> Any mutation that makes it "less troublesome" on average would be favoured.
That's correct, but, from my understanding, revolutionary mutations are orders of magnitude less likely to happen than evolutionary mutations.
Everyone has an appendix, so there's no natural selection pressure where non-appendix people are breeding to further the spread of non-appendix humans. Just thinking out loud here - I reckon the way it would have to go would be if the appendix was a significant disadvantage, and people with a less sensitive/smaller/less prominent/something-like-that appendix were able to survive more easily or have more children on average, then you might selection pressures moving towards a less prominent and eventually no appendix.
It could happen, but it'd take a long time. Actually, one that fascinates me is what effect modern medicine and technology will have on evolution. Greater mobility is seeing children with a more mixed and diverse hereditary mix. Beyond that though, longer life cycles and better medical treatment might mean both slower and less evolution. I'd expect a lot of positive effects from interbreeding of different peoples over the next 500 years, but I reckon, sadly, that things like aggression won't be genetically bred out of us any time soon by being selected for less. Interesting stuff to think about.
That's correct, but, from my understanding, revolutionary mutations are orders of magnitude less likely to happen than evolutionary mutations.
Everyone has an appendix, so there's no natural selection pressure where non-appendix people are breeding to further the spread of non-appendix humans. Just thinking out loud here - I reckon the way it would have to go would be if the appendix was a significant disadvantage, and people with a less sensitive/smaller/less prominent/something-like-that appendix were able to survive more easily or have more children on average, then you might selection pressures moving towards a less prominent and eventually no appendix.
It could happen, but it'd take a long time. Actually, one that fascinates me is what effect modern medicine and technology will have on evolution. Greater mobility is seeing children with a more mixed and diverse hereditary mix. Beyond that though, longer life cycles and better medical treatment might mean both slower and less evolution. I'd expect a lot of positive effects from interbreeding of different peoples over the next 500 years, but I reckon, sadly, that things like aggression won't be genetically bred out of us any time soon by being selected for less. Interesting stuff to think about.