View Full Version : Will You Be Eloi or Morlock?
This article from the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6057734.stm) reads like an April Fools prank, but it's October 17th, so something's off. Basically, some nut with a Ph.D has theorized that our species will split into eloi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eloi) and morlocks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morlocks), an Idea first put forward in 1895. So the dude's a little late to the party.
Kinda weird. Anxious to hear what the Orgahs think of this one.
Human species 'may split in two'
Humanity may split into two sub-species in 100,000 years' time as predicted by HG Wells, an expert has said.
Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge.
The human race would peak in the year 3000, he said - before a decline due to dependence on technology.
People would become choosier about their sexual partners, causing humanity to divide into sub-species, he added.
The descendants of the genetic upper class would be tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative and a far cry from the "underclass" humans who would have evolved into dim-witted, ugly, squat goblin-like creatures.
Race 'ironed out'
But in the nearer future, humans will evolve in 1,000 years into giants between 6ft and 7ft tall, he predicts, while life-spans will have extended to 120 years, Dr Curry claims.
Physical appearance, driven by indicators of health, youth and fertility, will improve, he says, while men will exhibit symmetrical facial features, look athletic, and have squarer jaws, deeper voices and bigger penises.
Women, on the other hand, will develop lighter, smooth, hairless skin, large clear eyes, pert breasts, glossy hair, and even features, he adds. Racial differences will be ironed out by interbreeding, producing a uniform race of coffee-coloured people.
However, Dr Curry warns, in 10,000 years time humans may have paid a genetic price for relying on technology.
Spoiled by gadgets designed to meet their every need, they could come to resemble domesticated animals.
Receding chins
Social skills, such as communicating and interacting with others, could be lost, along with emotions such as love, sympathy, trust and respect. People would become less able to care for others, or perform in teams.
Physically, they would start to appear more juvenile. Chins would recede, as a result of having to chew less on processed food.
There could also be health problems caused by reliance on medicine, resulting in weak immune systems. Preventing deaths would also help to preserve the genetic defects that cause cancer.
Further into the future, sexual selection - being choosy about one's partner - was likely to create more and more genetic inequality, said Dr Curry.
The logical outcome would be two sub-species, "gracile" and "robust" humans similar to the Eloi and Morlocks foretold by HG Wells in his 1895 novel The Time Machine.
"While science and technology have the potential to create an ideal habitat for humanity over the next millennium, there is a possibility of a monumental genetic hangover over the subsequent millennia due to an over-reliance on technology reducing our natural capacity to resist disease, or our evolved ability to get along with each other, said Dr Curry.
He carried out the report for men's satellite TV channel Bravo.
Kommodus
10-18-2006, 14:43
Wow.
"Some nut with a Ph.D." indeed.
I don't think those predictions are even remotely close to being founded in reality. This guy clearly has no idea of how science and technology actually change the world.
Oh, and as a technophile, I guess I'd be an Eloi. :laugh4:
The_Doctor
10-18-2006, 14:53
Thats just nonsense. Maybe if humans colonised other planets you would have a split in the species, because of isolation and different environments, but not on Earth.
This is the most important line the whole article:
He carried out the report for men's satellite TV channel Bravo.
This is what is on Bravo today:
09:15 Xena: Warrior Princess
10:20 Knight Rider
11:25 Starsky and Hutch
12:30 Street Crime UK 2
13:00 World's Most Amazing Videos 2
14:00 Street Crime UK 2
14:30 Street Crime UK 2
15:00 Dog the Bounty Hunter 2
15:30 Dog the Bounty Hunter 2
16:00 Cops On Camera
17:00 Xena: Warrior Princess
18:00 Knight Rider
19:00 Starsky and Hutch
20:00 Dog the Bounty Hunter 2
20:30 Dog the Bounty Hunter 2
21:00 Cops On Camera
22:00 Football Saved My Life
23:00 XXXL: The Real Dirk Diggler
Not the most scientific channel ever created.:laugh4:
macsen rufus
10-18-2006, 15:11
tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative
between 6ft and 7ft tal
symmetrical facial features, look athletic, and have squarer jaws, deeper voices and bigger penises
Why wait 1,000 years, I'm here now :laugh4:
I'd prefer to be a Morlock. I don't want to be eaten. :inquisitive:
Big King Sanctaphrax
10-18-2006, 15:25
He carried out the report for men's satellite TV channel Bravo.
