Originally Posted by
Alric
Evolution isn't normally random because of natural selection and pressure put on species. The pressure ensures that when one group has an advantage over another they will more often breed and are more likely to survive.
In humans, that is no longer the case. There are very few pressures on us, and so there are no advantages or disadvantage. For example, not having legs is most definitely a disadvantage. However if a person is born without legs they will still survive, and can even have children. If someone is born with below average IQ, that is a weakness but they can still survive and have children. So right now there is no evolution in a forward direction towards becoming better at anything. We are just becoming more diverse.
In fact, the more successful a human is today, the less likely they are to have children. Birthrates in modern developed countries are a lot lower than in poorer countries. So if evolution was to take its course, it would actually select for people who are the most disadvantage, because they have more children. So actually if left to run its course we would have fewer strengths and more weaknesses.
This is why I think thought is superior to non-thought. We all know that making people less intelligent so they are forced to have more children, because those children are needed to take care of you when your older is a bad thing compared to just taking medicine and being healthy. Evolution can't think though, it doesn't know anything. And so natural selection says, the people who are falling behind have the most children, so they have discovered an advantage. Then we evolve with people becoming stupider.