Is the Human Race Still Evolving? (Research Paper Sample)

Is the Human Race Still Evolving?
Sample Paper
12th March, 2014
Evolution of the Human Race
The human species has taken millions of years to evolve from the apes. Springer and Holley (2012) observe that the increasing ability of human beings to alter their natural external environment has led to the debate on whether natural selection or Darwinism still plays an essential role in the human species evolution. On one end of the spectrum, is the school of thought that human beings are the only species that has been able to put a halt to the process of natural selection through technological innovation that has allowed them to alter their environment for survival. At the other end of the argument, is the contention that humans are still evolving and will continue to do so into the future, in spite of the drastic advances in agriculture, technology, and reproduction behaviours. This paper seeks to argue that natural selection is an inevitable and inherent aspect of the evolutionary process, and that it continues to impact on the ongoing evolution of the human species.
Many social scientists and evolutionary psychologists firmly believe that human evolution stopped 10,000 years ago. However, Springer and Holley (2012) argue that the best way to understand human evolution is not only to study the evolutionary process of the pre-agricultural era, but to also examine the modern day developments that bear the evidence of ongoing human evolution. The emergence and spread of resistance alleles against malaria is a case in point that indicates the continuing evolution of the human genome. Malaria is believed to have afflicted the human race for about 100,000 years, and has caused the deaths of millions of people across the globe. However, humans have gradually developed genetic traits that help them to resist the Plasmodium falciparum, which is a fatal malaria-causing parasite (Churchward, 2012).
A large majority of researchers in the field of sociology and theology hold the opinion that evolution can only be conceptualized within the substantial changes that human beings underwent from being hunter-gatherers to farmers, beyond that, there is no further evidence of evolution (Oubre, 2013). According to this school of thought, evolution is not a visible, tangible, and substantial process making it an invalid theory. However, Churchward (2012) disagrees, and asserts that evolution is generally a slow exponential process that has significantly accelerated over the years as new discoveries emerge. The continuity of humans to develop new technologies and to uncover fresh information has not necessarily changed the human genome, but has altered man’s capacity to adapt to the changing natural external environment.
Oubre (2013) further observes that natural selection coupled with artificial technologies, such as genetic engineering offer endless possibilities for human evolution. Today, utero enhancements have allowed mothers to give birth to children who are free of inheritable diseases. From an evolutionary point of view, these gene alterations are paving way for future generations that will not succumb to inherited diseases, and the need for numerous vaccinations against deadly infectious diseases. Scientists even foresee the possibility of modifications in height and physical appearance. Such changes...