Prolonging Evolution
- March 18th, 2011
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Today I walked to the gym at my apartment complex under the cover of dawn. I thought as I walked. I really should do some peck exercises today. I regularly do a full range of different things in the gym to try and keep my body in shape. Ive always had this thing where my abs were more important than my pecks. Feel like I need to keep my core going to keep my body mobile.
As I pull the weights this way and that with my arms I could feel my pectoralis muscles flex and tighten. Mostly a calming warmth but building to a burn at the top of my reps. As I stopped to breathe I found myself wondering why I was working out my pecks. Some might say well obviously to keep your arms strong. Or even to balance my rippling abs with my miniscule pecks. Personally I came to the conclusion it was the later. Was I supposed to build my pecks bigger for a reason? Regardless of why my mind convinced me to focus on my pecks the actions in general had me thinking. Why are we all in the gyms across the US?
We go about our daily lives taking actions and accomplishing everything we need. This should be enough to keep our bodies in shape. The muscles I use every day are the muscles I need strong. This should develop us into the beings for which we are striving. By going to the gym I am instead keeping my body in a balanced state. I am attempting to be fully capable and useful in every situation. Isn’t this fighting my nature as a human?
The way we have evolved to the humans we are today is by developing certain traits that further our survival or help make us specifically better at certain tasks. We developed opposable thumbs be cause it helped us manipulate objects. This made it easier to eat and perform daily tasks. I wonder if there was a group of primates that so intensely worked on doing things the same way that they never developed these useful traits and it never moved on to their offspring. I think there were and today we call them primates. They didn’t evolve, they are still doing things the way they always have. By focusing on building and fortifying muscles and body parts we don’t regularly use we may be preventing development of our future beings.
As many types of human beings with many different focus points and physical abilities arise we are already becoming highly diversified. This diversifying is spreading us to many different types of humans. Certain people are good at certain things and horrible at others. Short guys are inherently worse at basketball than hide and seek. Depending upon what you spend your time doing you may develop traits that your offspring will inherit.
By keeping my body balanced its a sure thing I won’t be a gymnast or a distance runner without a lot of training and adjustment.Though it is possible to change. Its also sure I won’t be a fat couch potato or a sumo wrestler. However the traits I most intensely focus and work on will be transmitted in seed to my offspring as well as imprinted visually as they grow. Thus creating another being with similar traits. Our society allows for freedom though.
Once the offspring are 15-18 years old they will begin their own journey and focus. If they keep the same path as I they could become highly similar and skilled in the same traits. Same goes for some one with an intense focus on huge muscles or certain specific skills. As this goes on there could be larger and larger diversities in peoples strengths and weaknesses. This could separate us into whole new categories of beings. This of course leaves out an entire different important argument of mental acuities.
This is just what was on my mind this morning. Being whole and balanced may be prolonging your evolution. You will not follow a path but rather be a base model human. This leaves you behind and puts you in closer comparison of base human to evolved human much like current human to primate.
