Humans Evolve at Minuscule Rates Over Thousands of Years

[Prometheus]

Ey what is dis BS. A course humans is WAY more sophistictated an highly evolved now

You think a ford model T could drag race a buggati veyron? A hunnid years ago kids played wit rocks today kids use sophistctated electronix. U think a kid from the 18 hunnids would know how to operate a PS4?!?!

jesse owens wouldnt place on my junior high track team f outta hear wit dis "humans dont evolve" shit. A thousand years ago cave men was 5 feet tall an dragged they knuckles an aint know how to soe clothes. But nah we don evolve

Yes, evolution is real, and it has left you behind.

[Milbuck]

Ey what is dis BS. A course humans is WAY more sophistictated an highly evolved now

You think a ford model T could drag race a buggati veyron? A hunnid years ago kids played wit rocks today kids use sophistctated electronix. U think a kid from the 18 hunnids would know how to operate a PS4?!?!

jesse owens wouldnt place on my junior high track team f outta hear wit dis "humans dont evolve" shit. A thousand years ago cave men was 5 feet tall an dragged they knuckles an aint know how to soe clothes. But nah we don evolve

So many points being made.

[navy]

What is this shit?

[Im so nba'd out]

Can we at least agree that african americans are more athletic than white americans OP NBA wise?

[Warfan]

So many points being made.

Probably Fresh Kid/wilds09 best alt, ill let that speak for itself...


Did lol @ '18 hunnids' though

[deja vu]

Steroids.

[deja vu]

OK?

LeBron is bigger, 50 pounds heavier, and faster end to end, the fact that he can still jump at least as high should tell you something



And where were all the athletic pg's of the previous decades?

John Starks is the only athletic Pg I can think of from the previous era's

Wheres the westbrooks, d rose's, john walls of the past

heck kyrie irving is probably more athletic than any pg of the previous eras

80s and 90s were weak eras for steroids.

[GODbe]

...The 1900s featured nothing but weak eras and inflated stats. At some point you're going to have to accept that and move on gramps.

[deja vu]

Ey what is dis BS. A course humans is WAY more sophistictated an highly evolved now

You think a ford model T could drag race a buggati veyron? A hunnid years ago kids played wit rocks today kids use sophistctated electronix. U think a kid from the 18 hunnids would know how to operate a PS4?!?!

jesse owens wouldnt place on my junior high track team f outta hear wit dis "humans dont evolve" shit. A thousand years ago cave men was 5 feet tall an dragged they knuckles an aint know how to soe clothes. But nah we don evolve

What a Neanderthal type of knowledge.

[LAZERUSS]

While we are continually improving medicine and technology, I find it interesting that...

In the 50's and 60's there were a PLETHORA of pitchers that not only had seasons of 300+ innings pitched, they pitched for MANY seasons. Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, Waren Spahn, Juan Marichal, Don Drysdale, Steve Carlton, Mickey Lolich, and Wilbur Wood. And late in the 60's, perhaps the hardest thrower in MLB history arrived. Nolan Ryan pitched for 27 years, and in some, not only well over 300 IP, but if you were to calculate his walks and strikeouts, he was throwing an enormous amount of pitches. In the 8th inning of a game in 1974 (I believe), he was clocked at 101 MPH (on a slow gun), and after he had thrown 162 pitches.

Today's pitchers pitch once every 5-6 days, and routinely go 6-7 IP, and are usually pulled after around 110-120 pitches. And yet, we are constantly witnessing the current crop of pitchers experiencing arm injuries.

And how about some track-and-field records? Most noticeably the long jump. In 1968 Bob Beamon set the record at 29' 2". It wasn't until 1991 that that record was finally broken, with a leap of 29' 4"...which is STILL the current record.

Not only that, but today's track stars have much better shoes, run on pristine surfaces, and have supposedly much better training. When Bob Hayes anchored the US 4x100 relay team in 1964, he used a pair of borrowed shoes, and ran on a track that was the equivalent of a plowed field. Give him all the benefits of modern technology, and I suspect that he would have given Bolt all he could handle. Of course, who knows...but perhaps Bolt is one of those "once-in-a-generation" athletes, as well.

