Contrary to popular belief, humans continue to evolve. Our bodies and minds are not as those of our ancestors were - or as those of our descendants will be. So what will the next step in evolution look like?
By Peter Ward, Scientific American
If you ask people what they think about the future of the human race, you will usually get one of two answers. Some will bring up the science fiction vision of a man with a large brain with a high forehead and a developed intellect, and some will say that man has finished his physical evolution, that technology has put an end to the cruel logic of natural selection and that evolution is now only cultural.
The big brain vision has no real scientific basis. Fossils of skulls from several thousand generations indicate that the days of rapid growth in our brain volume are long gone. Thus, until a few years ago, most scientists held the view that the physical evolution of man was at an end. However, new methods of working on DNA, which decode gene sequences from the present and from the past, revolutionized the study of evolution and tell a different story.
Homo sapiens, not only has undergone extensive genetic changes since the creation of our species, but it is also possible that the rate of human evolution has increased. As with other organisms, the most dramatic changes in our body shape occurred immediately after the appearance of our species, but genetic changes continue to occur in our physiology, and possibly in our behavior as well.
Until not long ago, relatively speaking, in our history, the differences between human species in different parts of the world actually strengthened, and did not weaken. Even today, modern living conditions may cause changes in the genes responsible for certain behavioral traits.
If we don't have giant minds waiting for us, what is waiting for us? Will we get bigger or smaller, smarter or dumber? How will the emergence of new diseases and global warming shape us? Will there be a new human species one day? Or will the future evolution of humanity take place not in our genes but in our technology, which will allow us to forge our bodies in silicon and steel? Are we nothing but the builders of the next dominant intelligence - the machines?
The distant and recent past
Tracing the evolution of man was accepted as the exclusive domain of paleontologists, those of us who delve into fossilized bones from the ancient past. The beginning of the human family, the hominids, at least seven million years ago, with the appearance of a small primitive man called Sahelanthropus tchadensis.
Since then, a variety of new species have been added to our family, each new species developed when a small group of hominids was cut off in some way from the rest of the population for many generations and found itself in new environmental conditions that required a different adaptation. The small and isolated group followed its own genetic path, and eventually could not produce any more offspring with the parent population.
The fossils show that the most ancient members of our species lived 195,000 years ago in what is now Ethiopia, and from there they spread over the earth. 10,000 years ago, modern man had already successfully settled all continents except Antarctica, and the adaptations to the various places (along with other evolutionary forces) created what we loosely call "races".
It seems that groups that lived in different places had connections between them that were enough to prevent development into different species. After we fertilized and multiplied and filled the earth, one would think that evolution was over.
But that is not the case. In a study published a year ago, Henry S. Harpending from the University of Utah, John Hawkes from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and their colleagues analyzed data from the haplotype map of the human genome.
They focused on genetic markers of 270 people from four groups: Han Chinese, Japanese, Yoruba and Northern Europeans. They found that at least 7% of human genes had evolved up to about 5,000 years ago. Many of the changes were related to adaptation to a certain environment, both natural and man-made. For example, only a few in China and Africa can digest fresh milk in adulthood, but almost every Swede or Dane can. It is speculated that this ability was created as an adaptation to the development of dairy farms.
Another study, by Fardis S. Sabti of Harvard University and her colleagues, processed huge data sets of genetic variation to look for evidence of natural selection in the human genome. In more than 300 regions of the genome there were signs of relatively new changes that improved man's chances of survival and reproduction.
Examples include the resistance to the virus that causes Lassa fever, one of the severe diseases of the African continent, as well as partial resistance to other diseases, such as malaria, in certain African populations; Changes in skin pigmentation and the development of hair follicles among Asians, and the development of fair skin and blue eyes among Northern Europeans.
Herfending and Hawkes' team estimated that over the past 10,000 years humans have evolved 100 times faster than at any other time, since the earliest hominids split from the ancestors of modern chimpanzees. The team attributed the accelerated pace to the diverse environments in which humans settled and the changes in living conditions brought with them by agriculture and urbanization.
