SC - Palladius #9

[Ian van Tets]

In a message dated 7/16/98 8:05:54 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
dy018 at freenet.carleton.ca writes:

<< Now I may be out of my element here but given the fact that were are
 a biologically evolving species I just bet we may have had a whole different
 system of flora and fauna in our systems then than now. Perhaps coping with
 the "little beasties" was easier then? Does anyone know the differences
 between "then and now" as far as our resistance is concerned?
  >>

In the web of life, a few hundred years is not enough time for evolution to
any impact on the human organism at least not in the way you describe. I would
suspect that with modern practices such as immunization and extreme sanitary
conditions, the opposite is true. Many modern people that now survive would
have died of natural causes in the MA, winnowing out the weak and those with
little or no resistance to normal disease such as whooping cough, measles,
mumps, polio, assorted poxes (chicken and cow), and pneumonia all of which I
have had and survived to tell this tale. OTH, I recieved vaccinations for
small-pox, typhoid, and a couple of other nasties which I forget. Other causes
of death would have been tetenus, life threatening allergies, diabetes, tape
and round worm, tick fever, fungus infestations, diptheria, leperosy, etc.

Given the list  above, I would think that even if the gentic superiority
premise of modern man is taken as a serious thought, it becomes rather evident
that our current survival rates are artificially induced by modern medical
practices not genetics. In fact, I would go so far as to say, that modern man
is weaker and allows potentially defective people to survive and multiply
thereby weakening the gentic pool instead of strengthening it.

Another observation is that up until the middle of this century, having 8, 9,
10 or more children was not unusual but rather the norm for the express
purpose of being able to have a couple of your children survive into
adulthood. Those survivors would have been superior with regards to immunities
and natural ability to fight off disease iorganisms and other nasties.

Sadly, I can only opine that we , indeed, are a weak version of humanity when
viewed in the context of history.

al-Sayyid A'aql (pronounced Ras), AoA, OSyc
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