And am I the only one who has wondered why Jim Brown was "only" averaging 5.2 ypc in his career? The man was 6-2, 230 lbs, and a sprinter. He was close to Bo Jackson in physical abilities, and yet, in an era of much smaller, and presumably much weaker, as well as slower football players...just how in the hell did his era "contain" him so much?

BTW, does anyone here honestly believe that Tiki Barber was a better running back than say, Brown, or OJ, or Hershel, or Eric Dickerson, or Bo? He certainly wasn't as big, nor as fast. And to be honest, Adrian Peterson isn't any bigger, nor any faster than any of them, either. So, does anyone REALLY believe that Peterson would have been even more dominant in the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's?

And some of us here have pondered Gus Johnson. Here was a guy that was 6-6, 230 lbs, and likely had a vertical the equal of MJ's. Furthermore, there is sufficient evidence of his skill levels on YouTube. He actually had a text-book jump shot from up to 18 feet. And yet, with all of that almost unreal athleticism and skill, he had ONE 20 ppg (and just barely), and aside from ONE 17 rpg season, there was really nothing extraordinary about his career.

And as has been proven, today's players are, at the most, just SLIGHTLY taller than they were even as far back as Wilt's 50 ppg season. Not only that, but given the current measuring system (in shoes), they are likely NO taller than they were in Chamberlain's '62 season.

And we have video footage of Chamberlain, Kareem, Reed, Thurmond, West, Oscar, Dr. J, David Thompson, Gilmore, Lanier, Cowens, Lucas, Pistol Pete, et. al, and I don't see any of the current era being any more physically talented, nor skilled.

If there were some truth to this great evolution, where are the 7-5 Magic Johnson's? How come we haven't had a player like Shaq, well,...since Shaq? Wouldn't this world population explosion have given us MANY Shaq's, Hakeem's, Bird's, Magic's, MJ's, Kareem's, and Wilt's?

And with all of the advancements in training and technology, how come the current NBA doesn't shoot FTs any better than those of the late 50's (nor as good as as those of the mid-70's)? Wouldn't a simple FT be an automatic by now?

I'm sorry, but I just don't see it.

[3ball]

Wilt, although would still be great in today's league, would not be averaging 50 ppg

But he WOULD be averaging 30 ppg and doing the same thing Kareem, Olajuwon, and Shaq did, so they don't represent any advancement..

And that is the argument - that athleticism advances negligible amounts over the course of a short term period like a few decades.

The fact that big men are weaker today than in the 90's demonstrates the nature of short-term variance in athleticism progression - it takes thousands of years for humans to evolve materially, and there are ups and downs along the way.

If athleticism advanced as fast as everyone thinks it does, then players would already be dunking from the three-point line... But instead, the limit appears to be around the free-throw line, or a few inches behind, just like Jordan, Dr. J, or guys like Mike Conley used to do 25 years ago.

People always ask whether Larry Bird would make it in today's game.. Are Pippen, Rodman, Dominique and Worthy really any different than Durant, Leonard, George and Batum??.. PF's Lebron and Melo any different than Malone and Barkely??... Blake any different from Kemp??...

[nathanjizzle]

Its not about evolving as a specimen, its about learning the sport better. What happens is when you have something entirely new that is createted, you have the first generation of people to learn it, then the second gen takes what the first gen did and builds upon it, and it it keeps improving untill it cannot improve no more, then something new is invented

[Psileas]

But he WOULD be averaging 30 ppg and doing the same thing Kareem, Olajuwon, and Shaq did, so they don't represent any advancement..

And that is the argument - that athleticism advances negligible amounts over the course of a short term period like a few decades.

The fact that big men are weaker today than in the 90's demonstrates the nature of short-term variance in athleticism progression - it takes thousands of years for humans to evolve materially, and there are ups and downs along the way.

If athleticism advanced as fast as everyone thinks it does, then players would already be dunking from the three-point line... But instead, the limit appears to be around the free-throw line, or a few inches behind, just like Jordan, Dr. J, or guys like Mike Conley used to do 25 years ago.
People always ask whether Larry Bird would make it in today's game.. Are Pippen, Rodman, Dominique and Worthy really any different than Durant, Leonard, George and Batum??.. PF's Lebron and Melo any different than Malone and Barkely??... Blake any different from Kemp??...

