Most rational people these days accept natural selection as a sound scientific theory. But one thing I have always wondered about is what happens when humans intervene with natural selection? Humans can often control which species survive and even decide how they will look, grow, and act. But is this a wise thing to do? We may think there is no harm in creating chickens with larger breasts, or plants that grow faster and with less water, or pigs that are almost identical in color, shape, and size. (All of these examples, by the way, are things that really exist.) However, we can not always know the consequences for hundreds or even thousands of years, and the consequences we do know about are not always favorable. The pigs have to be isolated from any kind of germs because their immunity is so weak that even the slightest contaminant will kill them. The trees that grow super fast produce poor quality wood that is almost useless. Genetically altered animals everywhere are popping up with unusual afflictions and problems.
Plants and animals are one thing. But what about our affect on the natural selection of humans? Certainly human life is precious and no one wants to think about someone they love being the weak link in the chain. But if you think about it, there really is little room left for natural selection in humans. Babies that would have died at birth in the past now live very long lives. Diseases that would have killed millions are now being eradicated. While these are wonderful advances, I can't help but wonder what their effect will be down the road. Will people lose their immunity from being so protected from disease? Will we become less intelligent by making everything so simple for our children? Will we develop new disorders from preventing others?
Obviously there are no easy answers to these questions. We cannot simply let babies die or do nothing about disease. We can't be expected to go about things the hard way just because there might be some far-off consequences to the simple way. We can, however, think, consider, visualize, judge, postulate, and project before we make decisions that my affect the future of mankind.
