Week 9 Refutation and Concession

1. What is my thesis?
Humans are still evolving.

2. What is the opposite position?
Humans have stopped evolving in physical terms.

3. What arguments can I anticipate?
Well-known naturalist Sir David Attenborough claimed that humans have stopped evolving as humans have now escaped from interference of nature. 

4. How will I counter those arguments?

Their arguments say that is not working anymore because of improved survival prospect. However, not all adaptations are related with survival. It’s mostly related with matter of efficiency. Also there are many evidences which prove humans are still evolving as I mentioned in confirmation.   

Recently Sir David Attenborough, the famous naturalist, said that humans have stopped evolving physically and genetically, during the interview with week's Radio Times.

“We stopped natural selection as soon as we started being able to rear 90-95% of our babies that are born. We are the only species to have put a halt to natural selection, of its own free will, as it were.”

His argument seems plausible at first glance as we have achieved astonishing advancement in reducing infant mortality and in combating many diseases. However, children’s survival is not assured as Attenborough said and it is not consistent across the world. Still, a lot of people cannot have basic healthcare and continue to die because of diseases and malnutrition. Moreover, even if we do reach the point of “being able to rear 90-95% of babies that are born”, that will only counter one of the conditions necessary for natural selection.

Attenborough is right in that natural selection requires variation. It needs some people to prosper more than others. So the improved survival prospects around the world might have decreased the potential for natural selection to work in those who are not threatened by natural tragedies. However, it may sound ironically, natural selection doesn't really care about survival. As I said, natural selection does help species to survive. But is every natural selection related with survival? Natural selection only helps the emergence of gadgets that can solve the problems efficiently. What it is ultimately interested in is sending variations to next generations in order to increase effectiveness. Therefore the argument that our natural selection has stopped due to our increased survival prospects is flawed.

In fact, humanity has not abandoned its ability to make genetic variation. The human genome shows that recent population explosion made more variations within the last 200 generations. Thus, we may be evolving faster than ever before. Among them are mutations like lactose tolerance, smaller jaws and carrying the sickle-cell allele.