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I think I was parroting Michio Kaku there about the end of natural selection for humans as a species.

You can hear his arguments and draw your own conclusions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkuCtIko798



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Natural selection?

Natural Selection?

"Natural selection".

An interesting piece by the YouTuber Tom Scott, based on the conceit that humans are unique in having evolved through competitive natural selection:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcPqk-O-fD4


Natural selection, etc.

Yes, specifically Darwinian evolution (natural selection).

Yes. Natural selection does not end when biology does. Anything that has scarcity and variation will have selection effects: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/

And should AI go wrong, Theil's bunker will not save him.


I see it as natural selection.

natural selection

My point was that the "same process as any other organism adapting to its environment" won't continue for very long for humans. Once you have people that don't die, DNA that can be edited at will, or even entirely non-biological bodies, you no longer have the ingredients required for natural selection.

Broadly agree except

> Right now our gene pool is actively deteriorating because we managed to eliminate natural selection

Is it? I’ve not heard any serious claim of deterioration before.


What've you got against natural selection?!

Got it, thank you. I'd love to see a good pointer to worked out examples of natural selection happening at non-organism levels if you have one handy. It sounds pretty fascinating.

Actually I think it's more akin to Natural Selection.

Can you explain/expand on why you think it’s natural selection?

> eliminated by evolution

You mean natural selection, and it doesn't select towards perfection

https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evo_32

Great news: it means you're part of the select 2% by some other measure! Good job.


No, he's wrong. Natural selection doesn't speed up or slow down, it just is. Each passing generation there are pressures put on the spreading of human genes, and those pressures are the manifestation of natural selection. Whether those pressures are different now than before, or whether they shape "the future" is irrelevant to the biological impact of natural selection.

Are you basing this on research you've seen that runs counter to the unbridled optimism of Sinclair and others, or is this belief of yours just a consequence of your belief about "natural selection never had a reason to favor any other approach"? I'm just wondering for myself, as an outsider to all this, what reason I would have to take your view rather than theirs.

Natural selection.
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