History Main / WeWillNotHaveAppendixesInTheFuture

* Some people are born with smaller wisdom teeth, or no wisdom teeth at all. The percentage that these people make out of the population also seems to be growing over time. Conversely, there are also people with a second set of wisdom teeth, as well as people with jaws large enough to actually fit all of their adult teeth.

A note on the appendix itself: The appendix has historically been thought a useless, vestigial organ, but ScienceMarchesOn - it's still considered vestigial, but not necessarily useless. In the last few years scientists have begun to suspect that it is actually important to the body, as a reservoir of the "good bacteria" species that populate the colon and are necessary for digestion. When the colon's population is thrown out of whack by infection, diarrhea, or the like, the bacteria "hiding" in the appendix can recolonize it and return the necessary balance. There are also suggestions that this reservoir is used in training the immune system of babies and young children. It's still a lot easier to live without one than it is to live without any of your other organs, but it does seem to serve at least a non-vital purpose. This is what we would expected from evolution; if you have something useless hanging around, it can be repurposed.

A note on the appendix itself: The appendix has historically been thought a useless, vestigial organ, but ScienceMarchesOn - it's still considered vestigial, but not necessarily useless. In the last few years scientists have begun to suspect that it is actually important to the body, as a reservoir of the "good bacteria" species that populate the colon and are necessary for digestion. When the colon's population is thrown out of whack by infection, diarrhea, or the like, the bacteria "hiding" in the appendix can recolonize it and return the necessary balance. There are also suggestions that this reservoir is used in training the immune system of babies and young children. It's still a lot easier to live without one than it is to live without any of your other organs, but it does seem to serve at least a non-vital purpose. This remains as expected by evolution; if you have something useless hanging around, it can be repurposed.

A note on the appendix itself: The appendix has historically been thought a useless, vestigial organ, but ScienceMarchesOn. In the last few years scientists have begun to suspect that it is actually important to the body, as a reservoir of the "good bacteria" species that populate the colon and are necessary for digestion. When the colon's population is thrown out of whack by infection, diarrhea, or the like, the bacteria "hiding" in the appendix can recolonize it and return the necessary balance. There are also suggestions that this reservoir is used in training the immune system of babies and young children. It's still a lot easier to live without one than it is to live without any of your other organs, but it does seem to serve at least a non-vital purpose.

->"Hello, I am a useless pinky toe. Someday, you will be born without me."

** This is actually a plot point in Asimov's ''EndOfEternity'', when two of the main characters, both time travelers, who were born three million years apart notice that the only difference between them is the lack of wisdom teeth and the lack of appendix in the one from the later time. They (perhaps hastily) draw the conclusion that [[KnightsTemplar Eternity]] was trying to prevent human evolution.

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* In the DoctorWho VirginNewAdventures (a series of SpinOff novels during the series' long hiatus), the companions Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester have no appendices. They're from the 30th Century.

* Played with in ArthurCClarke's ''3001'', a woman who is [[RipVanWinkle Frank Poole's]] romantic interest is utterly disgusted when they finally become intimate [[CircumcisionAngst because he does not have a foreskin]]. That far in the future evidently no one is circumcised.

* H.G. Wells designed the Martians in ''War of the Worlds'' by turning this trope UpToEleven: he started from a humanoid body plan, then stripped off ''everything'' -- limbs, digestive tracts, sexual reproduction -- that he thought mechanization and/or medical technology could potentially make obsolete. All that he left them was a giant head, a few tendrils for pushing buttons, and the ability to breathe.

* This reasoning was the inspiration for the appearance of the Martians in WarOfTheWorlds. Their technology is so advanced that they no longer need anything other than their brains, mouths, and tentacles to operate said technology. Even their digestive systems have been replaced by machines that drain captured aliens and humans of blood and inject it into their bodies.

* In GURPS TranshumanSpace No Appendix is an advantage that the Alpha genetic upgrade and Zisudra parahuman have, both templates are intended to be an "ideal" human.

A note on the appendix itself: The appendix has historically been thought a useless, vestigial organ, but ScienceMarchesOn. In the last few years scientists have begun to suspect that it is actually important to the body, as a reservoir of the "good bacteria" species that populate the colon and are necessary for digestion. When the colon's population is thrown out of whack by infection, diarrhea, or the like, the bacteria "hiding" in the appendix can recolonize it and return the necessary balance. There are also suggestions that this reservoir is used in training the immune system of babies and young children. Nonetheless, it's still a lot easier to live without one than it is to live without any of your other organs but it does seem to serve a purpose, if not a vital one.

* The LegionOfSuperheroes would have us believe that in 1,000 years humans will grow an ''extra heart''. Forgot the fact that an extra pump in our chest would cause more problems than it would solve.

