Human Evolution Is Over

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Leading geneticist Steve Jones says human evolution is over

The Times
October 7, 2008
Julia Belluz

Human evolution is grinding to a halt because of a shortage of older fathers in the West, according to a leading genetics expert.

Fathers over the age of 35 are more likely to pass on mutations, according to Professor Steve Jones, of University College London.

Speaking today at a UCL lecture entitled “Human evolution is over” Professor Jones will argue that there were three components to evolution – natural selection, mutation and random change. “Quite unexpectedly, we have dropped the human mutation rate because of a change in reproductive patterns,” Professor Jones told The Times.

“Human social change often changes our genetic future,” he said, citing marriage patterns and contraception as examples. Although chemicals and radioactive pollution could alter genetics, one of the most important mutation triggers is advanced age in men.

This is because cell divisions in males increase with age. “Every time there is a cell division, there is a chance of a mistake, a mutation, an error,” he said. “For a 29-year old father [the mean age of reproduction in the West] there are around 300 divisions between the sperm that made him and the one he passes on – each one with an opportunity to make mistakes.

“For a 50-year-old father, the figure is well over a thousand. A drop in the number of older fathers will thus have a major effect on the rate of mutation.”

Professor Jones added: “In the old days, you would find one powerful man having hundreds of children.” He cites the fecund Moulay Ismail of Morocco, who died in the 18th century, and is reputed to have fathered 888 children. To achieve this feat, Ismail is thought to have copulated with an average of about 1.2 women a day over 60 years.

Another factor is the weakening of natural selection. “In ancient times half our children would have died by the age of 20. Now, in the Western world, 98 per cent of them are surviving to 21.”

Decreasing randomness is another contributing factor. “Humans are 10,000 times more common than we should be, according to the rules of the animal kingdom, and we have agriculture to thank for that. Without farming, the world population would probably have reached half a million by now – about the size of the population of Glasgow.

“Small populations which are isolated can evolve at random as genes are accidentally lost. World-wide, all populations are becoming connected and the opportunity for random change is dwindling. History is made in bed, but nowadays the beds are getting closer together. We are mixing into a glo-bal mass, and the future is brown.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 894696.ece

He has forgotten about two other component of evolution informed selection and symbiosis. In the case of informed selection we choose the traits we like in mates, and of coruse with symbiosis it affects our genes because when we are not living in harmony with nature mutations are much more likely.

It sounds like a lot of unfounded speculation to me, although I must admit I feel kind of proud to be a potential mutant, since my dad was 45 at the time of my birth....

Human evolution isn't over. Old men still have children. The current social situation is likely to change within a matter of 5, 10 years if not a little later. This scientist is not a particularly big thinker to be honest.

I was seeded from an older than average father and have no doubt that that has contributed to my wonderful uniqueness.

Who are we to argue with whatever Steve Jones says?

Silly we have the brains so we have a right to disagree and yes argue with what he is saying.

I thought that the average age of men (especially) didn't get much past thirty very often in the pleistocene, or pre-history.

For that matter- wasn't it fairly recent (in the last 500 years or so) that most men regularly reached that age anyway?

Coming from an anthropology background, I call bullsh*t unless I see comparative hard census data from *now* and *then* and the *now* and *then* defined. As I said earlier, seems like unfounded speculation. I can do the same, but it doesn't get me published.

But it's an appealing idea, possibly being a mutant. I want to be like Wolverine!

I really have a large problem with these figures. I know that for the average person each time you ejaculate, you have fewer sperm to work with the next time. It takes 24-36 hour to rebuild these levels. Furthermore, even sleeping with 1.2 women, it would require that almost all of them be ovulating or very close to ovulating to achieve such high numbers. Not to mention the fact that the .2 women probably couldn't conceive just from being dead. (How much would of a person would you be if you were only 2%, a toe?) ok, sarcasm part is over. [/quote]

What about Heroes?!

Steve Jones is one of these "experts" who get paid lots to tell the liberal establishment what they want to hear.

"We are mixing into a global mass, and the future is brown", he says. Yeah, right. There's not much chance of China going brown any time soon, is there?

Nope, just the West.

shortage of older fathers? I'd say exactly the opposite. who wants to have kids before 30 nowdays? loads of people push it as much as they possibly can just to be able to enjoy their freedom longer. my parents were both 38 when they conceived me and that was back in the 80's and still considered unusual. nowdays it's more normal than having a kid at 20.

that theory seems a bit like the one about human males going extinct- far fetched to say the least.

There have been a few studies showing a correlation between older fathers and autism in children, presumable because of increased mutations. There are other possible explanations for it though; such as fathers who share some autistic-like traits perhaps marrying/procreating later than average, so we can't say for sure.

My dad was 29 at the time of my birth.

EDIT*: Hm, at the time of birth isn't really relevant, is it? My dad would have been 28 around the time of my conception, which would be the significant thing here.

"Let's just say... God works too slowly."

Mutation, a good thing, a bad thing Steve Jones

Let me think, isn't social change a requirement of a lot of changes? It's as if he's saying that now we are in the social change so that's that.

He also forgot natural selection. However his point probably does explain why I of all my family got the AS gene. My dad was 30 when I was born.

explain evolution then when people didnt live long enough to get that old then? Back in the good old days of diesses and predation.