(Brace yourself; this may [or may not!] be a long one.)
The human race has scarred the Earth and changed the natural course of events, whatever that may have been. We came into existence as natural beings, in equilibrium with the planet and its denizens, and our so-called intelligence has upset that equilibrium (and, thus far, not in our favour).
A friend and I were having a discussion about the multitude of rather stupid people in the world, and I began to wonder why that might be, and what consequences might arise. This is what I came up with:
In the days before technology (and out in the natural world even today), those that were meant to die would die, and those that happened to live would live on until it was their time to die. The ones that lived longer had a greater chance of passing on their genes, and the fact that they survived to do so entailed the possibility that there was some quality about them (such as speed, agility, or the like) that happened to keep them alive - a quality which, ideally, would be passed on to the offspring (unless it was random chance, in which case, there would really be no difference). This cycle would repeat over all generations, leading to beings more suited to survive each generation.
This is the concept known as survival of the fittest, or natural selection - a primary tenet to evolution* - and it was in place in nature for a reason.
In this day and age, modern medicine has done wonders to keep us alive, at the cost of prolonging the life of those who would not otherwise have survived; hence, the habitual drunk driver who may be responsible for God-knows-how-many accidents, remains alive to pass on his genes to the next generation, perpetuating the tendency to drink and drive.
(This applies to any sort of trait or tendency that might be passed on genetically, such as mental or physical disorders.)
___________________
*To all Bible-pushing or otherwise mentally impaired fools out there: Evolution does not imply monkeys changing into humans; it describes adaptation to long-term changes in environment, often resulting in speciation. This usually results in increasing complexity over generations, but the opposite can also be true - it all depends on the environment. READ THIS LINK, and UNDERSTAND. I CANNOT over-emphasize the importance of understanding.
Another couple of side effects of the wonders of medicine are the rampant overpopulation that even now threatens our global economy and ecosystem, and the creation of deadly 'superbugs' such as MRSA. These, in conjunction with 'survival of the unfit' along with the fit and the fittest, will conspire to starve the human race through depletion of resources - assuming we don't blow ourselves up first - if we cannot find a way to (1) increase efficiency and cleanliness, or (2) leave the planet.
To be continued ...
