Not Again

In today's opinion section of the Gateway there is a rather long article on why human beings are no longer evolving. I see this turning into another creation/evolution debate in the opinion section. There was one last year and it was stupid and banal then and I imagine that this one will be just as annoying. I have decided to nip this in the bud, try and stop it before it gets going. My technique will be to divert the argument. The title of the article is "Sadly, you're going to have to settle for one penis." Therefore I could talk about how placental mammals and birds are actually relatively unusual in the vertebrata for having a single penis. Never mind the fact that the majority of fish and amphibians lack such an organ all together, actually, the majority of species actually have a double wang. Snakes and lizards have a double johnson known as the hemipenis. Marsupials such as your friend and mine the common opossum (Didelphis virginiensis) have a bifurcate penis. I don't know of anybody who has examined the monotreme member but I imagine that since most of its characters are intermediate between the reptile and mammal condition, that they too would have paired parts too. Even sharks are doubly endowed. Although they lack a true penis, they have structures called claspers which they use for the transfer of gametes to the female (most fish don't have internal fertilization like sharks).

Another topic that I think I prefer is to refute several of the key points in his article. For example, the author claims that there is no longer differential reproduction in humans. Well this is simply not true. Stupid and ignorant and poor people have way more kids than the well educated. Affluent people tend to know already that bringing another child into the world is just cruel (to the child and to everyone else). I'm not saying here that being poor, stupid or ignorant means that you are necessarily the other two (I've met some well educated people in my life that are real idiots), but there is a definite correlation. Granted, stupid people do tend to eliminate themselves from the gene pool from time to time (see the Darwin Awards) but it doesn't make up for the sheer volume of kids they keep pumping out. If ignorance is bliss, then sheer stupidity must be orgasmic. As for the poverty factor, its a simple matter of compensation. In the past it was: when times are hard, the more kids you pump out the more likely a couple of them will survive. Now practically all of them are surviving and competing amongst themselves for the same resources, therefore perpetuating the cycle. But what about the genetic factor? For evolution to take place you need to have a genetic reason for increased fitness. Well, I hate to sound bigoted here, but due to their socioeconomic position, ethnic minorities tend to have a ton of kids. For example in California, there is a huge Mexican population. Because they are forced into low paying jobs, they can't afford proper schooling (educational funds distributed based on the income of the neighborhood) and so they have two strikes against them. Also because most Mexicans are also Catholics, they're already predisposed to produce prolific progeny.

Now I don't want some Catholics commenting on the site about how every sperm is sacred or some 6 day, young earth, I-don't-give-a-rat's-ass-what-the-evidence-is Creationist trying to shoot down evolution. If you want to talk about those things, you can bite my child hating, tailless mammalian butt!