Looks like this thread dead oredy..

Hi guys,

Lately we've been watching quite some movies about mutants and stuffs. Might be off-topic but i would like to know your opinions on this. Would we one day have mutant like abilities through evolution? Like X-Men or Heroes for example

Or will humans evolve differently like Spiderman who got bitten? I've heard stories of animals growing differently lets say in term of size due to exposure of chemicals. We've even seen such animal mutation in movies before. So is it possible with human?

I just know the basics of evolution and don't know if my question is suitable to be asked here.

not sure bout that..and never heard before that normal human after 1000M as strong as those character

Mutation is part of what drives evolution. It's somewhat like a 'Advance to Go' card where they took a shortcut in time. Mutation however has a more random probability and the changes are not often due to necessity.

Mutation is still bound by biological limitation. While it's possible to use cell from other animal and transplant into human. It's not likely that genes from other species will be mixed into human gene pool easily because body's natural immune system will reject the particular organ.

Be a bit realistic on mutation though, mutation won't allow you to manipulate metal object, fire or ice

one of the logical conclusion of human evolution may be the area 51 alien type.

no need physical ability -> thin shrunken body
need more mental ability ->big head
artificial food (liquid form?) ->small mouth
more use of optical sense and hands -> big eyes and long fingers

either that, or cybernetics become advance enough that we eventually end up being cyborgs (ala ghost in the shell)

Taking the form of the 'greys' is one of the plausible direction but...

What if human evolves to improve as a whole?

People are getting taller, running faster, smarter etc. We might end up getting scaled up in size but still looking the same.

We're talking about evolution. Cybernetics falls under engineering and it's not counted as evolution.

while a small portion of human become stronger, faster, more agile; the majority of the humans are slowly becoming more and more sedimentary and valuing mental capabilities over physical. but either way is possible.

cybernetics is not counted as evolution, but marks the end of human evolution. but not human improvements as you can always invent better parts.

That's why I brought up the subject of technology hindering evolution. Are we disturbing the process of evolution through out over reliance of technologies?

cell or tissue transplantation does not involve mixing of genes between donor and recipient. but it is possible for genes or dna sequences from other organisms to be added into the human genome. for example our genome is riddled with dna from viruses (mostly non functioning), which were incorporated during viral infection.

or shoot laser beams from your eyes

it may make you blue and hairy though

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Added on June 24, 2009, 12:27 amphysical evolution maybe, but human i believe will keep on improving. its just that now the environmental pressure it to evolve mentally and emotionally.

call me cruel though, in nature, physically or mentally deformed offspring usually dont survive, but now, "every life is special"

in keeping up with current environmental pressure, i think that physically deform but sound mind is important to human race and should be preserve, but mentally deformed offspring.......

This post has been edited by lin00b: Jun 24 2009, 12:27 AM

people have got to start discerning between mutation, adaptation and the concept of evolution.

mutation simply don't last. freak mutation to DNA results in weaker individual, not stronger for better survivability.

changes to adapt to environment such as darker skin, or fairer skin, heavier bones etc, are mere adaptation. it doesn't change the species from one to another.

evolution, even for a single system such as optical system requires changes that has a goal. if such thing exist, the complete system 'evolves' to fit a certain goal, which is a system that enable a creature to use sight. now how does separate parts form towards enabling sight in millions of years if there was not a goal. blindly forming parts of optical system and then in a couple of million years you've got a proper function eye is like waiting for the castle to build itself from all the sand on the beach.

Good mutations does survive. Your so called adaptation are the results of mutations that fit a particular environment being able to multiply better than those that don't have that particular mutation. That is how evolutions work. What you are describing seems to fit Intelligent Design rather than evolution. I'm not going to repeat what intelligent design is about because it has something to do with religion and maybe a sensitive issue to others.

Here's an example of a mutation that causes health problems but continues to exists due environmental factors-Sickle Cell Anemia. This mutation is found in people living in areas with high incidence of malaria but due to this mutation they are able to better survive malaria even though it causes some other health problem. By your explanation, this mutation should have killed off all the carrier of this disease yet they continue to survive in this specific environment.

I believe in theory of evolution but not 100% of it.
I don't believe humans evolved from apes..
As far as i know, scientists still haven't found the missing link between ape and human, i mean the fossils..

Scientist will never find a missing links. It took us millions of years to evolve, you won't see something like a big distinct leap from our primal ancestor to modern human.

It was also discussed earlier that, we share the same ancestor as other primate, doesn't mean we evolved from apes. We just branched out and evolved together.

i have a question that is bugging me. why is it nature always comes in PAIR ? why there are only two gender which is male and female?

many living things dont have gender. earthworms for example.

gender allows breeding and mixing of dna which leads to diversity

Evolution doesn't happen in a single day. Mutation of a single individual doesn't count as evolution (just my opinion). Evolution is defined as change of allele frequency in a gene pool. The 4 major forces of evolution are mutation, selection, drift and migration.

Mutation can be a force of evolution, but it is not an evolution. If the individual has bad mutation (let's say it is lethal). It would die fast, and the gene would not contribute to the gene pool. If it is a good mutation, ie increase it's fitness (higher survival rate), he has more chance to mate and this increase the gene in the gene pool in the given location.

Evolution is random. We might not evolve to have bigger brain and smaller mouth.

there is no such thing as a simple cell.

-its like a hurricane coming through a junkyard and made a 747-

discuss.

huh? please elaborate

Wouldn't that fit into the law of evolution where fittest survive to pass on the better gene?