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Mutation: Difference between revisions
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In terms of human intelligence and mental function, it has been asserted that [[IQ|general intelligence]] has declined due to increasing mutational load in the human genome, though deleterious mutations appear to only account for up to 7% of the secular decline in general intellgence. Other factors, such as a general negative correlation between intelligence and fertility (particularly among women) and the pollution of the environment with neurotoxins that disrupt brain function and development post-industrialization, appear to be more to blame for this apparent decline in general intelligence, a decrease that appears independent of secular increases in IQ test scores due to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect Flynn Effect].<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886915301161</ref> | In terms of human intelligence and mental function, it has been asserted that [[IQ|general intelligence]] has declined due to increasing mutational load in the human genome, though deleterious mutations appear to only account for up to 7% of the secular decline in general intellgence. Other factors, such as a general negative correlation between intelligence and fertility (particularly among women) and the pollution of the environment with neurotoxins that disrupt brain function and development post-industrialization, appear to be more to blame for this apparent decline in general intelligence, a decrease that appears independent of secular increases in IQ test scores due to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect Flynn Effect].<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886915301161</ref> | ||
<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4788123/#bib64</ref> Some researchers have also argued factors that decrease deleterious mutational load in populations, such as reductions in the rate of [[inbreeding depression|inbreeding]] and pre-natal therapeutic fetus selection (the abortion of offspring with severe abnormalities revealed through pre-birth screening) may serve to counteract these effects somewhat.<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323320480_Relaxed_selection_and_mutation_accumulation_are_best_studied_empirically_Reply_to_Woodley_of_Menie_et_al</ref> | <ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4788123/#bib64</ref> Some researchers have also argued factors that decrease deleterious mutational load in populations, such as reductions in the rate of [[inbreeding depression|inbreeding]] and pre-natal therapeutic fetus selection (the [[abortion]] of offspring with severe abnormalities revealed through pre-birth screening) may serve to counteract these effects somewhat.<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323320480_Relaxed_selection_and_mutation_accumulation_are_best_studied_empirically_Reply_to_Woodley_of_Menie_et_al</ref> | ||
Mutational load may not be related to economic status very much. On the one hand, less mutated individuals are expected to rise higher in the socioeconomic hierarchy. On the other hand, the elite has a slightly lower infant mortality rates, milder living conditions and sometimes engages in excessive inbreeding, which may lead to the lower classes (who had been under conditions of Darwinian selection for longer, due to their lower standard of living) to be less mutated. Also, higher mutational load is only weakly related to certain traits important for socioeconomic success, such as general intelligence,<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886915301161</ref> so one would expect that a lot of these highly mutated individuals would still be able to attain positions of social and economic influence. | Mutational load may not be related to economic status very much. On the one hand, less mutated individuals are expected to rise higher in the socioeconomic hierarchy. On the other hand, the elite has a slightly lower infant mortality rates, milder living conditions and sometimes engages in excessive inbreeding, which may lead to the lower classes (who had been under conditions of Darwinian selection for longer, due to their lower standard of living) to be less mutated. Also, higher mutational load is only weakly related to certain traits important for socioeconomic success, such as general intelligence,<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886915301161</ref> so one would expect that a lot of these highly mutated individuals would still be able to attain positions of social and economic influence. | ||