Evolution as a whole is has clearly been speeding up recently—due to the current mass extinction, the evolution of intelligent design, genetic engineering, etc. Today we are witnessing an unprecedented rate of evolutionary change. Just look out of your window.
We are witnessing many extinctions. That’s a loss of information, not a gain of information. But, yes, massive disturbances and relocations increase the rate of evolution, all else being equal.
If you refer to the “pace of evolution” I should hope that mass extinctions count as rapid evolution. The gene frequencies there are changing pretty rapidly.
If you mean to refer to some other kind of metric, you should probably be more specific—for example, you might want to consider talking about “constructive evolution”—or something similar.
Don’t call it “evolution”, then—or people will get very confused. Evolution is about change—not about gain or loss. Check with the definition of the term.
Evolution as a whole is has clearly been speeding up recently—due to the current mass extinction, the evolution of intelligent design, genetic engineering, etc. Today we are witnessing an unprecedented rate of evolutionary change. Just look out of your window.
For the human genome, perhaps see: Human evolution is ‘speeding up’
We are witnessing many extinctions. That’s a loss of information, not a gain of information. But, yes, massive disturbances and relocations increase the rate of evolution, all else being equal.
If you refer to the “pace of evolution” I should hope that mass extinctions count as rapid evolution. The gene frequencies there are changing pretty rapidly.
If you mean to refer to some other kind of metric, you should probably be more specific—for example, you might want to consider talking about “constructive evolution”—or something similar.
I wouldn’t. That’s just loss. If your planet was hit by a supernova, would you call that rapid evolution?
I’ve been quite specific. I’m talking about the accumulation of information in the DNA of all organisms.
Don’t call it “evolution”, then—or people will get very confused. Evolution is about change—not about gain or loss. Check with the definition of the term.