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This chapter explores the profound effects of urbanization and industrialization on contemporary human populations. It discusses how increased mobility, pollution, and the use of mutagenic substances alter gene flow and mating patterns. The role of disease as a selective factor is examined, highlighting the shift in health dynamics from hunting-gathering to agricultural living. The chapter further addresses the risks faced by our planet due to modern technology, including nuclear threats, environmental degradation, and population growth, while emphasizing the practical applications of anthropological knowledge in understanding these issues.
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Chapter Eighteen The Modern World
Cultural Changes and Their Consequences • Urbanization and industrialization are recent phenomena that are having an impact on humans today. • Among the possible effects include an increase in the use of mutagenic substances. • The ability for physical mobility has an impact on gene flow and mating patterns. • Many factors, such as pollution, create different selective pressures than humans have faced in the past when we lived primarily in hunting-gathering societies.
The Role of Disease in Human Evolution • Disease is one selective factor that acts upon populations. • Today, the major predators of human populations are enemy populations, small organisms, and microorganisms. • Epidemiologists and paleopathologists study disease and injury in the fossil record. • The cultural switch to farming also had an impact on diseases. • Settled agricultural populations are more likely to suffer from epidemics and a generally higher frequency of common noninfectious diseases. • Changing diet plays a significant role.
The Earth at Risk • Although modern technology has made many peoples’ lives easier and longer, it has also put the entire planet at risk of destruction. • Nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare are of increasing concern. • The depletion of the ozone layer raises the risk of exposure to harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. • Acid rain changes environments and creates new selective pressures by destroying food, water, and other resources. • The reduction of biological diversity is another serious issue, as is global warming.
The Control of Population • Many of the world’s current problems are directly related to the enormous increase in population. [Figure 18-1: Population projections]
Application of Anthropological Knowledge • The knowledge gained through anthropological investigation has practical applications. • Darwinian medicine: attempts to find evolutionary explanations for human vulnerability to various diseases and other medical conditions. • Forensic anthropologists apply the techniques of osteology and skeletal identification to legal problems.