I agree, this is the most important bit. I'm not sure how he could come to these conclusions, to be honest-with global travel being easier, social mobility improving, etc, surely our genetic makeup should become more homogenous, rather than diverge? I completely fail to see how sympatric speciation could occur.
Ah well. This is what happens when you give social scientists lots of funding, I suppose.
I read that. He's either a joker or an idiot.
satchef1
10-18-2006, 15:38
I think it makes some sense, after all generally speaking fat ugly people marry fat ugly people and have fat ugly kids, its just extrapolating that over 10,000 years.
The whole "cofee-colored people" part is plain obvious too, unless some other species gets involved and breeds with us (not liking the thought of that tbh)
yesdachi
10-18-2006, 15:42
This guy is mentally handicapped. Aside from all his ridiculous predictions, we have mapped the human genome, in a few years we will be able to engineer ourselves to be able to do anything and look any way we want. Evolution? Humph, who needs it.
Kanamori
10-18-2006, 16:06
However, Dr Curry warns, in 10,000 years time humans may have paid a genetic price for relying on technology.
Or we could just keep making tools, as we have for thousands of years...:book:
Or we could just keep making tools, as we have for thousands of years...:book:
Plus we could just modify ourselves to be better...
In Iain Bank's Culture novels, the Culture are a group of people who live the ultimate in the playboy life. No fear, freedom, no money, can live as long as they want etc. So following this report's logic, they should be degenerate hunchbacks. But they aren't, because they're the product of 11,000 years of genetic manipulation and design, so still adapt to new environments faster than others, still think quicker, etc.
Blodrast
10-18-2006, 16:54
Bigger penises ?
Crap, I knew I was born in the wrong time and place...
Oh, one more thing though, which he didn't seem to touch upon in his article. In the original work, the Eloi, while beautiful, were completely retarded. It was the ugly "subhuman" morlocks who were the crafty, techy race. So this doesn't exactly mesh with his prediction - at least not in the way the Eloi and Morlocks were really depicted in the original.
Yes, I know, I'm a geek.
doc_bean
10-18-2006, 17:53
The article is pretty crappy...
1. If one part of society is clearly better than an other part, what keeps them alive ? Charity ?
2. He seems to believe men and women will grow further apart, what of certain characteristics are linked ?
3. He doesn't account for genetic engineering, or human-computer interactions.
4. They'll give anyone a Ph D. these days :laugh4:
Sounds like the Paris Hilton approach to becoming famous...:dizzy2:
Crazed Rabbit
10-18-2006, 20:10
If his hypothesis was correct, why hasn't it happened already?
CR
Papewaio
10-18-2006, 22:17
His hypothesis contains a contradiction.
We will become coffee coloured because of blending of everyone.
Then for some reason we stop blending and breed two totally different species.
Which is it? And why would we blend then stop blending? And if we stop once what stops it being a continual cycle?
Divinus Arma
10-18-2006, 23:57
americans have already split: the genetically inferior victim liberals... and...
oh forget it. i dont need to be banned. :laugh4:
Kongamato
10-19-2006, 00:02
I think he might mean that class/physique differences would create this split, while interracial breeding would occur on both sides of it.
This sounds like a dramatic speculation made to catch readers' eyes. I don't think anybody can predict this sort of thing. It also sounds like he only considered Western civilization when he wrote this. Many people seem to assume that current technology will improve and expand to every corner of the world and we'll all live like they do in Star Trek. I have my doubts about this.