[[FridgeLogic Never mind]] that it takes millions of years for significant evolution like that to occur and the fact animals like whales and snakes (specifically snakes like boas, pythons, and slender blind snakes) have had vestigial leg bones for so long that it's unlikely that humans would shrug off their own vestigial organs anytime within [[HollywoodEvolution a hundred thousand years]]. Especially since [[YouFailBiologyForever evolution is a result of natural selection]], and there isn't much evolutionary pressure against having an appendix. Of course, this trope can easily be justified through [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetic modification]].

Or that if something is truly vestigial, there is no advantage in getting rid of it so evolution will be ''particularly'' slow in getting rid of vestigial organs if it gets rid of them at all. Whenever a feature becomes useless to an animal it tends to slowly disappear since genetic mutations that leads to its degeneration are not weeded out by natural selection. In short, evolution does not just create, it is also responsible for maintaining features that would otherwise be lost over time. To take the example of vestigial hip bones in a whale, even if said bones do not bother the whale, any whale born with degenerate leg bones would not be weeded out and so on... There is of course the issue of the resources, minor as they presumably are, that the animal uses to grow these useless bones; evolution therefore favors getting rid of them entirely, but the pressure is not very strong.

Do not confuse with {{We Will Not Use An Index in the Future}}, although that would probably illustrate the error of [[GrammarNazi misspelling]] "[[HypocriticalHumor appendices]]." Also see WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture.

** While it is not employed in Part 3 of ''The Gods Themselves'', the eugenics-conscious moon government ''wants'' to use genetic engineering to get rid of various vestigial organs including wisdom teeth.

* This trope was facetiously employed in ''PhilOfTheFuture'' when Phil ran into a problem: he would have to be seen barefoot to stamp tomatoes in a farm on a class trip, but in his time, no one has pinky toes. To quote Phil's mother "They won't lose their pinky toes for another 70 years." Ironically, pinky toes are actually used for balance.

[[FridgeLogic Never mind]] that it takes millions of years for significant evolution like that to occur and the fact animals like whales and snakes have had vestigial leg bones for so long that it's unlikely that humans would shrug off their own vestigial organs anytime within [[HollywoodEvolution a hundred thousand years]]. Especially since [[YouFailBiologyForever evolution is a result of natural selection]], and there isn't much evolutionary pressure against having an appendix. Of course, this trope can easily be justified through [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetic modification]].

* Parodied in ''DrKatzProfessionalTherapist'': when Ben is due to have his wisdom teeth removes, Laura mentions she never had them, which her dentist attributed to her being "more evolved". They end up getting into an argument over the veracity of the statement.

[[AC:RealLife]]

Not to mention that future medical technology might become so powerful and universal as to eliminate disease-based natural selection pressure on humans.

Or that if something is truly vestigial, there is no advantage in getting rid of it so evolution will be ''particularly'' slow in getting rid of vestigial organs if it gets rid of them at all. Whenever a feature becomes useless to an animal it tends to slowly disappear since genetic mutations that leads to its degeneration are not weeded out by natural selection. In short, evolution does not just create, it is also responsible for maintaining features that would otherwise be lost over time. To take the example of vestigial hip bones in a whale, even if said bones do not bother the whale, any whale born with degenerate leg bones would not be weeded out and so on and so on... As a rule, this tends to happen fairly quickly so if you still have a so-called 'vestigial' organ it probably isn't that vestigial. The law of numbers does a bit to counter this: even a mildly ''advantageous'' mutation is far more likely to die out than to spread to the general population: an allele that confers a 2% fitness advantage still has a 96% chance of disappearing after a few generations. "Quickly" is still on the timescale of ''evolution'' and to give a hint as to the timetable of evolution, humans still carry reminders of our pre-mammalian ancestors, such as a tiny vestigial third eyelid that is only found in its active form on reptiles and some birds. Mammals split from reptiles over a hundred million years ago.

* Some people are born with smaller wisdom teeth, or no wisdom teeth at all. The percentage that these people make out of the population also seems to be growing over time. Conversely, there are also people with a second set of wisdom teeth, as well as people with jaws large enough to actually fit all of their adult teeth.
* The vestigal hip bones in whales, embedded in flesh and disconnected from the skeleton is a good example of, "Since they don't hinder the organism, then there is no evolutionary pressure for removal." So the bones are still there, totally neutral as far as the animal is concerned. There is of course the issue of the resources, minor as they presumably are, that the animal uses to grow these useless bones; evolution therefore favors getting rid of them entirely, but the pressure is not very strong.

[[FridgeLogic Never mind]] that it takes millions of years for significant evolution like that to occur and the fact animals like whales and snakes have had vestigial leg bones for so long that it's unlikely that humans would shrug off their own vestigial organs anytime within [[HollywoodEvolution a hundred thousand years]]. Especially since [[YouFailBiologyForever evolution is a result of natural selection]], and humanity likely won't face a mass extinction of people with appendixes anytime soon. Of course, this trope can easily be justified through [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetic modification]].

Or that if something is truly vestigial, there is no advantage in getting rid of it so evolution will be ''particularly'' slow in getting rid of vestigial organs if it gets rid of them at all.

