The Human Tactic of Evolutionary Manipulation

Paper Summary:

This paper explores the concept of evolution from a biotechnological point of view and the ongoing discussion amongst scholars. It looks at the article - Playing God in the Garden by Michael Pollan and explains why the epitomises the discussion of this topic.

From the Paper:

"Some might say that human beings are, in large part, an arrogant species. Perhaps, they would suggest, we carry a general air of self-righteousness with respect to our relationship with the earth. It is a mien that evolves as we do. Our constantly developing sense of self, as well as the abilities to reason, implement social behavior and conduct intelligent thought processes, contributes directly to the superiority that we feel both as individuals and as a collective civilization. Whether this feeling of superiority is justified or not is a debate best left to another forum, however, the assumption of its credence has had a historically far-reaching effect on the world, perhaps an effect greater than any genuine substantiation to that assumption could engender. As a whole, we have taken the autonomy of global domination upon ourselves, and, rather than appealing to the practice of natural selection, we force the surrounding environments and species into an involuntary adaptation to our needs. As such, human evolution, and the demand it creates, affects change, or evolution in those environments and species. In the pursuit of our own survival, we have altered, and in some cases disturbed, the natural process of evolution in the plant and animal kingdoms in order to meet our own needs. Thusly, it can be deduced that a good majority of the unnatural evolution of certain environments and species can be directly attributed to the evolution of humanity. This is of crucial import when considering particular examples of natural response to human tampering as discussed in our text. In his account, Playing God In the Garden , Michael Pollan provides insight to Steven Jay Gould s discussion on the definition of evolution, What Does the Dreaded E Word Mean, Anyway? by directly applying the questions of human evolution s predictability, directionality and, essentially, its relevance to its surrounding world."

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