Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007
Human evolution has speeded up over the past 80,000
The Economist: Human evolution
Not directly related to HPC but interesting anyway. We have talked a lot about expontial functions in this blog. Here is another - see the evolution graph towards the end of the artcle. For those interested, this is exactly what the Mayan Calendar is all about - exponential evolution. I think 2008-12 is going to be quite some roller coaster.
Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 03:28 PM (638 views) Add Comment
11 Comments
- If you do not have an admin password leave the password field blank.
- If you would like to request a password allowing you to add comments and blog news articles without needing each one approved manually, send an e-mail to the webmaster.
- Your email address is required so we can verify that the comment is genuine. It will not be posted anywhere on the site, will be stored confidentially by us and never given out to any third party.
- Please note that any viewpoints published here as comments are user's views and not the views of HousePriceCrash.co.uk.
- Please adhere to the Guidelines
1. sold 2 rent 1 said...
The sudden fall-off at the end is caused because the linkage-disequilibrium method cannot easily detect very recent mutations, rather than by a sudden reduction in the rate of evolution.
2. george monsoon said...
Hang on, I just read this article and to my mind, I would suspect that with all the mutation, a stronger, more intelligent breed of humans is probably about to emerge.. We are undergoing a metamorphosis of race. As we did when we split from HomoErectus and Neanderthal man.
The big question is, can we embrace the change?
3. planning4acrash said...
It already has, HPC bloggers are ahead of the game, can the masses cope with our intellectual prowess?!
4. The Xyy Man said...
Wow - I knew what that article said before I even opened it.
Oh dear, i'm developing telepathic abilities exponentially as I write - fu*kin lawnmower man or what...?
I'm sensing many things...
Aries - March 21 - April 20: Your house price will crash
Taurus - April 21 - May 21: Your house price will crash
Gemini - May 22 - June 21: Your house price will crash
Cancer - June 22 - July 22: Your house price will crash
Leo - July 23 -August 21: Your house price will crash
Virgo - August 22 - September 23: Your house price will crash
Libra - September 24 - October 23: Your house price will crash
Scorpio - October 24 - November 22: Your house price will crash
Sagittarius - November 23 - December 22: Your house price will crash
Capricorn - December 23 - January 20: Your house price will crash
Aquarius - January 21 - February 19: Your house price will crash
Pisces - February 20- March 20: Your house price will crash
And if you all ask me VERY nicely, I'll tell you exactly what happens to Gordon Brown...
Merry Christmas
5. Happy Mondays said...
The mayans view is that we are about to go a massive change, wether we want to or not it will happen ! It could be everything we see around us coming to a crunch time and the end as we know it (as spock would say) or humans are going to wake up (evolution download) and see the mess we have made of it all !! Can we embrace change ? George monsoon says ! Ehhmmm me thinks not
6. sold 2 rent 1 said...
I think the change will be at the "Conscousness" level rather than the physical level.
Humans communicating and co-operating together is the thing to watch. Look at how fast things have moved in the last 50 years. Radio, telephone, TV, sattellite, mobile phone, internet, texting, email, blogs, instant messaging, social networking sites, open source software development. Next stop Telepathy????
planning4acrash - I am transmitting images of a pizza now. Can you guess what topping it is?
Virtual food for thought.
7. Happy Mondays said...
s2r1 i think change will be conciousness level rather than a physical level !
Yes but not without leaving carnage behind, as they say out of destruction comes creation ! I don't think we will drift into euphoria, i would like to think that we will all be holding hands with our foes skipping through the bluebells singing, but alas, just can't see it yet !
8. drewster said...
Well if there's one obvious change between humans 200 years ago and today, it's that we have to adapt to change more. Two centuries ago you could dig in the mines or toil the fields your whole life long, never having to do different work and never coming into contact with people other than the same 20-30 faces you saw every day. Today we move homes, change jobs, and meet new people all the time.
@george monsoon: Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens actually co-existed for some time, despite the latter being far more advanced. Today we see Homo Chav-us coexisting with us too - how long before they disappear?
9. planning4acrash said...
S2R, you obviously don't have the intuition you claim. I am already full of Spaghetti so don't have space for virtual Pizza, but thanks anyway. :)
10. paul said...
"can the masses cope with our intellectual prowess?!"
I could say something lewd and unsavory at this point. S2R1, this graph doesn't say an awful lot, reeeally. "The apparent recent dropoff is an artefact of the method used".
No, what's far more interesting is that according to the evening papers, Mervyn King has been reappointed!
Why? Because he has to stay to guide the Northern Rock affair. He must be working for the government - only they could reward ignorance, failure and indifference with a pat on the back and a round of Christmas drinks.
Amazing but true.
11. inflation is eating my savings said...
This is hocum.
The error in measuring sequences from old DNA is astronomical, plus you only have a few ice preserved ionised samples to base (no pun intended) it on, again minimising the apparent diversity.
Ignore.