[evolveme]

Originally Posted by Martina

Also, whatever behaviors people exhibit, unless they lead to greater reproductive success, they are not affecting evolution. It might affect how we all live our lives and what we teach our children -- our culture(s) -- but they are not affecting biological evolution.

It seems (and I could be misreading you) that your definition for evolution is that unless we are reproducing well (i.e., continuously and more?), we are not achieving the basis for a standard of evolution. My working definition is a framework that is larger than merely the propagation of the species -which I read only to be a continuation of the race - but an increase in the capacity of the human to function and to prosper, even if at reduced numbers. I'm unconcerned at this stage with biological evolution (although I think it would benefit the race to be done with wisdom teeth altogether). I agree that how we live our lives, what we teach our children, and questions of culture, are quite important to evolution.

Still, most of us scream and leap into a chair at the sight of a spider, and hardly ever at the sight of a moving automobile, which is much, much more likely to kill us. I hardly think we can intellectually do away with the evolutionary drives (like the competition for a mate) just because we find them unpalatable, or simply exhausting to think about.