Divinus Arma
10-19-2006, 02:40
I know. I was joking. ~D
Cool. I ponder, though: Is it cannibalism if a Morlock eats an Eloi?
Thats just nonsense. Maybe if humans colonised other planets you would have a split in the species, because of isolation and different environments, but not on Earth.
This is the most important line the whole article:
This is what is on Bravo today:
Not the most scientific channel ever created.:laugh4:
Reminds me of the Jon Stewart- Tucker Carlson exchange in regards to why the Daily Show wasn't more "hard-hitting"
STEWART: It's not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery. And I will tell you why I know it.
CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and you're accusing us of partisan hackery?
STEWART: Absolutely.
CARLSON: You've got to be kidding me. He comes on and you...
STEWART: You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls.
Mikeus Caesar
10-20-2006, 00:13
Muppet. If evolution has proven anything, species of the 'homo' genus will keep on lessening until you end up with us all being identical.
After all, there used to be quite a few different species of humans, but they've all died out, leaving us.
The only thing i want him to be right about is the penis thing.
Justiciar
10-20-2006, 00:42
Why do I get the impression that this is some inbred toff? :inquisitive:
Philippus Flavius Homovallumus
10-20-2006, 02:05
He does have a few good points. Height will increase, there is evidence of "giants" well over 7ft tall in Greece among the upper class 1,200 years ago. He's probably also right about how sexual selection would change the appearence of the species.
The problem with that is that the genes that make pretty girls also make pretty, not masculine, men.
The two race thing would really require serious social issues in the future.
In short the bits he may have right anyonw with half a brain could work out and the rest is bull.
Eloi and Morlocks? I remember those names from the movie with the guy from Memento (Guy Pierce?)
Not gonna happen though since Humans are highly mobile.
The problem with that is that the genes that make pretty girls also make pretty, not masculine, men.
That's a moot point.
What a buffoon Oliver Curry is. I'd be surprised if he doesn't become one of "evolution's" poster boys soon since they all seem to love believing in crackpot theories like that.
Banquo's Ghost
10-20-2006, 11:21
What a buffoon Oliver Curry is. I'd be surprised if he doesn't become one of "evolution's" poster boys soon since they all seem to love believing in crackpot theories like that.
Yeah, instead of believing scientifically solid stuff like the 'Rapture' and heaven.
:laugh4:
English assassin
10-20-2006, 14:32
Hi guys did you miss me?
Anyway, can't stop, but I did find this for Navaros's Christmas present:http://www.secularism.org.uk/shop.html?eshopid=68926 Yes, its the evolution board game. Y'all know you want one.
Well if you believe in the evolutiontheory then it's a bit weird to assume that all humans will develope/have developed in exactly the same way.
Banquo's Ghost
10-20-2006, 14:51
Hi guys did you miss me?
Anyway, can't stop, but I did find this for Navaros's Christmas present:http://www.secularism.org.uk/shop.html?eshopid=68926 Yes, its the evolution board game. Y'all know you want one.
~:wave: Hi EA! Where'd you get to?
Nice link BTW.
English assassin
10-20-2006, 16:46
~:wave: Hi EA! Where'd you get to?
Just giving it a rest for a bit.
But then I thought, wait, they might bring out some new rapture related financial product, and without Lemur and the Org, how would I know? Have bassoon playing dogs been seen stealing bicycles in Tashkent? Banquo's Ghost would know...
But then I thought, wait, they might bring out some new rapture related financial product, and without Lemur and the Org, how would I know?
No new developments in insurance or financial planning (or at least none that I've found), but there are some lovely items of clothing (http://www.cafepress.com/rrmb/372976) that you can use to advertise your rapture-ready status.
[edit]
And there's a cool-looking GTA clone about the rapture, titled Left Behind: Eternal Forces (http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,20375256-5007187,00.html), that may tide you over until the Second Coming.