It was not agriculture per se or the changes in the landscape that caused the transformation of the wild environment into cultivated fields, but the combination, often fatal, of poor sanitary conditions, different nutrition and new diseases (both as a result of infection from other humans and from domesticated animals).
Although there were researchers who expressed reservations about these estimates, the basic thing seems clear: humans are endowed with evolutionary capacity of the first order.
An unnatural choice
In the last hundred years the life circumstances of our species have changed again. The geographic isolation of different groups disappeared almost entirely with the development of the means of transportation and with the breaking of the social barriers that previously kept the separation between races. The human gene pool is being mixed these days to an extent unprecedented in the entire history of the species.
The high mobility of the human species may lead to the homogenization of our species. At the same time, we prevent natural selection through technology and medicine. In most parts of the world, infant mortality has decreased greatly. People with a genetic defect that used to be fatal continue to live and produce offspring. Natural predators no longer affect the rules of survival.
Steve Jones from University College London argued that human evolution is fundamentally flawed. In a discussion of the Royal Society of Edinburgh held in 2002 entitled "Is Evolution Over?" He said: "Things just stopped changing for the better, or worse, for our species. If you want to know what utopia looks like, look around you - this is it."
Jones claimed that almost everyone, at least in the developed countries, has the opportunity to reach childbearing age, and that the rich and the poor have equal chances to have children. Hereditary resistance to disease, AIDS, for example, may still confer a survival advantage, but culture, not genetic inheritance, is now the determining factor in whether people live or die. After all, evolution today is perhaps memetic - the development of ideas - and not genetic.
Another point of view is that genetic evolution continues to occur even today, but in the opposite direction. Certain features of modern life may drive evolutionary changes that do not increase our chances of survival and may even decrease them.
University students see one possible way for such "non-adaptive" evolution to occur: they reject reproduction while many of their high school classmates, whose grades were too low, start having babies right after they graduate. If less intelligent parents have more offspring, then nowadays intelligence is a Darwinian burden and the average intelligence of the population may evolve downwards.
We tend to think of evolution in terms of structural change, but it can, and does, affect things that are not visible from the outside, behavior. Many people carry the genes responsible for the tendency to alcoholism, drug addiction and other problems.
The majority do not succumb to the tendency, as genes are not destiny, and their influence depends on the environment in which we live. But some succumb to the genetic predisposition, and the results of this may affect their survival and the number of their children. Such changes in fertility allow natural selection to operate.
The future evolution of humanity may produce new behavioral systems that will spread in the population in response to changes in social and environmental conditions. The human species differs, of course, from other species in that it does not have to accept this Darwinist logic tolerably.
Intentional evolution
Humans directed and direct the evolution of many species of animals and plants. Why don't we direct ours? Why wait for natural selection to do the job when we can do it faster, and in ways that benefit us?
In the field of behavior, for example, geneticists locate genetic components not only of problems and disabilities but also of general temperament and various aspects of sexuality and competitiveness, many of which may be hereditary, even if only partially. It is possible that in the future, detailed tests of the genetic makeup will become routine, and people will receive drugs based on the test results.
The next step will be an actual change in the genes, which may be done in one of two ways: by changing the genes in the relevant organ only (gene therapy) or by changing the entire genome of the individual (what is known as gene therapy in the germ cell line). Researchers are still grappling with the limited goal of gene therapy to treat disease. But if the germ cell line cure comes to fruition one day, the treatment will help not only the patients themselves but also their descendants.
The main obstacle facing genetic engineering in humans is the enormous complexity of the genome. Each gene is usually responsible for more than one action, and each action is usually responsible for several genes. Due to this feature, called pleiotropy, any change in one gene may produce unexpected results.
So why try? The pressure to change parents will probably come from parents who want to guarantee themselves a son or daughter; to give their children beauty, intelligence, musical talent or a pleasant temperament; Or to try and ensure that they are not helpless captives at the hands of their genetic tendency to be petty, depressive, hyperactive or criminal. The driving force is there, and it is very strong.
Similar social pressure will also be applied to combat aging. Many recent studies show that aging is not simply the wear and tear of body parts, but is more of a programmed decline, mostly controlled by our genes. If so, in the next hundred years it is possible that genetic research will discover many genes that control various aspects of aging, and introduce changes in these genes.
