Natural Selection VS Human Selection

Natural Selection is one of the most important theories in On the Origin of Species. However, in the first chapter “Variation under Domestication,” Darwin states that if the wild plants and animals became domesticated, they will become variable. It means that natural selection is not the only way for species to survive; instead people can help them overcome the struggles from the nature.

Darwinism has become an accepted theory in contemporary ideologies, and the idea that only the fittest survive suggests that only powerful people can live in this world. The term “the survival of the fittest” might have given aggressive people the excuses to launch World War I, World War II, and even the Cold War. To some degree the wars helped some countries to further develop their power over the world, but at the same time it also destroyed human civilizations and killed countless innocent people. Even today, the world is still not peaceful, and Darwinism may still affect many politicians’ minds. This kind of social Darwinism is actually harmful for the human race. Instead of only the strongest survive, in the real world, people will help each other to overcome difficulties such as disasters, starvation, and poverty across countries. Compared to destroying others’ future to survive, it would be better to help each other, and to provide a brighter future for others. Because human is a kind of social animal, we should be helping each other instead of fighting against each other.

In reality, people often try to help the species which are in danger of extinction to survive in the nature. For instance, the Chinese government spent a lot of money per year to save pandas; many countries have banned the hunting of whales. Thus, natural selection is not the only way for species to survive. In addition, sometimes, the extinction of a species is not because of nature, but instead it is because of humans. For instance, people kill sharks and whales thus endangering these species; people also pollute the environment in the process of developing their industries; over deforestation also can put species in danger of extinction. Therefore, sometimes human may be more harmful than the nature, and to some degree human selection may be more powerful than the natural selection. In this case, Darwin underestimated human’s ability to destroy.

Darwinism has existed for over a hundred years, and as time goes by, more and more people start to believe that Darwinism is an awkward theory, and in reality, whether it is applied in biology or in politics, it is indeed inaccurate in many aspects.