"Lars"  wrote in message
> Everyone can usually have as many descendants as s/he wishes to
> have,
>
So under modern circumstances, there is selection for wishing to have many
descendants.
>
> how long would it take until the quality of the human DNA had
> significantly degraded?
>
It depends what you mean. Instead of evolving under the pressures of the
African savannah, we are now evolving under pressures like housing
shortages, abortion laws, and contraceptive pills. DNA in ten thousand
years' time may be a lot better if you want to be a Roman Catholic
management consultant, a lot worse if you want to hunt elephants.

As for the timescale for degrading the ability to hunt elephants on the
African savannah, the answer is quite quickly in evolutionary time. How many
people suffer from myopia, for example? In terms of political policies,
however, the timescale is several generations, which is too long for any
urgency.
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