Thursday, September 1, 2011

More on Climate Change

The hypothesis in the post below raises this question: what was involved in pre-humans becoming smarter during periods of relatively rapid climate change? Answer: a lot of not-so-smart pre-humans dying off as they could not adapt to changing climatic conditions.

If we experience more climate change in, for instance, the next several hundred years, we might experience a similar degree of die-off of those not able to adapt. The long-term result might be even better human beings, but the cost in human lives would be high. Many would earn the Darwin Award.

The human costs of future evolution pose interesting questions for ethicists. I can imagine someone alleging "eugenics."