Yeah, instead of believing scientifically solid stuff like the 'Rapture' and heaven.
Evolution's "scientifically solid" history is full of fraud, hoaxes and crackpot nonsense conclusions that even the pro-evolution "scientists" acknowledge as such. Much of that has been outright proven to be so.
Yet I have not seen anything that God has said that has been proven to be wrong. :2thumbsup:
Ironside
10-20-2006, 17:31
Well if you believe in the evolutiontheory then it's a bit weird to assume that all humans will develope/have developed in exactly the same way.
If you compare humanity now compared to the past you'll see that the traveling of people all over the world makes the developement of humanity go the same way. The populations aren't isolated enough to separate from the main specie and become a new specie.
Besides his points are moot, by the time we can have changed enough to separate into new species, we're either dead, changed so much by technology and genetic engineering or survivors of some disaster (aka Morlock and Eloi for example ~;) ), that you no longer can say that we've adapted to the technology in a natural way.
Basically, the Morlock and Eloi scenario got bigger odds to happen than his long term theory.
Evolution's "scientifically solid" history is full of fraud, hoaxes and crackpot nonsense conclusions that even the pro-evolution "scientists" acknowledge as such. Much of that has been outright proven to be so.
Yet I have not seen anything that God has said that has been proven to be wrong. :2thumbsup:
HAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHA
That's not very nice of you. The evolutiontheory isn't perfect, and Navaros is right when he says that pro-evolution scientists acknowledge that, it's just the closest our current scientists can get. Evolutionists can be such fundi's sometimes, I'll just take the middle, god controls evolution.
Evolution's "scientifically solid" history is full of fraud, hoaxes and crackpot nonsense conclusions that even the pro-evolution "scientists" acknowledge as such. Much of that has been outright proven to be so.
True, but one of the nice things about science is that over time such frauds and hoaxes get revealed as such. Things can be disproved. The same cannot be said for any faith-based explanation.
Can I be a Morloi... or maybe an Elock?:idea2:
That's not very nice of you. The evolutiontheory isn't perfect, and Navaros is right when he says that pro-evolution scientists acknowledge that, it's just the closest our current scientists can get. Evolutionists can be such fundi's sometimes, I'll just take the middle, god controls evolution.
I'm not sure where you're going with this.
Tachikaze
10-20-2006, 17:59
Yet another dream of a master race.
I'm wondering how they will engineer it so couples have male children with one set of features and females with a decidedly different features.
If the evolution of Americans in my lifetime is any indication, all humans will eventually be Morlocks.
I'm not sure where you're going with this.
Most morlocks don't
Twist the knife, Fragony.
Twist the knife, Fragony.
It's fascinating how the shape of the ribcage makes such a thing impossible, coincidence?
Don Corleone
10-20-2006, 18:26
Every time I see a new post in this thread, bringing it back up the Topics list, I hear that line from Phish go through my head "Herbivores... they ate good... cause their food didn't ever run...."
Excuses.
Excuses as in 'sorry' or as in 'I didn't understand she really meant no?'
English can be so complicated sometimes :shame:
Damnit! Did I accidently offend you?
Blodrast
10-20-2006, 18:36
Can I be a Morloi... or maybe an Elock?:idea2:
No, you blasphemer!!
There will no no inter-(sub)species breeding!
They will kill each other, they will eat each other, but they shalt not screw each other!
Excuses as in 'sorry' or as in 'I didn't understand she really meant no?'
English can be so complicated sometimes :shame:
What?
Damnit! Did I accidently offend you?
Are you patronizing me?
Nope, miscommunication thingie. I'll just curl up in a corner and die.
Your empathy has been noted, thank you for chosing Fragony.
Don Corleone
10-20-2006, 19:07
Are the two of you in a race to drive your post counts up?