A note on the appendix itself: The appendix has historically been thought a useless, vestigial organ, but ScienceMarchesOn. In the last few years scientists have begun to suspect that it is actually important to the body, as a reservoir of the "good bacteria" species that populate the colon and are necessary for digestion. When the colon's population is thrown out of whack by infection, diarrhea, or the like, the bacteria "hiding" in the appendix can recolonize it and return the necessary balance. There are also suggestions that this reservoir is used in training the immune system of babies and young children. To be fair, though, it's still a lot easier to live without one than it is to live without any of your other organs.

[[http://science.discovery.com/top-ten/2008/organs/organs.html Here is a list of 10 human vestigial organs.]]

Do not confuse with {{We Will Not Use An Index in the Future}}, although that would probably illustrate the error of [[GrammarNazi misspelling]] "[[HypocriticalHumor appendices]]". Also see WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture.

** Well, it doesn't seem to slow [[DoctorWho the Doctor]] down.
*** To be fair, the Doctor's got a [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/Bicardial.jpg binary vascular system]], which is probably normal for Time Lords. A second heart in a vascular system like ours would be a bad idea.
*** If you want to get technical, since a heart is just a pump for blood, all mammals and birds have two hearts as a result of their [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vascular_system#Nonhuman double circulatory system]], the hearts just happen to be right next to each other.
** Or the [[{{Warhammer40000}} Adeptus Astartes]].

* This trope was facetiously employed in ''PhilOfTheFuture'' when Phil ran into a problem: he would have to be seen barefoot to stamp tomatoes in a farm on a class trip, but in his time, no one has pinky toes.
** And how. Quote Phil's mother "They won't lose their pinky toes for another 70 years."
** [[FridgeLogic Couldn't he just have said it was a birth defect or something?]]
*** It kinda seems like a BrokenAesop about being normal when you think about it.
** Ironically, pinky toes are actually used for balance, if TheOtherWiki is correct.
** [[FridgeLogic Also, who stares at people's feet that closely?]]
*** [[FetishFuel Who, indeed?]]

* Some people are born with smaller wisdom teeth, or no wisdom teeth at all. The percentage that these people make out of the population also seems to be growing over time.
** There are also people with a second set of wisdom teeth.
** And people with jaws large enough to actually fit all of their adult teeth.
* The vestigal hip bones in whales, embedded in flesh and disconnected from the skeleton are a good example of, 'Since they don't hinder the organism, then there is no evolutionary pressure for removal''. So the bones are still there, totally neutral as far as the animal is concerned.
** There is of course the issue of the resources, minor as they presumably are, that the animal uses to grow these useless bones; evolution therefore favors getting rid of them entirely, but the pressure is not very strong.
** Whenever a feature becomes useless to an animal it tends to slowly disappear since genetic mutations that leads to its degeneration are not weeded out by natural selection. In short, evolution does not just create, it is also responsible for maintaining features that would otherwise be lost over time. Even if said bones do not bother the whale, any whale born with degenerate leg bones would not be weeded out and so on and so on... As a rule, this tends to happen fairly quickly so if you still have a so-called 'vestigial' organ it probably isn't that vestigial.
** The law of numbers does a bit to counter this: even a mildly ''advantageous'' mutation is far more likely to die out than to spread to the general population: an allele that confers a 2% fitness advantage still has a 96% chance of disappearing after a few generations. "Quickly" is still on the timescale of ''evolution''.
** To give a hint as to the timetable of evolution, humans still carry reminders of our pre-mammalian ancestors, such as a tiny vestigial third eyelid that is only found in its active form on reptiles and some birds. Mammals split from reptiles over a hundred million years ago.
* Most "vestigial" organs and parts are really "spandrels" in evolutionary theory parlance. Parts which once served one purpose, but now serve another (or which may still be useful for the original thing, but became multi-functional). Like the human tailbone was once part of a tail, but is now used to anchor some butt muscles. Not useless, but not used for the "original" purpose. Evolution tends to often result in life "recycling" parts which are already present.

[[AC:TableTopGames]]
* In GURPS TranshumanSpace No Appendix is an advantage that the Alpha genetic upgrade and Zisudra parahuman have, both templates are intended to be an "ideal" human.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* Parodied in ''DrKatzProfessionalTherapist'': when Ben is due to have his wisdom teeth removes, Laura mentions she never had them, which her dentist attributed to her being "more evolved". They end up getting into an argument over the veracity of the statement.
* Also parodied in ''TheSimpsons'', where a news report says that scientists predict people will evolve an additional finger in the future. Characters on the show, of course, have only three fingers and a thumb on each hand.
** In the episode Lady Bouvier's Lover, Homer is worried that Abe marrying Marge's mother would make him and Marge brother and sister, and as a result turn the kids into "...horrible freaks with pink skin, no overbites, and five fingers on each hand!"