What do we expect from the future? Will the human appearance change and reach the peak of its perfection? Maybe humans will turn into some kind of bio-robots and will be controlled by means of digital commands? There are too many questions regarding the future of humanity.
Consider a few possible scenarios for the future of humanity:
Option 1. Human evolution is over
Ian Tattersall of the Museum of History and Anthropology in New York says that serious genetic changes are possible only in strict isolation. Genetic metamorphoses occur in isolated populations of living beings.
If we take Darwin’s work as a basis, we can say that the process of natural selection occurs in the case where the mutation is in the best position. That’s what happened to the human spine, adjusted for upright walking.
Thus, Ian Tattersall states that today’s population is not isolated, and the chance to further mutational development is small. Mankind in its entirety lives a settled life, and the population has increased.
Homo sapiens has filled almost the entire planet and has acquired means of fast-moving in space. That is what prevents further mutations since a mutating human will need to adapt to the society he lives in, while the development process requires the opposite situation.
Moreover, according to Darwin, those organisms that are most adapted to the environment will have better chances to survive. However, modern medicine, together with advances in genetics, gives the right to development even to the weakest and sickest humans.
It is worth mentioning that when Darwin published his major work (1859), no more than 50% of all British children lived up to 21 years. Today, this figure has reached the value of 99%.
Option 2. Evolution has not finished yet
Those who support this scenario state that the end of the evolutionary process is not out of the question and even provide, in their opinion, the undisputed evidence.
For example, evolutionary biologist Stephen C. Stearns and his research team of Yale University discovered a strange pattern: stocky build women of small stature, on average, have more children than women of other body types. It turns out that these anthropometric characteristics are transmitted to a greater number of members of the next generation.
Geoffrey Miller, the evolutionary psychologist of another American University (New Mexico), said that modern women soon will consciously choose an intellectually developed sexual partner, which can guarantee the future competitiveness of their offspring.
Perhaps parents themselves will be able to choose the ovule and sperm to conceive a child in full compliance with the genetic program that can generate not only physiological but also psychological parameters of the future personality.
Option 3. Electronic immortality
Transhumanism as one of the philosophical movements presupposes 100% responsibility of humans for their future improvement. Transhumanism also predicts overcoming any limitations of physiological nature through the development of technological capabilities.
According to this concept, Darwin’s theory is doomed. The head of one of the institutions that study the future of humanity, Nick Bostrom argues that Darwinian evolutionary processes have long lagged behind the technological development of mankind. Today, humanity knows about cloning, genetic supplements, creating robots, nanotechnology.
Transhumanism is aimed at changing the person by electronic interference. Creatures that will appear as a result of the implementation of the idea of transhumanism will know no obstacles. Their very existence will contradict the laws of physics, but in this case, evolution will turn into a revolutionary use of technological features.
However, transhumanism significantly reduces the role of morality and ethics of the individual. Will a human have equal rights with their clone? What moral principles should apply to the “human copy”?
Option 4. Space colonization
An anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin, expressing his point of view, said that in order to “create” a new human, we need great isolating mechanisms of a new type. According to the hypothesis of the scientist, we need to colonize some of the closest planets to continue to develop.
The development would also take place during long-duration space travel that should be so long that hundreds of generations would change on a spacecraft. Today, this idea seems utopian, but our planet, in essence, is a kind of spaceship on which life flows according to certain laws.
I vote for option 2.