Argumentative Essay: Are We Still Evolving?

Are humans still evolving or have they stopped, has been a question for the modern world for a long time now. Evolution is one of the most researched topic which gives us an insight of the development of the human race throughout millions of years. In this research paper I will use peer reviewed articles to answer the question about if we are still evolving as humans. I will try to highlight the reasons that I think that humans are still evolving despite the advances in technology, medication, and living conditions. Even though humans think that evolution stopped years ago research suggests that evolution is still happening and at a higher rate. To understand if we are still evolving we first have to understand what evolution is and were the term came from. Evolution is a term that has been used before Charles Darwin’s time and Darwin only used the word once in his book. According to dictionary.com “evolution is the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth”. Charles Darwin who is thought to be the father of the term survival of the fittest, plays a very important role in evolution. Explaining where organisms change according to the conditions they are in evolving stronger being able to survive in harsh conditions and pass on the genes to their offspring’s. This theory expands to natural selection which forces living things to adapt to diseases, dying foods and poor living conditions. Crating a selection process where the once who adapt survive and once that don’t die off. I believe that the biggest example of human evolution is our ability to drink milk of other spices. Because we as adult humans we are not supposed to drink milk because it has lactose, which is a complex sugar that once in our system it cannot break down in our digestive system. When we are young our system can digest lactose but not when we are adults because the enzyme that shuts down in adulthood. But humans started drinking milk from all kinds of animals resulting in evolution and mutation to lactose creating a protein in our DNA which lets us digest lactose. Milk is filled with vitamin D and gave the chance for counties that did not have much sunlight a substitute for vitamin D giving us the biggest evidence of human evolution. Technology has played a big part in our development as humans. According to Johnson Smith the author of “Why Are Chimps Still Chimps” says that without technology we cannot survive. That the human race would to extent without their tools, clothes, fire, and shelter all which are very important for the human race to survive. In recent years technology has minimized the burden of evolving by shielding us from hazardous environments and not having food deficiency. The advancements in technology and medication have enabled us to prevent diseases and minimizing the behavioral changes that we go through. However after doing research I have found out that even after all these advancements we as humans are still evolving and there are studies backing this up with data. There have been studies done on genetics which reports that human genes are evolving and are mutating crating stronger structure in genes and protein. Mutation is a process that occurs by chance and spreads like wild fire throughout the population. Researchers believe that gene mutation is the result of the development in the brain and immunity to diseases. According to Michael Balter the author of “are we still evolving” says that genetics are different …show more content…
Michael Balter farther gives evidence that the reason that we are able to create all the advancements in technology and medication is because of the development in our heads which are getting bigger and increasing our intelligence. Michael Balter says that genetic drift has played a very important part in creating human diversity. Because of genetic drift humans are still able to evolve intellectually but according to Michael Balter human body change is due to cultural or diet. Michael Balter says that all these diet, drift, natural selection, and environmental pressures are all contributors and evidence proving that humans are still