How we die: 1900 vs 2010

[Andrespetmonkey]

Soleron said:

Troll_Whisperer said:

...

So... because us humans are defying natural selection by curing people of deadly diseases that can be transmitted to the next generation (instead of letting these people die and not have children) we are getting more and more likely to get these diseases. Cool.

 

That would explain why there are more asthma, alergies, shortsighted people, etc. With my sight I should be dead if it wasn't for our modern society, and now my children may be in the same situation.

No. Doesn't work like that at all. Will take 500+ years (tens of generations) for natural selection to have this effect, if it even does.

Prevalance of asthma/sight problems isn't actually higher, but reporting of it is. People just dealt with it. I've read a plausible theory that increased allergies are due to lack of exposure at or around birth, i.e. our society is cleaner now.

Probably a combination of the two