I thought it was a pretty good movie as well. Anybody care to join me for some Starbucks?

Originally Posted by The Big Stiffy

I thought it was a pretty good movie as well. Anybody care to join me for some Starbucks?

Sure! Shall we meet in aisle 302 at Costco?

Originally Posted by The Big Stiffy

I thought it was a pretty good movie as well. Anybody care to join me for some Starbucks?

Go away.....batin'

Originally Posted by ban basketball

Sure! Shall we meet in aisle 302 at Costco?

Yeah that'd be perfect cuz I'll be gettin my law degree in aisle 439!

Originally Posted by arm-spin

I haven't seen the movie yet; it was brought to my attention when some friends of mine and I were discussing the potential "devolution" of the human race. Because people who are physically frail (allergies, prone to illness, etc) or have low intelligence are no longer dying young, and are thus able to reproduce, will this make the entire human gene pool weaker and lead to an increasingly "weaker" species? What do you guys think?

Furthermore, even if people are "devolving" as a species, there doesn't seem to be anything that can ethically be done about it. To prevent another person from reproducing would rightly be seen as a gross violation of human rights.

Although that is the initial premise of the film, my position on that is that genes don't play that large of a role in human behavior for that to happen. Genes can alter the physical body, but human behaviors are culturally determined.

In other words, if we "get dumber" it isn't because of genes, it is because of the deemphasis on using our brains for complex functions within our culture. Much like dementia. Professors or those who actively use their brains very very rarely develop it. It is developed in people who do/didn't use their brains for complex tasks, such as reading, reasoning, puzzles, etc. In addition, those who have a developmental disability (mental retardation) are no more likely to produce such children than those who are not dd.

In short, it's the nature vs. nurture debate, which I, obviously, fall on the nurture side of things.

Originally Posted by ISU2008

Go away.....batin'

I almost died when I read that!

Originally Posted by arm-spin

BB, I hope you're right. However, it seems that even if humans don't get progressively dumber, we must get progressively weaker and more frail because of genetics.

That, I would think, is true. I know little about genetics, but enough to know that they affect our bodies, but minimally affect human behavior; they simply don't have that capability.