Is evolution going backwards?

Thanks Quetzal...thats some great stuff.I had previously thought that warfare was affecting our cultural evolution and had little but perhaps a drift effect on genetic makeup. Obviously warefare has an effect on some genetic markers.I agree with you that the most profound genetic changes in humans come in response to disease. My background is in microbiology, so perhaps its an innate response, but it seems to me that the history and sheer number of disease interactions outweigh the effects of warfare.To go back to the original question, I risk repeating myself from a previous thread. I don't think evolution is going backward. To many evolution is "differential reproductive success" in "adaptation to local environments". Any perceived directionality comes from our active minds trying to discern a pattern that may not be there.What is exciting to me from your information is that our cultural evolution seems to have a genetic effect that is relatable to overall behavior patterns in distinct groups. Great stuff to chew on!

Good points Crash.While I reflexively disagree with any purported directionality to physical evolution, I may alter my view here. It seems to me that our cultural evolution(social structure leading to warfare in these examples) have led to the strengthing of some groups over others, both culturally and physically through gene transfer and selection by physical stress and disease resistence.Now I am not a eugenesist nor am I claiming this to be a good thing morally; it just is the way things happened.I am thinking specifically about the book 'Guns, Germs, and Steel' by Jared Diamond. For those who haven't read it, it seeks to explain why some groups took over others due to the groups of plants and animals that they domesticated rather than any intrinsic superiority of the group. It is kind of a 'right place, right time' hypothesis of historical development.But as Crash says, it's a lot to tease out from the multiple threads of history.ABB