Scientists have found that our bodies and our minds have both deteriorated significantly compared to our ancestors.  In fact, just this week a very prominent professor at Cambridge University said that “our most highly trained athletes pale in comparison to these ancestors of ours”. 

Image: Human & Ape Skeletons (Wiki Commons).

The biggest reason for this, of course, is the degradation of the human genome.  Groundbreaking research by Dr. John Sanford of Cornell University and others has shown that our genes contain tens of thousands of mistakes (mutations), and with each passing generation even more errors are added and passed on.  So it should be no surprise that our ancestors were bigger, stronger, faster and smarter.  The truth is that they had better genes.

This kind of information comes as a shock to many people.  It is widely assumed by the general public that humanity is “progressing” and that we are better both physically and mentally than our predecessors were.  But that is not the case at all.  In fact, research conducted at Cambridge University shows that we are “weaker than we used to be” and that the most highly trained athletes of today “pale in comparison” to those that lived thousands of years ago…

‘Even our most highly trained athletes pale in comparison to these ancestors of ours,’ Dr Colin Shaw told Outside Magazine. ‘We’re certainly weaker than we used to be.’

The study looked at skeletons dating back to around 5,300 BC with the most recent to 850 AD – a time span of 6,150 years.

It then compared the bones to that of Cambridge University students, and found the leg bones of male farmers 5,300 BCwere just as good as those of highly-trained cross-country runners.

In addition, earlier research at Cambridge University showed that our bodies are “significantly smaller” than they were thousands of years ago and that our brains are also smaller…

An earlier study by Cambridge University found that mankind is shrinking in size significantly.

Experts say humans are past their peak and that modern-day people are 10 percent smaller and shorter than their hunter-gatherer ancestors.

And if that’s not depressing enough, our brains are also smaller.

The findings reverse perceived wisdom that humans have grown taller and larger, a belief which has grown from data on more recent physical development.

The decline, said scientists, has happened over the past 10,000 years. They blame agriculture, with restricted diets and urbanisation compromising health and leading to the spread of disease.

Wow.

Most movies and television shows portray our ancestors as short, stupid, hunched-over people that could barely survive in a cold, cruel world.

But the hard science is revealing a very different picture to us.

As I mentioned above, the primary reason for our decline as a species is the systematic deterioration of our genes.  According to Dr. John Sanford of Cornell University, the author of Genetic Entropy & The Mystery of the Genome, each one of us already carries tens of thousands of harmful mutations, and each one of us will pass on at least 100 new mutations to future generations.  Many scientists believe that this will ultimately lead to something called “mutational meltdown”.  The following is an excerpt from a paper by Gerald H. McKibben and Everett C. McKibben…

Geneticists have long worried about the impact of mutations on the human population, and that at a rate of one deleterious mutation per person per generation, genetic deterioration would result. Earlier reports were based on estimates of mutation rates considerable lower than what we now know to be the case. Findings going back to 2002 show that the human mutation rate is at least 100 mistakes (misspellings) per person per generation. Some scientists believe the rate is closer to 300.

Even a rate of 100 has profound implications, and the mutation rate is itself increasing. Furthermore, most, if not all, mutations in the human genome must be deleterious.  “And nothing can reverse the damage that has been done during our own generation, even if further mutations could be stopped.”  It would appear that the process is an irreversible downward spiral that will end in “mutational meltdown”.

This is incredible stuff with absolutely staggering implications.  For much more on all of this, check out the video interview with Dr. Sanford that I have posted below…

Not only are our brains getting smaller, but humanity is also getting dumber.

This sounds strange to many people, especially considering the technological boom that we have seen in modern times, but it is actually true.  In fact, a Stanford University biology professor recently published two papers in which he expressed his conclusion that humans have been getting dumber for thousands of years…

Are humans becoming smarter or more stupid? Comparing our modern lives and technology with that of any preceding generation, one might think we are becoming increasingly smarter. But, in two papers published in Trends in Genetics, Gerald R. Crabtree of Stanford University claims that we are losing mental capacity and have been doing so for 2,000–6,000 years! The reason, Crabtree concludes, is due to genetic mutations—which are the backbone of neo-Darwinian evolution.

Professor Crabtree, like Dr. Sanford, is convinced that this loss of mental capacity is due to the accumulation of errors in our genes…

Based on data produced by the 1000 Genomes Project Consortium and two recent papers in Nature, Crabtree estimates in the first article that, in the past 3,000 years (approximately 120 generations), about 5,000 new mutations have occurred in the genes governing our intellectual ability. He claims most of these mutations will have no effect, while about 2–5 percent are deleterious and “a vanishingly small fraction will increase fitness.” Crabtree bases his conclusion that humankind is losing mental capacity on the ratio between the deleterious and the beneficial mutations.

And to be honest, we can see the loss of mental capacity all around us.

Just check out the following video in which average Americans are asked really basic questions that appear on the U.S. citizenship test…

So what do you think about all of this?

Please feel free to share your thoughts by posting a comment below…

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