[Alberta's Child]

It may very well be that the "reasons" for these apparent deficiencies in the design of the human body are not readily apparent. When I was in school we learned that the tonsils were an extraneous part of the human body, a remnant from a previous generation of the human race that was no longer needed. Now, it is understood that the tonsils are a vital component in the human immune system.

And the notion that our bodies no longer produce Vitamin C because "it was plentiful in our natural environment" is a bit absurd. If this were the case, then one would expect to find Scandinavians or Eskimos who have begun to "devolve" back to the point where their bodies would still create Vitamin C.

[donh]

. If this were the case, then one would expect to find Scandinavians or Eskimos who have begun to "devolve" back to the point where their bodies would still create Vitamin C.

Whether some particular change is evolving or devolving is a human value judgement. Human value judgements are not consulted by the evolutionary process. Only to comic book super-heros is every piece of evolutionary armament a boon. Evolving creatures lose things all the time because they become expensive excess baggage. Why don't penguins fly? Because flight doesn't do them much good, and it's hellishly expensive to maintain the capability.