:spammer:
Philippus Flavius Homovallumus
10-20-2006, 19:35
Evolution's "scientifically solid" history is full of fraud, hoaxes and crackpot nonsense conclusions that even the pro-evolution "scientists" acknowledge as such. Much of that has been outright proven to be so.
Yet I have not seen anything that God has said that has been proven to be wrong. :2thumbsup:
The world in six days?
Byzantine Prince
10-20-2006, 23:44
I want to see eloi/morlock fornication. That would be awesome.
Justiciar
10-21-2006, 04:42
I want to see eloi/morlock fornication. That would be awesome.
If they're both technically different species, would that count as bestiality? :inquisitive:
The world in six days?
That has not been disproven. Any of the alleged evidences that suggest otherwise have mountains of credible refutations to them.
Banquo's Ghost
10-21-2006, 10:17
That has not been disproven. Any of the alleged evidences that suggest otherwise have mountains of credible refutations to them.
Religious nuts with their eyes closed and their fingers in their ears shouting 'nah, nah nah-nah nah' don't count as credible refutations on this planet Nav.
:idea2:
Evolution's "scientifically solid" history is full of fraud, hoaxes and crackpot nonsense conclusions that even the pro-evolution "scientists" acknowledge as such. Much of that has been outright proven to be so.
Yet I have not seen anything that God has said that has been proven to be wrong. :2thumbsup:
There have been alot of crackpot's and hoaxes in science but there have been twice that number in religion. Evolution is explantory in the fact that you can trace genetically the evelution of the human species. Infact we are nearly 95% (or was it higher) related to pigs. If evolution didn't occur then what? Did Adam fornicate with some wild boars? If the world was created in 6 days, and has only been around for 6000 years, were in the world did the dinosours go. Did Moses somehow forget them? The only reason most anti evolutionists are that way is they don't want to hear their related to lucy the chimpanze.
Back to topic. What in the world was this guy smocking. How can you expect a species that is so mobile to seperate in just 1000 years. Well really, how can you expect a species to divide into 2 sub catagories in just 1000 years. Come on what are they giving these scientists, did someone spike the green tea with weed?:shame:
_______________________
Speak softly and carry tactical nukes.
BigTex
Ridicolus
"Hilary Clinton is the devil"
~Texas proverb
@Big Tex: The guy said 100,000 years ... for some reason that is even funnier than 1,000. In all respects, chaces are good that, due to tampering, in 1,000 years you'll have people who will hardly qualify as Homo Sapiens Sapiens.
Oh, and what are we supposed to do for those 100,000 years? Stagnate, not develop anything and wait patiently?
This is a joke. :yes:
Cronos Impera
10-21-2006, 14:37
Here are some Morlocks and Elois. They are allready here......
A Morlock http://www.defence.gov.au/news/armynews/editions/1119/images/16-dr%20evil.jpg
His Eloi https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4b/Austin3b.jpg/250px-Austin3b.jpg
Philippus Flavius Homovallumus
10-21-2006, 21:03
:no: The both look like Morlocks.
If they're both technically different species, would that count as bestiality? :inquisitive: Yes.
But it is close to impossible since the pro-Morlocks and the pro-Eloi will always find each other and mate, making their distinction from each nil or not attainable. Humans are highly smart, physically mobile and technologically adept enabling anyone to cross/traverse mountains and oceans.
I want to see eloi/morlock fornication. That would be awesome.
I'm pretty sure that's going to be pay-per-view only. :yes:
yesdachi
10-23-2006, 16:43
I'm pretty sure that's going to be pay-per-view only. :yes:
Aaaa capitalism, even in 100,000 years. ~D
Vladimir
10-23-2006, 21:53
Are the two of you in a race to drive your post counts up?
:spammer:
Laughing thru your nose hurts.
Hey Cronos, that Morlock up top is not only huge, it's also hotlinked to an Australian site. Could you fix, for the love of Pete? I want my Morlocks appropriately sized, and cached on a convenient service.
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