Le Feb/12/2020 Ã* 07:00, Jeff Findley a écritÂ*:
In article ,
says...

The TV series "The Expanse" was one of the first science fiction series
depicting "human" who grew up on mars unable to function in higher
gravity of Earth without period of adaptation.

Yes.

Evolution would likely also make such beings more and more different
than humans.

There are differing points of view on this topic, but I'm of the opinion
(and some experts in the applicable fields agree) that modern medicine
has virtually eliminated natural selection in humans. Using modern
medical practices (vaccines, medicine, operations, advanced neonatal
care, and etc), we save the lives of countless millions that would have
otherwise died long before procreating. Therefore, humans have largely
short-circuited evolution due to modern medical care.

Evolution is much more than the elimination of deleterious genes. Take
for example cystic fibrosis, an autosomal recessive disorder for which
people afflicted 70 years ago typically lived less than a year.
Therefore those with two copies of the deleterious gene couldn't pass it
on to the (non existent) next generation. Today life expectancy is about
50 years and female patients have no problem conceiving. Males have more
difficulty but can have biological children through artificial
insemination. That means that the alleles that cause cystic fibrosis
will become more frequent. The genetic makeup of humanity is changing.
That is evolution. It used to be that those with two deleterious copies
of the gene for the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator
(what causes cystic fibrosis) were not fit for survival. The environment
has changed, they are now fit for survival, humanity evolves because of
the environment change.

Another example of evolution. Fertility rates and population growth in
Africa is much higher than just about every where else in the world.
That means that once again the genetic makeup of humanity is changing.
In the future there will be more of the alleles which are more frequent
in Africa.

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.

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. 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.


Alain Fournier