If it is indeed possible for us one day to change our genes, how will this affect the future evolution of the human race? To a large extent, probably. Suppose parents change their offspring before birth to improve their intelligence, appearance and life expectancy. If the intelligence of these children equals their life expectancy - an IQ of 150 and a life expectancy of 150 years - they will be able to produce more offspring and accumulate more wealth than the others.
Socially, they will most likely be attracted to their own kind. With such voluntary, geographical or social differentiation, their genes may undergo changes to the point of creating a new species. If so, one day we will be able to bring into the world a new species of man. The decision whether to follow this path will be up to our descendants.
Peter Ward has been active for more than 30 years in the fields of paleontology, biology and astrobiology. He led the NASA Astrobiology Institute branch at the University of Washington, which has a team of 40 scientists and students, in 2001-2006. The full article was published in the March issue of "Scientific American"
On the same topic on the science site
43 תגובות
Advanced medicine is changing genetics for the worse
and enables an evolutionary continuation of severe genetic defects
An example of this can be seen in the rapid increase in caesarean sections, which did not exist in previous generations
Poor eyesight continues to be easily passed on to future generations, and a huge variety of genetic defects.
Amit
two things. The first is that you are talking about the evolution of a culture, not a species. Genetically, we have not changed fundamentally for tens of thousands of years. In other words, if we managed to find a baby from 50,000 years ago and raise him in modern society, he would integrate into society like any other person, learn the language and even start a family.
Second thing - the fact that something must happen to save humanity, does not mean that it will happen.
Amit,
This is a conscientious decision and not an evolutionary one.
I have a question for you: do you know the meditations of Rabbi Hesdai Karshakesh?
I see evolution in a different way, it is not my invention but according to the wisdom of Kabbalah.
kab. co.il
There is a development of the will (ego) in the last 10000 years from concern only for food and sex, to reproduction and concern for the continuation of the generation.
From there the family developed from it the tribe and the people with the development being in the direction of money, honor and control.
with the result being empires that rose and fell. During the Renaissance, education developed until today with the development of technology
which connected all humanity to one village.
The next step in evolution is probably a connection of all humanity with the motto being "love your neighbor as yourself" because otherwise our civilization will destroy itself. In short, those who want to learn and understand more should refer to the website indicated above.
Vigdor Rechnitz
It's hard to understand what you're trying to say. Evolution is a development that results from inherited changes that affect the rate of reproduction.
Bio-cooperation in individuals of the same species is not an invention of man, and it exists more clearly especially in insects. In bees, the situation is so extreme that most bees do not reproduce at all, but only one and only one bee in the hive. But here too - evolution works in the same way.
What you are talking about seems to me to be more related to mematics - the evolution in the world of ideas. The idea is that it can be said that a new form of life has been created - the world of ideas that we as humans serve as hosts to. That is, they are parasites.
What will the next step in evolution look like?
I am unable to imagine how I would perceive the universe, the world, reality, if my will worked in the opposite way.
We are built in such a way (which has survival reasons) that every action we do is nothing but to gain benefit from it.
Even a shekel that I give to the poor on the street, will do because our body benefits from it. He will feel bad if he doesn't.
But: there is a connection between our desire which is built in an absolute way to receive into it, and our ability to perceive.
If in an imaginary way I were to change my will, from absorption into it, to action outside of it, what would happen then? So our limitation in perception with our five senses would expand. Smell, taste, hearing, sight, touch, are limited senses with which I experience reality.
The next stage in evolution will not be a stage where the strong will have the physical strength, the missiles or the one who brought 20 children into the world.
In the next stage of evolution the survivor will be the evolved, the evolved will be the one who will have a wider network of connections with his environment. A person will find that as his network of connections grows, he himself will stop feeling his own self. He himself will become an environment where you can call others and create a network.
Just as a developed brain is not a physically large brain, but a brain in which the number of wiring and synapses is greater. This is how we will discover that in the connection between people we can achieve and discover new things.
