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johnthewiseyesterday at 10:57 AM1 replyview on HN

It's more of a function of selection pressure applied to genes per unit time based on some environmental factor, so you'd expect to observe less evolution in narrower timescales simply because it takes few decades for humans to pass on genes versus bacteria or viruses. In the same fashion, if some gene pool is locally optimal(?) against the environmental pressures, it may just stop evolving meaningfully. E.g, If male baldness were reversed easily with a pill or something, the environmental pressure to select those genes would decrease rapidly.


Replies

asdffyesterday at 7:49 PM

You can have evolution even within your own lifetime. Cancer progression, for example, is governed by selective pressures on the tumor.