05 May '12 00:07>
Originally posted by wolfgang59"According to Charles Darwin's famous theory, evolution happens faster in big populations.
As has been said before man's progress is exponential. This is easily demonstrated by looking at computer advances over the last 20 years.
However although society/technology is evolving there is no reason to suppose that man is. (Although there is some interesting, inconclusive work being done in Sweden .... theres a thread in science forum I think). ...[text shortened]... control of our environment! (eg clothing, central-heating, water on tap, supermarkets for food)
"Harpending said the timing of the newly observed evolution acceleration coincides with explosive growth in human population, coupled with humans living in new environments and changing cultures.
"The biggest changes have come since the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago, which opened up new environments for the quickly expanding human population to grow from millions to billions. "
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071211-human-evolution_2.html