Will humans become an evolutionary dead-end?

[Such Irony]

I have been wondering about the long-term future of the human race from an evolutionary stand-point By long-term future I'm talking about thousands or millions of years from now.

It's hard to know what the long -term future will bring but curious what you think will happen.

Do you think that:

1) The human race as we know it today will become extinct because humans will evolve into some other species that's better equipped to handle its environment. If you think this will happen, what do you imagine the new species to be like?

2) The human race will become extinct and there will be no other species to follow it. Humans will become an evolutionary dead-end. If you think this will happen, when do you think it will be? What would be the primary cause of humans demise?

3) The human race will remain and not evolve into any new species. There may be other intelligent beings out there which humans helped create but this is not evolution.

 

[UniqueMixture]

I think we will find a new definition for humanity or soul based around the commonalities intrinsic to life/self repeating processes. I think the new "humanity" will have many forms as Bioengineering, nanotechnology, and AI will let us adapt to new environmental in specialized ways or to change our adaptation over time. Some will be specialized for the tasks we perform now such as resource acquisition, combat, research, reproduction, etc but perhaps with many new layers of complexity whole new kinds of interaction fields will emerge to connect the disparate regions of our civilization. Imo viewing humanity as a whole is flawed. Just as to view all biological life as part of the same protein machine is flawed. However, it is true as well, and that conflict is what will spur our evolution.

 

[acronach]

Personally I think it's a mix of 1 and 3. We will always consider ourselves to be humans, but over the course of thousands of years, small changes will probably be made in our genome. For example, pretty sure that people 1000 years ago were alot shorter than people now (like 95% sure, but i feel like it might be wrong)

 

[MXZCCT]

In order for the human race to exist in the future, we have to grow and expand as a civilization faster than the statistical chance in which mega disasters occur that threaten our existence (such as large asteroids, supernovas, the "death" of our sun, ice ages, all out nuclear war, etc.)

Studies show that IQ has progressed over time in relation to the advancement of our technology and means of communication. Evolution is based off of the length of time and the challenges which a certain species have to overcome from its environment.

Humanity's survival, in a simple perspective, is a race against time to increase our own maturity so we meet our challenges which nature will inevitably will throw at us time and again. What is important is how quickly we can develop a means to overcome each obstacle efficiently before that disaster comes to pass.

As we work to achieve our continued existence our own evolution will reflect those efforts and we will change biologically in order to best suit our needs.

 

[acronach]

random thought, what if humans evolve into seperate species? like couch-sitters and semi-active/athletic people? I mean I can see possible muscle deterioration or something similar as a result of multi-generational laziness (over the course of a few hundred years ofc).

Look at the appendix, better food---> no need for that organ---> it turns into a useless piece of flesh that gets infected occasionally

 

[Burger King]

You should check out this site if you haven't already: http://www.futuretimeline.net/index.htm#.UAm3aLSe6So

I went through a phase where I was completely obsessed with this type of stuff - transhumanism, bio tech, nano tech, etc. It's like Ne-mental masturbation.

 

[RaptorWizard]

The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will, one day, venture to the stars!
Carl Sagan
Always look up at the stars, and not down at your feet.
Stephen Hawking
Even if the human form remains the same, our knowledge will continue to rise at an exponential rate, and hence the human mind will evolve.

 

[Giggly]

#1

And I think it will happen on a different planet and maybe even in a different galaxy.

 

[UniqueMixture]

I have been wondering about the long-term future of the human race from an evolutionary stand-point By long-term future I'm talking about thousands or millions of years from now.

It's hard to know what the long -term future will bring but curious what you think will happen.

Do you think that:

1) The human race as we know it today will become extinct because humans will evolve into some other species that's better equipped to handle its environment. If you think this will happen, what do you imagine the new species to be like?

2) The human race will become extinct and there will be no other species to follow it. Humans will become an evolutionary dead-end. If you think this will happen, when do you think it will be? What would be the primary cause of humans demise?

3) The human race will remain and not evolve into any new species. There may be other intelligent beings out there which humans helped create but this is not evolution.

Ortega on Meths: You live that long, things start happening to you. You get too impressed with yourself. Ends up, you think you’re God. Suddenly the little people, thirty, maybe forty years old, well, they don’t really matter anymore. You’ve seen whole societies rise and fall, and you start to fell you’re standing outside it all, and none of it really matters to you. And maybe you’ll start snuffing those little people, just like picking daisies, if they get under your feet. … I’m not talking about Bancroft. I’m talking about his kind. They’re like A.I.s. They’re a breed apart. They’re not human. They deal with humanity the way you and I deal with insect life

 

[Wolfie]

Hopefully humanity will just kill itself off and spare everyone else.