Just as regeneration does not appear except in the connection of 2 or more components (gases, chemical substances, etc.), so we will discover that precisely in the connection of humans there is the ability to reach the alignment of our evolution.
great!!!!
Just two points:
As noted only in a limited way in the article, today the selection of mutations that lead to hereditary diseases is much weaker than before. Diseases that in the past would prevent an individual from reaching reproductive age (or lead to infertility, or simply statistically decrease the number of offspring he will produce) today, thanks to medicine, remain in the population.
Today it is not a problem, but maybe in another 200 years it will be a problem that will have to be addressed.
Modern medicine also provides the solution to this future problem: through IVF and pre-embryonic genetic testing of embryos of parents one of whom is known to have carried (and also in the next generation ("grandchildren") if one of the parents is also sick) it is possible to sort out embryos that do not carry the disease-causing mutations. Although there are some ethical issues to be discussed, it should be noted that this procedure is already performed today in serious hereditary diseases. (And this is much more likely, ethically and technically, in the near future than intervention and genetic engineering in humans).
A second point is the adaptation to food: as in the past there was selection for digesting milk, so also in modern society there is a strong selective pressure for resistance to a high level of sugar and fat in food (and lack of physical activity). It will be interesting to see what solutions biology will find for these dietary changes.
Genetic changes are not the be-all and end-all... Those who dictate the future of the genetic material are the most successful organisms.
When I say successful I don't mean a couple of scientists who want to be responsible for the population explosion in the world and only make one child. Evolutionarily they are a failure.
The ones who dictate the genes for future generations are people like Ginges Khan and Daesh... they are the successful ones from an evolutionary point of view. The genetic material of the organism does not care about "was my mother raped like all the girls in the village"
Not a bigger brain, not academic degrees, Nobel prizes or progress is the engine for evolution…. What determines the future genetic make-up is how many children you make... and a guy with twenty children from four women in Saudi Arabia is much more successful than a Swedish scientist who earns huge sums and has no children... because he has no time.
The future of the human race is decided before our eyes...
In this war progress will not win
The new evolution will be obtained by spillover from various sources of life
Rapid development in genetic technology will result in the spillover of genes from the animal world
Such as sight, smell, strength, hearing and the like.
The driving force will probably come from breaking records in the Olympics.
What they won't do to win.
Hello, I just saw a video of Amnon Yitzchak who "refutes" evolution and I was simply amazed at how stupid the man is, there is a situation that once and for all someone will give me a quote or something about the theory of evolution that explains exactly what it says, I know, people just don't believe to me
Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-RYz4Sw_WQ
I am asking the people who understand the subject here, to do something about this person! I don't know how, but the youth simply eat this shit and believe it! It's just a shame how much Amon Yitzchak underestimates people's intelligence!
Thanks Leo
river
Long and beautiful response. I just didn't understand what you were talking about.
Beyond that, no futuristic film pretends to reflect reality because this reality has not yet existed.
All in all, I recommended a movie that shows how the world can look
From the point of view that genetic evolution continues to occur even today, but in the opposite direction..
It goes without saying because it is an adventure film and it is not an art film
It doesn't come to reflect reality, it doesn't come seriously
An artistic film that came to say something
An example is American Psycho
Which is also related to this article
Imagine that everyone is smart and beautiful and everyone is perfect
You got an ugly utopia
And so that people can express themselves
Just like in the movie they will do extreme acts
Although in the movie he may have imagined it all
So people will be really mean and cynical
Maybe also really frustrated
Though I did not
I believe that it is possible to shape someone's personality
As there are many stories of parents who pushed their children
Lepasenter and in the end they will be swimmers
And I believe that a person is born smooth and the environment shapes it
I don't know for sure whether passion for something
It is something that is inherited or at all it is not something that comes as a result
The order of events in a person's life
stranger According to the responses, the reality presented in the film is definitely on its way to being fulfilled..
And what does it have to do with the genre of the movie.. Rambo 4 is also an action movie but it reflects a sad and true reality..
So many discoveries, innovations and inventions are still ahead of us, it's fascinating to know how it will happen.
A pleasant evolution for you.
