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Has Evolution Met Its Match?

By Miguel Diaz 29 Jan 2004

Don’t ask me how (I don’t know), but my brain went off on one of its tangents today and started pondering Darwinian evolution theory in the context of today’s world. Now, this may seem like an interesting subject to you, but I was disappointed in my brain (strippers damn you! strippers!). Anyway, I figured it would be something of a waste if I didn’t at least share the thoughts I had. So here we go.

<p>Doctors these days seem to have this theory that they need to fix <span class="caps">EVERYONE</span>.  As such, the life expectancy of the average human has increased significantly over the past &lt;insert your favorite number&gt; years (unless you&#8217;re a black male&#8230;then the <span class="caps">NYPD</span> will still get you before you&#8217;re 25).</p>

<p>Now, previously when I&#8217;ve had these Darwinian tangents they&#8217;ve mostly centered around handicapped people and their effect on the gene pool.  I guess I&#8217;ll get today&#8217;s thoughts on that out of the way first, although I think they probably aren&#8217;t the most interesting.</p>

<p>Years ago, if someone had a disease that left them physically handicapped their chances of dying before they could procreate were much higher; thus preventing their genes (which may or may not carry the disease) from continuing on in the gene pool.  Now that doctors have found ways for these people to live more normal lives, they find themselves living longer and eventually they (perhaps) have children.  This throws a huge wrench in humanity&#8217;s Darwinian evolution.  The same argument can be made for people who are mentally handicapped (I won&#8217;t repeat it).</p>

<p>Poking around a bit today, I found some interesting comments/rants on this subject that made some compelling arguments about where we would be without people like Steven <a href="http://www.mchawking.com">Hawking</a> and others.  And, to a point, they&#8217;re right.  By using our technology to prolong the lives of these people humanity has indeed benefited.  But I still think it slows down the evolutionary process.</p>

<p>What I found most interesting about todays tangent was when I got thinking about issues that humans are probably <span class="caps">ALWAYS</span> going to have because of the way medicine has interfered with evolution.</p>

<p>I don&#8217;t know about you, but I was born with an appendix (I think).  I&#8217;m sure that out there somewhere there are people who weren&#8217;t.  Without the ability of doctors to keep us from dying from appendicitis, the people without appendices would eventually take over and humans as a whole (with the odd exception) would no longer have them.  Granted, this is a somewhat pointless observation by itself (because it really is so easy to just take it out), but it begs the question, &#8220;what else is &#8216;modern&#8217; medicine keeping us from evolving out of (or into)?&#8221;  More importantly, the fact that we now keep a large majority of people alive (well, large majority of white people with money in developed nations that support the evil American regime), is going to slow down the evolutionary process so that only the most extreme mutations (i.e. you were born without a head) are killed off by natural selection.</p>

Go Markov!

By Miguel Diaz 28 Jan 2004

On my latest visit to this realm I was pleased to note that Markov has joined the ever growing ranks of people playing the Kick Anders Game!

<p>Well, maybe not&#8230;but he did mention that he&#8217;s been &#8220;&#8230;Kicking Anders since 1995&#8230;&#8221; :-)</p>

Quick Poll

By Miguel Diaz 28 Jan 2004

How many of y’all actually pony up when MSSM shows you that toothless grin and shakes it’s donation cup? (Imaginary Gala? wtf??? please…)

Population control in China

By Miguel Diaz 14 Jan 2004

According to Oneworld.net China will be doing away with child quotas. Apparently this all stems from work the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has been doing throught China to promote other forms of birth control.

<p>I&#8217;ve never actually been to China like some of you have, so I&#8217;ll leave commentary on their political situation to those who are better informed than myself; but I&#8217;d have to say this is a huge win for human rights across the board.  More freedom for couples to make choices about the families they raise, more freedom for women to make their own (hopefully informed) decisions about birth control, no more killing of female offspring in favor of males.  Apparently the UN <span class="caps">CAN</span> do something right.</p>

<p>Naturally, <a href="http://www.pritchettcartoons.com/bush2.htm">Bush</a> managed to worm his way into this story as well.  His administration is witholding millions of dollars in funding from <span class="caps">UNFPA</span>.  &#8220;Why?&#8221; you ask?  Well, I&#8217;ll <a href="http://www.agi-usa.org/pubs/journals/gr050413.html">tell you</a>.  Anti-birth control groups successfully convinced the slow-witted one that simply by having a program in China, <span class="caps">UNFPA</span> was contributing to the &#8220;coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization&#8221; generally attributed to current Chinese population control guidelines.  Now <span class="caps">IANAL</span>, but to me it sounds like those are exactly the types of things that <span class="caps">UNFPA</span> is trying to move China away from.  My guess is either Bush couldn&#8217;t read what he was given, or they caught him while he was strung out.  Although, he IS actually that evil, so he may have known what he was doing.  He probably figured it was an easy way to finance a few more bombs to drop on unsuspecting <a href="http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav070302.shtml">Afghan weddings</a>.</p>

Can't Type...Fingers Frozen...

By Miguel Diaz 12 Jan 2004

For a company that makes a disgusting amount of money, one would think they would be able to afford heat. It seems however that the concept has escaped them.

<p>About 10-15 years ago, the building I&#8217;m in was built as a &#8220;temporary&#8221; solution to some space issues that were encountered on this campus.  As such I could probably piss through one of the walls to the outside (insulation? what&#8217;s that?).  Being as nobody works on the weekend (supposedly), management figures that they shouldn&#8217;t have the heat on (to save money).  So, come Monday morning when we all get in to work, the heat finally pops on (barely) but it takes and inordinate amount of time for the building to heat up.  This morning it was <a href="http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/2004/01/06/">55 degrees</a> when I got in here.  I can wear all the sweaters and coats in the world; but I still haven&#8217;t learned to type in gloves.  Perhaps, I should just work from home for the winter&#8230;at least I&#8217;m not <a href="http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/2004/01/11/">too cheap to pay for heat</a>.</p>

Bugs...

By Miguel Diaz 08 Jan 2004

What’s the procedure for reporting bugs in Thraxil? I know I’ve run into a couple in the past. (can’t exactly remember them now) And I figure it would probably be best to mention something in the future. I ran into a server error (or some such beast) a while back and it presented me with an e-mail form to explain what I was doing when I broke things…unfortunately the script that was to run when I submitted the form was nowhere to be found. Just curious if there’s an accepted procedure or if it’s just “e-mail anders and he’ll file it under more annoying shit Miguel e-mails me about”.

Wow...

By Miguel Diaz 01 Jan 2004

fuck new years and it’s making me black out from all the alcohol…i remember talking to a friend of mine…and then i wake up naked in the guest room of my house (guess my g/f didn’t want me in the bed w/ her)…ugh…haven’t blacked out like that since college…