Human species 'may split in two'

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BBC reports a geneticist who claims that humans will split into two different species in 100,000 years time - a tall intelligent upperclass and short a dim-witted underclass. A bit like H.G. Wells - "The Time Machine".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6057734.stm

I hope that the tall intelligent people will be the Aspies!

"Social skills, such as communicating and interacting with others, could be lost, along with emotions such as love, sympathy, trust and respect. People would become less able to care for others, or perform in teams.

Physically, they would start to appear more juvenile. Chins would recede, as a result of having to chew less on processed food."

emmm...

Where have I heard this before?
Was it some guy named Adolf Schickelgruber
have an Idea like that in Germany in the 1930's and 40's?

What ever happened to that Third Reich, anyway?

Merle

Yeah, and we all gonna look like Brad Pit and Angelina

It's a bit early to be making pessimistic predictions like that, I think. And I thought eugenics was dead...

merle look at the time frame he has given are you saying that it is not a possibility bc of a certain people's beliefs at a certain point in time?

of course it is a possibility, of that I have no doubt.

My point was you can cause it to happen if you eliminate the elements of humanity you don't want bred and foster those you do. This is what Herr Schickelgruber was hoping to implement on his own time frame.

That short, "dim-witted" lower class will have to spend most of its time correcting the foul-ups created by the tall geniuses. In other words, status quo.

to me it really seems strange to think that the human species will even survive for long enough.

Sexual selection is a huge force in evolution. I would not discount the thoeries of Dr. Curry. I wish the article made mention of some of the assumptions he made during his study.

edit: After re-reading the article it becomes clear that he does make some Lamarckian claims of evolution. More than enough to discount his entire theory.

how long do you think they have been around already, Shane?

Not sure if this will happen or not, but certainly seems like a possibility when you visit the mall

For a really funny, if a little crude movie along these lines check out 'Idiocracy' by Mike Judge of Beavis and Butthead fame. It's a Rip Van Winkle story, but they guy (and girl) wake up to find the stupid people have out breed the smart and the world has been dumbed down to a shocking degree.

oh! so it isn't fiction?

The movie, Oliver Curry's theory or the theory of evolution?

I think the premise behind 'Idiocracy' is probably more accurate than Curry's theory. It's been shown that people of lower IQ's have more children. Most smart people I know (I'll be generous and include myself here) have two children or less, often none, so it seems intelligence isn't being selected for by sexual selection. Maybe big hair and a fondness for NASCAR will become the dominate genes in the human race.

This same story was once posted on here.

It might be interesting to read back on some texts from the 1980's about life around 2000, or science fiction books. If predicting 2 decades ahead is already so difficult, how bad would it be predicting society 100.000 years in the future?

Sounds more inspired by the writings of Blavatsky than by science. Speaking of Blavatsky, if you're inclined to believe in fairytale predictions, one of her predictions almost sound like they're about Aspergians:

"... as also most of the lands directly connected with the confines of our continent and isles - the Sixth Root-Race will have appeared on the stage of our Round. When shall this be? Who knows save the great Masters of Wisdom, perchance, and they are as silent upon the subject as the snow-capped peaks that tower above them. All we know is, that it will silently come into existence; so silently, indeed, that for long milleniums shall its pioneers - the peculiar children who will grow into peculiar men and women - be regarded as anomalous lusus naturae, abnormal oddities physically and mentally. Then, as they increase, and their numbers become with every age greater, one day they will awake and find themselves in a majority. It is the present men who will then begin to be regarded as exceptional mongrels, until these die out in their turn in civilized lands; surviviing only in small groups on islands - the mountain peaks of today - where they will vegetate, degenerate, and finally die out..."