The Future Of Evolution
Until now our focused direction of evolution, increasing brain capacity, doesn’t seem to be in line with our sexual attractivity. That physical well developed men are still more attractive to women than more mentally developed men and the other way around, so that the first group will probably produce more offspring, implies a restrain of the speed of our evolution. The split from the apes happened millions of year ago but this makes it clear that some of their focused traits are still quiet present in our DNA. This maybe sounds negative but the positive effect of this is that it has a levelling influence on society. Will/can that change in the (near) future? Will our focused trait (human intelligence) finally push away physical strength as being most sexy? If so, what effects could that have?
In our days geeks seem to rule the world, at least if you look at tech companies. In governmental spheres their presence is, if I may say strangely enough, almost zero. Still tech companies make the most money and a lot of geeks are getting extremely rich. One way or another this will make them more interesting and attractive. So yes the moment that our NI and sex appeal are getting more and more in one line, could not be that far away anymore. Or is already there considering the 12 children of Elon Musk. Also the fact that women are no longer just taking care of their children will have a serious effect on this: they are less strong but equally intelligent. Maybe this is even the trigger behind emancipation.
But still there is a trend against this, looking at the fact that appearance also becomes ever more important in our days. So that is by far the whole story. And there are more influences that determine the amount of offspring, for instance: culture and religion. So if we maintain this line of thinking, there will be two parallel reproduction processes: one where human intelligence will become more and more the motor behind reproduction and one where intelligence plays no significant role. That could lead to a clear split, or maybe a bigger split than there already is, in society. This sounds like a negative development, but it could become even worse. If (technical) intelligence means money and sex appeal, it also means the attraction of beauty. So that could lead to an also visual split: good looking, intelligent people could become a class apart. And we can go on. The men and women at the top of the technical pyramid will have, and already to a certain degree have, the capabilities and means of widening the gap between them and the less ‘lucky ones’. And the temptation to do so will be very hard to resist as this short history already shows. As is the temptation to control and manipulate information about these developments. So these are developments that strengthen each other and also strengthen themselves.
So are the Hunger Games just fiction, also in our future? I wonder. Governments can of course try to avoid this or temper these effects (or strengthen them). But will they be strong enough to do so? And independent enough? I really have my doubts.
I can even imagine a further reaching future. Also further away in time but nevertheless. Could we improve the human intelligence on purpose? And compensate the possible decline of intelligence in a less demanding prosperous environment? Maybe we can achieve this by the selection of people who are more intelligent than average. But that sounds too much like fascism and implies a slow evolutionary process. Or change the DNA/RNA-region that determines the human intelligence directly. But will that change be inherited and will that not give all kinds of unknown and potentially dangerous side effects? If there is indeed something like a Natural Intelligence in a region of our DNA, and the focus of this is human intelligence, sooner or later we will find and may even decode this DNA-region and their interactions with proteins and so on. That would give much more insight. And if we can find out how this region can produce a variation that implicates steps towards a higher IQ, we could force a spurt within our own evolution. We could maybe become able to manipulate our Natural Intelligence in the same way nature does it and so boost it in our offspring. This change will be ‘natural’ and will, if made inheritable, be part of the human DNA from there on in the concerning persons. If that will be a privilege to only the wealthiest people, than the already mentioned possible split in society and between poor and rich countries could become way bigger and even unbridgeable. So a new species could evolve within the family of humans.
Below you find a picture how ‘human’ intelligence could evolve. And this more or less in an historical perspective. Yes, rather pessimistic. So maybe just a bad dream or a warning?
There is also another side to this story. Much more possitive If we can trigger mutations increasing our intelligence, we can possibly also block negative mutations like those resulting in cancer.
Another question is: Has the evolution of life reached the end result and are we more of less this end result or are there further evolutionary steps to be expected? Yes I think so, because there is still a huge amount of niches in our universe to be filled. And in our time we have started the first efforts to do so. Is that a coincidence or are we just obeying to the mentioned evolutionary push? Personally I suspect it is the last. And if the answer is ‘yes’, what will the future of evolution look like? Colonizing worlds in space! Problem is that these worlds could be so different and hostile that the needed steps to become fit enough to survive there, are too big to be bridged by evolutionary processes or even by revolutionary processes. So that is where mankind will come in. Our role could change from a passive one to an active one in the evolution of life (of also other and new species).
How? There are two different methods coming into view: we can adapt the environment, locally of globally, or we can adapt living creatures or even artificial creatures in such a way that they can survive and breed in an atmosphere and world that until now is too hostile for life and so also for the evolution of life. For example: too much or too few oxygen in the air, too low or too strong gravity, too low or too high temperatures and so on. Maybe these kind of DNA-adaptations are even necessary to be able to make long journeys into space possible. Probably our knowledge of DNA and high tech will grow so much the coming years, that at a certain moment in the future we will be able to do so, by manipulating the DNA in order to trigger or even create new traits, which basics may or may not already be present in our DNA. And adding high tech implants and robots could also be an option. Maybe only looking for earth look-a-likes in space is therefore too narrow. I think we are on page 1 of a new chapter of the book of the evolution of life in which the role of mankind can become important if not essential. Maybe also this development can lead to one of more new species within the human family.
So are we humans the end result so far of the evolution of life? Yes I think so. Not because of our human intelligence but because of our ability and drive to organize.