03.17.08
Pedal to the metal
Pedal to the metal for human evolution
Mass migrations, the population explosion, and city living fuel rapid rate of genetic change
We can’t see it in our short lifetimes, but human evolution is going faster than ever before. Today, the rate of our evolution is over 100 times faster than it was in the depths of time, according to a paper published in PNAS called “Recent acceleration of human adaptive evolution.”
These statements are misleading since they confuse microevolution with ‘evolution’ itself, in the sense of that which produces Man as Man. And they can lead to passive complacency about the effects of ‘civilization’.