a really cool uncle who always visited us with his restored old muscle cars and racing tweaked autos. Alas I was now a teenager and my parents wouldn't even consider me studying towards becoming a grease monkey...

I have a theory. I'm sure the individuals who stuck it out and became what they originally set out to be when they were kids are now the happiest adults. When we are young we express ourselves without thinking about consequences. "That's what I'll do, It'll be fun". This childish impulse is probably a better indication of who we are and what we should do with our lives than a well thought out career path made by a brainwashed grade 10 pupil.

Okay the theory has its flaws, I doubt many kids dream about becoming an accountant and many will be disappointed after finding out that they can't work for Santa Clause. You have to admit though, there is something to this...

I guess I need to chat to someone who has pulled it off.