I think this is super cool. Genetic proof of a 1st generation interbreeeding between two species or sub-species of humans. The article says species, but my extremely limited biological reading makes me wonder about their word choice.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-bri ... d-species/



Genetics is going to be one of the things that completely changes the future from what we see today. If we survive long enough, I mean.
It's going to be a much bigger seachange than the discovery and broad use of electricity or technology. Things that we haven't even imagined in our everyday lives will be taken for granted in the future. If we survive long enough, I mean.


Regarding my quibble with their use of the word "species" :

Spoiler: show

Quote:

And while many researchers refer to Neanderthals and Denisovans as species separate from us and each other, the term may not be quite accurate. Pääbo says that he and his team avoid the term altogether, because there’s no clear definition of what makes a species. After all, one of the most common definitions holds that different species cannot produce viable offspring together, something that’s clearly not true. Pääbo and his team use the term “group” in their paper, a term that avoids the ideological baggage of the species debate.

“I think that there will never be an answer to that because people will always have different opinions on what is a species,” he says. “I think it’s not really an interesting question to discuss.”

So.... I've heard that interbreeding has helped sustain our species as the variant DNA introduced in a gene pool brings with it certain survival traits (resistance to certain bacteria, or the ability to digest certain foods etc) and prevent the genetic dead ends that close inbreeding begets...

but I wonder... as super fast and efficient transportation works to bring about a more regular interbreeding of populations, will that beneficial effect ultimately be eliminated?

Here's my uneducated guess... It'll be offset by the rapid transit of all sorts of new viruses and bacteria.

Bugs can screw faster than we can. Whaddayathink?

Weak traits get passed as quickly or more so than the stronger traits (more opportunity for weakness "errors") but our modern medicine keeps even the very weak alive long enough to breed and pass down their genes.
For this reason, I was under the impression that mankind had effectively halted the natural "thinning of the herd" due to weakness... That we had conquered survival of the fittest. Another indicator of this was the propensity of highly educated and/or intelligent people to have fewer children, and of all others to have more children.
The group "all other" would also include highly intelligent people, but at a lower proportion than their
I remember reading recently a paper by a female geneticist who made a strong argument that evolution of human DNA was actually accelerating, opposite of my thoughts. It seemed like a good argument, but biology is almost magic to me, so I can't form a reasoned position. Just have to trust my betters on it.

But genetics... Is like super complicated computer programming, and that I can wrap my head around.
In the near future geneticists will be able to build "designer" organisms; laws and ethics will be ignored. Bank on it.
As a few decades go by we'll see specialized animals with super sense of smell, hearing, eyesight, higher IQ, thicker fur, thinner fur, etc...
And not too much time past that (if at all) our children will be seeing humans with these changes. Enhancements. Abominations. Whatever they'll be called, they'll happen if we survive long enough.