Our future as a species

The purpose of this thread is to be thought provoking.


Before I get going I would just like to say this is intended to be a science thread. I do hold religious beliefs myself, but for this thread ask that we keep them out of the discussion.


I've had this thought for a while. On this planet humans are considered to be the top predator. Over time we have continued to evolve up to this point in time where we are refereed to as Homo sapiens. Upon reaching this species we evolved to have different posture, larger brains, and morphological changes. As advanced as we are though we are still animals.

In the end the goal is to keep a species alive. Over time natural selection favors changes in allele frequency that help to give a reproductive advantage.

If you were to look at different species like for example birds they can contain the same genotype, yet have different phenotypes. This change creates the creation of subspecies.

As we advance in time will there be subspecies of humans created? There are differences in humans that do not make us all the same in terms of our phenotype. One that I can think of the amount of melanosomes. People with darker skin have more of these in their skin protecting them from the sun. It is believed that the first humans were dark skinned because they lived near the equator. As people began to move away from the equator they were not exposed to sunlight as much, and the amount of melatine depleted giving them paler skin.

Other species have subspecies for different phenotypes yet humans do not. The clear reason would be that it is because it would add to the amount of racism there already is in our world. We do not need anymore. Another is that being the top predator there is no need for subspecies. Finally, a point is that we are able to see the differences in our selves without there being a species. A man from each Africa, Asia, and North America have different things about them.

QUESTION ONE: Should we as humans be broken up into subspecies?

My second question relates to humans being animals. As an animal our common goal should be to see the survival of our species. Yet, it seems like we are doing a terrible job of that. Before there becomes over population on the Earth, why can't all humans work together? Why must we compete as countries instead of in a common interest. While technology is advancing rapidly what if we were to work together on a global level? I feel as though if this were to happen our species would be 10x more advanced than we are now. I am sure things such as life in space, green energies, and ... would be accomplished by now. Instead we must focus attention on ways of killing each other.

A counter attack to that could just be that we haven't had to face an event that has caused humans to stay focused on working together. But what if there was a global natural disaster not just one place where other countries send aid and you never hear about it again. Our time has yet to have a mass extinction. (for the Earth's five mass extinctions http://www.skepticalscience.com/Earths-five-mass-extinction-events.html). If we were to experience one I would hope we could put everything besides ourselves and work together globally to survive.

QUESTION TWO What do you think will cause the extinction of the Homo sapien species? Do you think it will be a natural event, or do you think we will be the death of our selves?

QUESTION THREE What will the successors to the Homo sapien species be like do you imagine?


I know this is a really long thread. Hopefully it has proved to be thought-provoking and we have a great discussion =)

(I am a Biology major so I tried to use a bit of science terminology. I know some of you may not have even taken a year of Bio yet so ask if theres any definitions you need the science definition for)

 

1)
sure, but is it really necessary. it would just increase the outgroup homogeneity effect and ingroup favoritism. what is the ultimate purpose of putting people in groups, especially when we have no clear definition of what a race is.

2)
i think that humans will go extinct either when their medicine backfires upon them and virus' kill the majority of the species and the survivors eventually die out, when someone decides they done care about mutually assured destruction and launches their nukes anyways, or when the planet simply becomes uninhabitable, like mars.

3)
the end of human reign would open an incredible number of niches. as such, many different predators would be able to thrive in different environments.
as always, the more intelligent species will do best.

 

1. I think they should be. There's no reason not to try and classify people any less than we would with other animals.

2. I think there will be a human created disaster intended to wipe out the majority of the population in order to further the existence of our race. We are quickly outgrowing our planet and using up our resources. People know this and it only makes sense that they would solve the problem the most efficient way possible. Mass genocide seems pretty efficient.

3. I'm not sure. We will probably evolve into less physical creatures with enlarged brains and smaller, weaker bodies as our technology advances and things get physically easier.
SOoooo yea.

 

1. Depends on where you live, in some cultures there are subspecies that will never be equal to regular people.
2. What will end all of our lifes eventually will be Nuclear Fallout.
3. After we are wiped out and if Earth is even still around i have no clue what species would be maybe the whole Evolution of life will restart.

 

adaptations to an underwater world due to global warming