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Is Human Selection Natural?

#1
Zinjanthropos Offline
Is there a word for the evolution of living things due to the preferences of humans/intelligences? Is it still natural selection if we do the selecting? Do our choices affect the evolutionary paths of certain organisms?

During a recent porch argument the topic of marijuana came up. It is my thinking and I stand to be corrected, that the plant itself developed the narcotic effect to ward off predators. Natural selection took place pre humanity solely for the plants survival. This is where the evolutionary path change topic entered the picture.....I argued that human selection has altered the path somewhat in reverse where consumption of the plant combined with human interests has actually improved the survival chances of the species. MJ no longer needs to prevent its consumption through narcotic affect, being consumed is actually beneficial. 

I suppose I could compare it to plants that distribute their seeds via droppings of animals that eat their fruit or selective breeding of animals for traits we find to our liking. What would happened to organisms favoured or bred by humans if we just disappeared or if it fell out of favour....would it return to its original evolutionary path or be weakened by our interference?
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#2
C C Offline
(Jul 4, 2020 02:26 PM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: Is there a word for the evolution of living things due to the preferences of humans/intelligences? Is it still natural selection if we do the selecting? Do our choices affect the evolutionary paths of certain organisms?


A distinction between the two has been made at least since Darwin: The Death of Natural Selection. When it is organized/deliberate, it's called "artificial selection" (selective breeding). When concerning unintentional side-effects and influences, it can be called "unnatural selection".

Are humans driving evolution in animals? (BBC): Not all human selection pressures are as intentional as those imposed by plant and animal breeders. Recent research is revealing that many of our activities exert significant unintentional selection on organisms. Such "unnatural selection", as it has been termed, is causing evolution in those populations...

Evolution is a general conception that may subsume different particular instances and causes for itself under its umbrella. (Evolution myths: Natural selection is the only means of evolution .... Evolution myths: Everything is an adaptation)

Quote:During a recent porch argument the topic of marijuana came up. It is my thinking and I stand to be corrected, that the plant itself developed the narcotic effect to ward off predators. Natural selection took place pre humanity solely for the plants survival. This is where the evolutionary path change topic entered the picture.....I argued that human selection has altered the path somewhat in reverse where consumption of the plant combined with human interests has actually improved the survival chances of the species. MJ no longer needs to prevent its consumption through narcotic affect, being consumed is actually beneficial. 

I suppose I could compare it to plants that distribute their seeds via droppings of animals that eat their fruit or selective breeding of animals for traits we find to our liking. What would happened to organisms favoured or bred by humans if we just disappeared or if it fell out of favour....would it return to its original evolutionary path or be weakened by our interference?


Whether it was Cannabis sativa or an ancestral precursor, the original marijuana plant -- as in completely untainted by the human selection and cultivation that's been going on for thousands of years -- was probably deficient in today's degree of psychoactive chemicals. Similar to industrial hemp and its "ditch weed" version gone wild, and feral Cannabis ruderalis, that are both largely useless for producing highs.

While Cannabis sativa has been deliberately bred for centuries to produce significant levels of THC (psychoactive effect), it would probably degenerate to a status close to the other two varieties if it ever escaped to the wild for prolonged decades and centuries without humans encountering it to be harvested or destroyed.
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