Who will get evolution moving forward?

By Dana Blankenhorn | Jul 30, 2009 |

Evolution has been running backward ever since hunters replaced predators in the natural order.

Hunters kill the young, the strong, the beautiful. Real predators kill the young and stupid, the old and weak. Hunters weaken every species they go for. Predators strengthen them.

The key to getting evolution going forward, then, is to find a place for natural predation in our remaining wild places.

One place where they are studying this is Texas A&M University in Kingsville. Prof. Mike Tewes uses the famous King Ranch as part of his living laboratory on feline ecology, specifically ocelots and jaguares, the latter being housecat-sized animals native to Mexico.

As we learn what natural predators need, we can learn to accommodate them. Then they and their prey will do the rest, adapting to the other changes man makes in the climate, maintaining biodiversity, moving evolution forward instead of backward.

It’s important work. It’s not especially technology intensive, unless you consider radio collars to be high-tech. Dr. Tewes could probably use some of the networked motes Intel has been working with, but I don’t know if he is interested.

Point is this work is vital, and I will be out of touch part of next month making a contribution to it.

The contribution is named Robin (above). She turned 21 this year. She is my daughter. And I am very proud of her.

Ever since she was a little kid Robin has said her goal was to “work with wild cats, in the wild or in zoos.” She has recited it the last decade almost as a mantra. And next month she begins that work, starting as an undergraduate, then (hopefully) joining formally as a a graduate student under Dr. Tewes.

This is a small, personal, fairly non-technical story. Why bother the smart readers of SmartPlanet with it?

Because environmental studies are vital to our future on this planet. We will need many programs like that of Dr. Tewes if we’re to learn what we need to know in order to get evolution moving forward again. It is the work of many lifetimes, work well worth doing.

And if someday you have a son or daughter who chooses to engage in it, you will find your life has taken on a much greater meaning.

 
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    dedrizen

    08/03/09 | Report as spam

    Natural selection needs us to get out of the equation

    First, I will qualify that I don't follow the philosophy, or belief system, known as evolution. That being said, I do agree that mankind has seriously done damage to the natural order of things. We've destroyed predators critical to the health of various populations of animals, all because we thought to protect the prey. Now natural selection is out of balance and sick animals that would have been food are now the very stock that propagates the next generation. We try to correct with hunting or other means of destroying numbers of animals. We even apply methods of reducing reproduction. These new methods of intervening only seem to make the situation worse. Instead of talking of moving forward evolution, I would suggest we talk about restoring the lost balance. Unfortunately, we need to remember that a lot of intervention has only made things worse. If we truly want balance, we have to accept that not everything will be perfect. Why? Because it seems the more we try to force perfection upon nature, the more we do just the opposite and destroy the balance. So, some species will be lost. Some predators might not be suitable to be returned to the environments they once occupied, as we may have altered the environment beyond what once worked for them. I do believe we should take responsibility for our mistakes. We should try and find a new balance from what once was. I just don't want us to try and enforce evolution. Do we want to be the Hitlers of the animal kingdom? He gave a bad name to enforced human evolution.

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    JTF243@...

    08/03/09 | Report as spam

    Dana shoots his mouth off - - AGAIN

    When you state that "Hunters kill the young, the strong, the beautiful", you demonstrate once more that you are speaking of something of which you have NO PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE! Hunters do NOT take the young as the young do not have the size or growth that we desire and admire. Most of the larger game animals taken are the older, larger specimens, many of which are nearing the end of their lives. In many instances, some hunters choose to harvest an animal that has already deteriorated from its peak, clearing out the old, the weak, or the sick, in much the same way that other predators would, if they were around.
    Some hunters even choose to take those older animals as they frequently display traits that make them truly unique. But, even if they harvest an animal in its prime, the hunters are only able to do that if the animal has done something STUPID! That removes them from the gene pool which then benefits the rest of the animals as the smarter ones survive.
    Man was told that we have "dominion" over the earth and, in removing so many of the predators that we used to view as "competitors", we must now take action to replace the predators with ourselves. With the way that we have overwhelmed their habitats, re-introducing those predators in many areas is NOT FEASIBLE because, as many in California are learning to their dismay, the predators find easier pickings in US and our PETS than in their natural prey.
    Dana, it's time for you to SIT DOWN AND SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!!

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John Dodge

John Dodge has answered the call of journalism for 33 years, most of the time covering technology, engineering and business. While he's run magazines, newsweeklies and web sites, reporting and writing always took up half his time. He has have plied his craft at the WSJ, Boston Globe, PC Week (now eWeek), EDN, Design News, Electronic Business, Bio-IT World, Health-IT World, the Lowell Sun, Haverhill Gazette and Newburyport Daily News. He would have like to have been around when Boston supported seven or more newspapers (1940s) and while steam locomotives still pulled trains, but that era was nearly over by the time he raced into the world. That said, he has been blogging and shooting and editing video, writing for web and other online contents tasks for years now.

He has won numerous journalism awards in the past two years, including two Eddie Golds, one Neal finalist and the IEEE Award for Distinguished Journalism all for his reporting and coverage of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Besides his family and myriad hobbies, reporting and writing is why he gets up in the morning. His personal blog focuses on netbooks and is called The Dodge Retort.

John Dodge

John Dodge prides himself on completely independent journalism. His opinions, observations and reporting are not influenced by any financial holdings. He holds no shares in computer, electronics, software or Internet companies. He also has no business affiliations with organizations except with those for which he creates content as a freelancer.

Dana Blankenhorn

Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for nearly 25 years and has covered the online world professionally since 1985. He founded the Interactive Age Daily for CMP Media, and has written for the Chicago Tribune, Advertising Age's "NetMarketing" supplement, and dozens of other publications over the years.

Dana Blankenhorn

Dana Blankenhorn has been a technology reporter since 1982, a business reporter since 1978, and a writer for as long as he can remember. His Schwab IRA has a few tech stocks in it, most notably some Intel and Applied Materials bought over 10 years ago. But the vast majority of his tiny fortune (emphasis on the word tiny) is invested in mutual funds. He presently writes for no one else but ZDNet, SmartPlanet and himself. But if you've got an opportunity let him know. If he takes the gig he"ll first add it to this disclosure page.
The Thinking Tech blog focuses on technologies such as virtualization, smart electric grids, enterprise 2.0, open source, data center management, green technology and the intersection between the innovation and application of these advancements.