Stranger, you are welcome to visit Gaza and talk to them like human beings. Good luck, and keep us updated on the results of the speech. Only thanks to people like you will peace come. I hope you understand that you must stay and live there in Gaza and continue to talk to them until peace comes.
To Eyal
Maybe I'm stupid
After all, I didn't study history [I was born into an ultra-Orthodox family]
So I don't know the background
But what I am saying is that it is possible to achieve security without war
It is possible to establish a state for the Palestinians
You simply say that even then they won't recognize us
You can't be sure
And my claim also stems from the fact that I believe
that if we don't try to solve it like humans
keep talking said someone sober
So eventually their huge numerical advantage will take its toll
And no matter how strong or smart we will be
Although it is not known whether the Iranian monkey has progressed further than Saddam
But what is certain is that Israel will not be able to attack again from the air or from anywhere else
And no solution remains except a diplomatic one
And hence what I say if you want to fight, fight yourself
And about your solution
you say
that in the country the citizens must serve in the army and if not they are not called citizens
And they are not allowed to live in the same country?!
For Stranger, there is no connection between belief in God and Zionism. On the contrary, Zionism was actually founded by secularists and religious rebels, and without it we probably wouldn't exist today.
I agree with Eyal (though not necessarily with his tones). We have no choice, if we are not strong, we simply will not be. This does not mean that we should be aggressive (those who know me know, for example, what I think about the Oz unit), but we certainly cannot give up the army, as long as there are people on the other side who want to turn the whole world into an Islamic suit, and we happen to be in their way (but also the Americans, the French, etc.).
According to your method, not only Israel but all Western countries should disband the army and invite the madmen to take over them.
stranger,
If our wars are petty, then we could just not respond, not go to war right? It's petty. The problem is that you are probably really, really stupid and unable to understand that if that were the case, the other side would not have stopped (obviously, but for some reason you don't understand that, obviously), and you would have gone to the grave together with the rest of us (a grave that no one would have dug for us ). You see, when they open fire on us in our generation from the Bnei Ishmael, the intentions are not fundamentally different from those of the Nazis only two generations ago. So we didn't have an army. So we couldn't go to war (petty/righteous/violent or whatever word you choose) and guess what? Maybe you don't know this either, but they almost succeeded in achieving their goal. Today's oppressors already have a much more literally difficult life. "Thanks" to people like you, carrying out their mission and realizing their ambition similar to that of their predecessors in line, will become easier. Should I mention that you are one of the victims?
And another important thing: no one is fighting here in the name of God. The only ones who would do it think they do it inside their yeshiva in Bnei Barak and other places. All the rest who do fight contribute to the defense of their country where they live and their family and friends and everyone who will depend on them in the future and they in it. elementary.
And I have a solution for you. Get out of this country and don't come back. You're just putting yourself at risk by being here. All kinds of petty wars like that. were you born here What a shame. Don't know your past, it won't do you any good. Save money and leave them all. It really will be better, both for you and for those who do stay here.
Thanks.
The film Idiocracy is not an art film
is more of an adventure film
And to the point
I will tell you more:
I do not compare the cases, heaven forbid
But when you get frustrated about it without mixed feelings
It's like that
After all, there is no way that all the German soldiers back then were racist
What happens is you are born and someone tells you a story
With us it starts with God and then it comes to the situation that you are from a chosen people
And the world was created for you and the time has come for you to take what is yours
So we established a country and now I have saved your turn as well
Well I say no
If so then the opposite is true
that the people with low souls and I do not mean the beautiful people such as Leondis
The one who fought Trampolai [again I have all the respect for the other "heroes" but feelings aside]
But on the contrary the masses who obeyed what they were told are the ones who left
And the cautious [wise] ones who stayed behind survived and that's what brought us here
A relatively civilized generation at least
I recommend watching the movie Idiocracy.
to a stranger
Write more slowly, it's hard to understand if these errors
How exactly do I prove your words?
