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When we finally start living in the moon or mars when will those people be classed as another species ? They are going to evolve at some point so should we class them as another species immediately or when they evolve an extra limb or lung etc ?

Simon1 7 Feb 27
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When we can no longer breed with them ie no mules either.

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Read Ray Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles".

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It's not feasible for anything but science and/or possibly to mine its resources. What other point is there when there's no atmosphere or significant water to have multitudes taken there, which is also economically impracticable. That goes doubly or more for mars which is some 3+ months travel time one way. PS: what would happen to the balance of the moon to the earth if after 50 or a hundred(s) yrs of transfer of materials. Will or could it upset the tides or other factors the moon is responsible for?

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Ahhh..they'll still be human..

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The evidence from the Neanderthal/human speciation event, 4000 to 25000 generations. So maybe 100,000 to 500,000 years. At the lower end if the populations are isolated, higher end if cross breeding is occuring. All pretty speculative too, but a long time basically because human generations are so long.

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Speciation takes many generations of evolution in isolation, to the point of DNA being incompatible with other human populations, so probably thousands of years.

Hiram Level 4 Feb 27, 2018
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Class them as another species when they become e another species, that's what I say.

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Your question is moot. The nature of lunar dust makes the possibility of human colonization unlikely.

there's always the possibility that someone could solve that problem

@SimonMorgan1 Until they do, and it is unlikely that they will, your question is still moot.

???

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So what you are all saying is it just boils down to sex and there's no chance of breeding super mutant humans ???

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I would imagine that the separation and differing environmental pressures would encourage the diversion of species. I would say that any differing physical characteristics based on these environments would constitute a different species as soon as there is divergent genetics from the baseline. That base line being the point at which the species separated. Awesome question! I'm not sure if I'm right, but based on my understanding of evolution I would guess that I'm accurate to a small margin of error.

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Once the two populations can no longer breed together.

Neanderthals and homo sapiens interbread, but they were separate species. You likely have between 1 and 3 percent Neanderthal DNA depending on your heritage if you are purely of european descent. The French in particular have a higher percentage of Neanderthal DNA when compared to other modern European descendents.

Great, but in a speciation event, that is how you would determine whrn two distinct species emerged. @jayneonacobb

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The usual definition given for species is a group of organisms in which two individuals can produce fertile offspring (this definition doesn't always work, though; it's very much a "best fit" ) - so, until our lunar and martian cousins evolve away from those of us back here on Earth to such an extent that we can no longer do this, we'll be the same species.

Jnei Level 8 Feb 27, 2018
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Depends on what you consider a species. A definite border might be when the core population fails to reproduce fertile offspring with the divergent branch. The first thing that's going to affect these populations is gravity. What that's going to do to egg viability or sperm motility has yet to be determined. But the possibility of humans developing into a ring species will depend solidly on isolation.

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I really hope humanity becomes extinct before it starts spreading itself to other planets.

I think that is a terribly pessimistic view of humanity. If it weren't for the dark ages we may have already populated other worlds.

@jayneonacobb Call it whatever you will. I think it's far more realistic than pessimistic. I base my assessment on observed behavior.

@KKGator you're hanging around the wrong people then. All of my friends contribute to their communities meaningfully.

@jayneonacobb Please don't assume you know anything about the people in my life, you have no idea what you're talking about. I wasn't even referring to them. I meant humanity, historically and generally, particularly those in power.

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We don't necessarily need to move to the moon or Mars to eventually become a distinct species from what we are now. Consider that our ancestors weren't always homo sapiens but evolved from something before that. In any case, moving off the Earth does not automatically make us a different species, just a resident of a different place.

godef Level 7 Feb 27, 2018

Excellent point!

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Only if earthlings can no longer breed with them and produce viable offspring. Very unlikely considering that humans from the America’s and from Europe could still breed and produce viable offspring despite being genetically separated for generations

Myah Level 6 Feb 27, 2018

We still consider you lot a different species, though 😉

Neanderthals and homo sapiens interbread, but they were separate species. You likely have between 1 and 3 percent Neanderthal DNA depending on your heritage if you are purely of european descent. The French in particular have a higher percentage of Neanderthal DNA when compared to other modern European descendents.

Copied from a previous response of mine.

@Jnei We ARE, and some of us wish we could remedy that. 🙂

In looking into this I have learned of the wholfin whose parents aren’t even the same genus. I also found the mules are not always sterile, which I did not know.

I think I would look at for how many offspring what percent was sterile. If it is very high like mules I would be convinced by that

But it doesn’t appear to me that the answer is settled about Neanderthals and Homosapians. At least I found various sources that contradicted each other.

I include a reddit link just because I liked the range of the discussion even though it is definitely not a scientific source and wasn’t what I used to formulate my response.
[google.com]

Thank you for bringing my attention to this.

@jayneonacobb

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