I know cases such as these are considered by doctors to be anomalies and ‘bad’ mutations; but how will we know, once that time arrives, that we as a species are trying to evolve some more to adapt to changing conditions?
UPDATE: Petter has a good definition here.
Well, there’s no such thing as “trying to evolve”, only randomly mutating and either passing it on, or not. With luck, beneficial mutations will either fly under our radar or be recognised as beneficial (homeotic mutations are unlikely to be such). Of course, with modern medicine short-circuiting natural selection on our species, and with various cultural factors, I would argue that the adaptive evolution of our species has virtually halted, for now.
Ah yes, thanks for the correction. You did point out what I was trying to say [but have not succeeded to do so in a clear manner] though, that we might often not be able to distinguish some of these mutations as beneficial and thus not realise the ‘attempts’ that are being made.
I am no biology buff, but just by looking around I do believe we are shutting down many avenues that may be otherwise taken by the evolution of our species. I’ll leave my speculations aside.