I'll explain myself
I don't think that a person should waste a few years on the path of life
about petty wars
I asked them if I could serve as their police officer
They told me they don't need policemen, they need soldiers
And that's exactly the point, I want to contribute a lot to society
But I am not here to serve the State of Israel
I don't care that this is the current and probably victorious reality
I don't believe in nationalism and such, certainly not in war in the name of God
And certainly not a war that doesn't end even after sixty years
You can't come to the field to fence it off and send it to the wolves
You are the strongest that may survive
Technically you can but not all humans are sheep following the herd
P.S. I'm not a leftist, I hate leftists
Oh and I didn't understand the words you wrote
For Machiaan, and Amerikait
point (response 17)
Get a quote from scripture:
"The main obstacle facing genetic engineering in humans is the enormous complexity of the genome. Each gene is usually responsible for more than one action, and for each action, several genes are usually responsible. Due to this property, called pleiotropy, any change in one gene may cause unexpected results."|
In addition, as I always say, everything has consequences, I would suggest checking a lot for the Japanese to play with a natural evolution and it will be too late (consequences will come that we did not think about at all)
Get another quote from the movie "Spiderman":
"Great power requires great responsibility"
Don't exaggerate our brother-in-law, it's all HH.
Lol
Shahar, one can declare that the biological evolution is still there. We are at the threshold of a technological evolution to Markianism that is much more advanced and faster than we are able to imagine.
Darwinian evolution developed logarithmically, the new evolution will develop exponentially.
Thanks to my new fan 🙂
Evolution marches forward every day, the development is in the heavenly subtle bodies.
Homo sapiens to homo illumonus - the thinking man will grow into the enlightened man.
A growing awareness of our own and nature's true nature, telepathy will be the commons, etc.
Great article, I enjoyed reading it.
Thanks
By the way, I'm following your response, get a PM
You sound like a smart guy.
point
I too have wondered about this funny theory in the past.
post Scriptum
Get bro:
. (Relative)
Bijumbom you are a good guy
By the way, I'm 95 meters tall
First on the evolutionary scale
point
Be gentle my love
hahahahaha she made me laugh (comment 7)
Just like Moshe from Survival
stranger
I appreciate and tolerate your leftist views because the left exists the right
Oh, and if the anti-heavens were smart enough, they would learn to appreciate us and the beautiful paradox they created because thanks to their desire to erase us, they exist
In fact, you also kind of prove my point, the kind of people who stay behind to survive at the expense of others.
Stranger, your comparison between our soldiers and the Third Reich is extremely interesting, maybe you should write a PhD on it, you sound like a very, very smart person.
Stranger, in your words you are destroying the foundations of Israeli society (and society in general), you cannot just accept without giving, of course as long as you wish to become an Israeli citizen. If so, I hope the authorities will bring you to justice.
To a point:
God you are so stupid
People with a high soul??…..
It is good to know that all the fighters of the Third Reich were high-spirited people
Because I thought they were people who did what they were told
Well, like the soldiers here in the army who let the commanders abuse them
It's really a pity for all the murderers who died in the wars, they could have been great leaders
I, for example, do not intend to enlist
Yes [I'm only 17.5 years old]
I don't intend to serve other people's interests
To a point:
God you are so stupid
People with a high soul??…..
It is good to know that all the fighters of the Third Reich were high-spirited people
Because I thought they were people who did what they were told
Well, like the soldiers here in the army who let the commanders abuse them
Or like the one from Britain who raped the McDonald's employee just because they said so
It's really a pity for all the murderers who died in the wars, they could have been great leaders
I, for example, do not intend to enlist
Yes [I'm only 17.5 years old]
I don't intend to serve other people's interests
It is certain that evolution continues, all the high-spirited young people who participated in wars in their youth to protect their people were usually killed, and remained in the home front usually corrupt, weak and weak-minded (I do not mean to generalize, things must be taken with limited responsibility and as a description of a statistical tendency that affects evolution) and they the majority.
Another example of the action of Markian evolution is on the topic of crime and government.
As a result of the proliferation of corrupt people on earth, a situation has arisen that in order to be a person of influence you usually have to be some kind of psychopath (see, for example, politicians, salespeople, advertisers).
In conclusion, evolution has led to the fact that, on average, the corrupt proliferate more, and influence everyone more.
The solution to all this mess is the science and technology that will change the whole world in the next 50 years.