 

[Haven]

[MENTION=10653]SuchIrony[/MENTION]
I keep hearing humans will evolve into their respective classes as people begin to stratify. Selective breeding = different types of humans, which can over time change into different species, like what is portrayed in the movie The Time Machine. It would be awesome if we could move into other planets, but I don't think that would hinder the stratification of the species. Stratification seems to make things unstable though. As soon as the ruling class gets too overconfident and they give up all attempts at self control they tend to get shut down hard by the underclass or by another group.

I for one would like to live the rest of my life in a giant blue alien avatar running around some crazy alien jungle. Failing that, I would like to see the natural world before it is killed off by climate change. Evolution is great if you live long enough to see it, but I probably wont.

 

[Ginkgo]

Species don't change. They give rise to other species until they are extinct. If a new species rose out of humanity, humanity wouldn't necessarily be gone. I believe that all species on earth, now and later, will eventually be extinct. Yet, believing this only gives one reason to be grateful for the time we are granted here, and to treat others humanely.

 

[sprinkles]

Yes all species eventually run out of genetic 'steam' and go extinct.

Modern humans - H. sapiens sapiens - are actually a subspecies and we are quite genetically defined at this point, yet we are the only members left in the species, and also the only members left in our genus. This means we are already running out of biodiversity and are already approaching the end of the line. It's going to be hard to get a new species out of humans by natural means.

However, humans are so hardy and well adapted to many environments, with the addition of human intelligence we will probably persist much as we are for the foreseeable future, but chances are we will die out before a new species arises, unless we use our intelligence to interfere with genetics.

 

[ReflecTcelfeR]

As long as we continue to control the environment, assuming that once we have the ability to do so and replenish as we reuse, then I don't see the ability to evolve as necessary. We need something to change. Ice caps melting, rising tides, warmer climates yes changes in our ability to deal with higher temps. could occur, but if that can even be stunted, and completely stalled I see no need to evolve.

We could easily reach the point where we no longer need to change.

On the other hand: Mutations happen on whims as well, but how are we to predict random DNA strand alterations.

A subject I am also not quite so familiar on is the law of attraction. Changes in who we breed could cause an offspring that needs to adapt, but I would feel that human to human offspring will still result in something 99% human not barring the second aspect of the post.

 

[sprinkles]

As long as we continue to control the environment, assuming that once we have the ability to do so and replenish as we reuse, then I don't see the ability to evolve as necessary. We need something to change. Ice caps melting, rising tides, warmer climates yes changes in our ability to deal with higher temps. could occur, but if that can even be stunted, and completely stalled I see no need to evolve.

We could easily reach the point where we no longer need to change.

On the other hand: Mutations happen on whims as well, but how are we to predict random DNA strand alterations.

A subject I am also not quite so familiar on is the law of attraction. Changes in who we breed could cause an offspring that needs to adapt, but I would feel that human to human offspring will still result in something 99% human not barring the second aspect of the post.

Yeah. All of our genetic combinations will not result in anything significantly different.

The best diversity we have left right now is skin color which helps fight UV rays, and built in genetic resistances to diseases. These things can be passed on and shared between different races of humans, but doing so makes us even less diverse - nothing actually new is likely to come out of it that we don't already have.

Most of our variations that we have left are overridden by our adaptive intelligence, and aren't under pressure for survival. Two fit humans are just going to make another fit human - we won't get something improved out of it that gives additional survival advantages beyond what is already possible.

Random mutations are still a possibility but most of the time they are insignificant and may even be detrimental, usually not beneficial.

 

[ilikeitlikethat]

We're gonna get

bigger
blacker
stronger


or whatever, IDK.


I guess in the future, we're gonna turn brown, or grey, and be able to time travel back to now and abduct our past selfs so our past selfs describe tall grey looking space men.

 

[Lark]

Well I think at the micro and macro levels humans are experiencing a kind of maturational crisis which has resulted in a permanently arrested development.

 

[Ginkgo]

However, humans are so hardy and well adapted to many environments, with the addition of human intelligence we will probably persist much as we are for the foreseeable future, but chances are we will die out before a new species arises, unless we use our intelligence to interfere with genetics.

Agreed.

 

[WALMART]

Hopefully humanity will just kill itself off and spare everyone else.

I can assure you the plight of sentience is not exclusive to this planet.

 

[Lateralus]

random thought, what if humans evolve into seperate species? like couch-sitters and semi-active/athletic people? I mean I can see possible muscle deterioration or something similar as a result of multi-generational laziness (over the course of a few hundred years ofc).

Not likely, speciation is usually the result of geographical isolation. Humans currently have no geographical obstacles that prevent interbreeding. If we set up a colony on Mars and lost the ability to travel there, then we would have some speciation take place.