In article , says...
So, why would humans on Mars make this any different? Are humans on
Mars going to abandon modern medicine? Why would they ever do that?

If you change the environment (Mars is a different environment) it is
likely that some traits will produce more offspring than others
relatively to the previous environment.

Production of offspring is one aspect of natural selection. Another is
offspring dying before procreating. Humans have mucked with both
(fertility treatments and modern neonatal care). Natural selection in
humans has been greatly diminished by modern health care.

Evolution, in the biological sense, is not about a species developing
abilities that someone thinks are better. It is not about becoming
stronger, more intelligent, more beautiful... It is about survival of
the fittest. If having alleles that cause cystic fibrosis works in your
environment, you can evolve towards that.

You're talking out of both sides of your mouth here. I snipped the part
where you said modern medicine allows people with cystic fibrosis to
live much longer and procreate more often than they did before. I'd
argue that the impact of modern medicine on cystic fibrosis swamps the
impact that natural selection might still have.

If a species is in an
environment where being more intelligent makes it more fit, then it will
evolve towards more intelligence. If a species is in an environment
where being stupid makes you more fit, it will evolve towards stupidity.

You are arguing for natural selection. Again, modern medicine short
circuits that by keeping less intelligent humans alive. Furthermore,
studies have shown that college educated humans tend to have fewer
offspring than non-college educated humans. Again, this goes completely
against natural selection. In fact, it's the opening sequence of the
movie Idiocracy (not that I'm saying we're going to get Idiocracy).

Jeff
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