I found it fascinating, and it makes a lot of sense. It doesn't change anything for hippies, but it might help be an answer to "why". There doesn't seem to be a lot of other sense - you can fall victim to joint problems whether you are fit or a coach potato, and blaming genes for OA doesn't really work either.... And I know that there is now a consensus that a number of spinal problems are a result of the fact that our spines haven't yet evolved fully for walking upright - if we had been designed to walk upright our spinal ought to be different!
And that is probably our fault! "Dogs" are not supposed to be "small". They are supposed to be wolves! We have mucked around with evolution something chronic on dogs Did you know that most breeds of dogs have been created within the last 200 years? We don't really know what the "dog", as in something that evolved in the wild and has not been subject to human intervention in its genetics, looks like.
Canis Familiaris is a very recent development - quite possibly a newer species than its companion Homo Sapiens. There is evidence of dogs being buried with people from almost 15,000 years ago (although whether they were companions our favorite meals isn't clear!). There may be evidence they were around 36,000 years ago, but that date is hotly disputed.
And don't get me started... I am most of the way through my professional qualification in dog behaviorism, which is my retirement plan!
Anyway, the report doesn't say that arthritis is not a condition that wouldn't arise naturally as a result of aging. It was about why it is on the rise - and with people being younger and younger. Did you know, for example, that hunter gatherer societies showed evidence of good diets which meant that their average height was around 5ft 9 inches with robust skeletons? And that the average height dropped by about four inches once agriculture was discovered and only regained the height and strong skeletal structure in the last 50 years or so? So over a period of only a few decades, without even thinking about obesity as a factor, or body weight has increased massively because of additional "infrastructure" and height. That had to have a huge impact on us.
As Mr Spock would say - fascinating! I just find it all so interesting...
Thanks for sharing! Very Interesting dicussion. I'm sure there are a combination of factors that include evolution, genetics and the way we live today that lead homo sapiens to increased joint issues. The human body will continue to evolve based on how we use our bodies in the future. However, natural selection will not be able to play out (as it has earlier in homo s. evolution) since medical technology allows correction of the defective joints and the ability of people to reproduce and pass on the shortcomings of poorly designed joints to the next generation.
In a more robust application of the theory of natural selection, people with defective joints wouldn't survive in an unforgiving world and thus wouldn't be able to pass on the defective joints whether due to genetics (OA) or skeletal evolution based on how we use our bodies.
A similar evolutionay scenario is being played out with the human birth canal and the increased size of the human head due to our bigger brains.
So, thank goodness to modern medical technology...
I'm not sure I would always agree with that. I think that being able to "correct" medical issues is a good thing. But natural selection serves a purpose, and if we bypass it, there are consequences. Some of them won't be good. Going back to the example of dogs, because this is really the field in which we learned to play with genetics, even before we knew what genetics were, we have bred types of dogs that cannot breath well, cannot see well, and cannot hear well - for our vanity. We have dogs prone to disease and physical ill health just because of the genetics we played with. Even our good intentions don't always work out as we hope. The guy who bred the labradoodle - as a guide dog for a blind person with allergies - had said he wished he had never done it, and he felt like Frankenstein, because of the Pandora's box he'd opened.
So yes, I agree that medical science is able to achieve wonderful things now. But I wonder what it is storing up for us. We learned how to kill bacteria in hospitals - and created super bugs resistant to our treatments. We have lovely toasty warm houses with double and triple glazing and central heating - and higher levels of asthma than we have ever had. Medical science may be learning to "fix" us - but at the same time maybe we are making ourselves weaker. I do wonder what the future holds with this unprecedented rate of change.
I agree with you. I am saying is that natural selection is being by-passed/ short circuited through advances in medical tech. This is not good as you point out.
Bacteria is good example of how natural selection will work against us. The process will continue to evolve bacteria that are resistant to our med tech advances to kill it. Natural selection will always be one step ahead. However, in the case of homo s., we have nullified natural selection because we allow defects (genetics, skeletal evolution) to be passed on where under normal circumstances (i.e. natural selection wo/ med tech intervention) those individuals carrying those defects would not survive.
Med tech allows us to live with our shortcomings while at the same time short circuiting natural selection.
So, I don't know what the future hold for homo s., what track our evolution will take when we are artifically selecting against natural selection. Yes, we are making ourselves weaker.
It is a Pandora's box.... interesting discussion we won't be able to get all the answers here...