If athleticism and size advanced as fast as many think, humans 2,000 years ago would be 1 foot tall midgets with 2-inch verticals.

[chocolatethunder]

OK?

LeBron is bigger, 50 pounds heavier, and faster end to end, the fact that he can still jump at least as high should tell you something



And where were all the athletic pg's of the previous decades?

John Starks is the only athletic Pg I can think of from the previous era's

Wheres the westbrooks, d rose's, john walls of the past

heck kyrie irving is probably more athletic than any pg of the previous eras

Except that he was a SG.

[Pointguard]

While we are continually improving medicine and technology, I find it interesting that...

In the 50's and 60's there were a PLETHORA of pitchers that not only had seasons of 300+ innings pitched, they pitched for MANY seasons. Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, Waren Spahn, Juan Marichal, Don Drysdale, Steve Carlton, Mickey Lolich, and Wilbur Wood. And late in the 60's, perhaps the hardest thrower in MLB history arrived. Nolan Ryan pitched for 27 years, and in some, not only well over 300 IP, but if you were to calculate his walks and strikeouts, he was throwing an enormous amount of pitches. In the 8th inning of a game in 1974 (I believe), he was clocked at 101 MPH (on a slow gun), and after he had thrown 162 pitches.

Today's pitchers pitch once every 5-6 days, and routinely go 6-7 IP, and are usually pulled after around 110-120 pitches. And yet, we are constantly witnessing the current crop of pitchers experiencing arm injuries.

And how about some track-and-field records? Most noticeably the long jump. In 1968 Bob Beamon set the record at 29' 2". It wasn't until 1991 that that record was finally broken, with a leap of 29' 4"...which is STILL the current record.

Not only that, but today's track stars have much better shoes, run on pristine surfaces, and have supposedly much better training. When Bob Hayes anchored the US 4x100 relay team in 1964, he used a pair of borrowed shoes, and ran on a track that was the equivalent of a plowed field. Give him all the benefits of modern technology, and I suspect that he would have given Bolt all he could handle. Of course, who knows...but perhaps Bolt is one of those "once-in-a-generation" athletes, as well.

And am I the only one who has wondered why Jim Brown was "only" averaging 5.2 ypc in his career? The man was 6-2, 230 lbs, and a sprinter. He was close to Bo Jackson in physical abilities, and yet, in an era of much smaller, and presumably much weaker, as well as slower football players...just how in the hell did his era "contain" him so much?

BTW, does anyone here honestly believe that Tiki Barber was a better running back than say, Brown, or OJ, or Hershel, or Eric Dickerson, or Bo? He certainly wasn't as big, nor as fast. And to be honest, Adrian Peterson isn't any bigger, nor any faster than any of them, either. So, does anyone REALLY believe that Peterson would have been even more dominant in the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's?

And some of us here have pondered Gus Johnson. Here was a guy that was 6-6, 230 lbs, and likely had a vertical the equal of MJ's. Furthermore, there is sufficient evidence of his skill levels on YouTube. He actually had a text-book jump shot from up to 18 feet. And yet, with all of that almost unreal athleticism and skill, he had ONE 20 ppg (and just barely), and aside from ONE 17 rpg season, there was really nothing extraordinary about his career.

And as has been proven, today's players are, at the most, just SLIGHTLY taller than they were even as far back as Wilt's 50 ppg season. Not only that, but given the current measuring system (in shoes), they are likely NO taller than they were in Chamberlain's '62 season.

And we have video footage of Chamberlain, Kareem, Reed, Thurmond, West, Oscar, Dr. J, David Thompson, Gilmore, Lanier, Cowens, Lucas, Pistol Pete, et. al, and I don't see any of the current era being any more physically talented, nor skilled.

If there were some truth to this great evolution, where are the 7-5 Magic Johnson's? How come we haven't had a player like Shaq, well,...since Shaq? Wouldn't this world population explosion have given us MANY Shaq's, Hakeem's, Bird's, Magic's, MJ's, Kareem's, and Wilt's?

And with all of the advancements in training and technology, how come the current NBA doesn't shoot FTs any better than those of the late 50's (nor as good as as those of the mid-70's)? Wouldn't a simple FT be an automatic by now?

I'm sorry, but I just don't see it.

Just had to bump this. Nothing else has to be said.