On 27/08/2013 10:28 PM, Warp wrote:
> Genes are, ultimately, rather inefficient at "optimizing" an organism
> Evolution is all about compromises. The genetic code is very slow to
> change in the right way to do something efficiently.

I love the suggestion some people are making that maybe humans will 
"evolve" to be less fat.

This makes it sound as if "evolution" is some magical process whereby 
each time we reproduce, our DNA gets optimised to our situation, so that 
as generations pass, everybody slowly improves...

No, this is not how evolution works. When you say "humans will evolve to 
be less fat", what you're actually saying is "all the fat people will 
die". Because THAT has how evolution changes stuff.

Of course, we have all sorts of government institutions set up 
explicitly to PREVENT this mass death happening. Thus, humans will NOT 
in fact "evolve to be less fat". Because there's no selection pressure. 
Organisms only evolve to avoid stuff that kills them. If it's not fatal, 
it doesn't get fixed. And since humans no longer live in an environment 
where the weak perish and only the strong survive, evolution has little 
or nothing to do with it.

(OK, correction: It doesn't matter if it kills you or not. It matters if 
it stops you reproducing. Killing you is just the most obvious way to do 
that...)

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