are humans still evolving? (material, stream, wii, hardware)
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In an ideal world, Darwin's theory of natural selection would prevail, but we've gone more toward Machiavelli's idea of advancement over morality. The randomness of nature (order to chaos) has been reversed, but the strong don't necessarily survive. Thank God that Neanderthals didn't have cloning technology.
The strong do survive... its defining "strong" that is important. The Neanderthals seemed to have been physically stronger (based on studies of their bones, so maybe not) but that doesn't mean they are stronger.
Lions, tigers and bears will tear you to shreds any day.... but humans have far out competed them with "mental power". The randomness of nature is that in the chaos, what is considered "strong" always changes. One day its the fastest swimmer, then its the air breather, then the largest reptile... and when a comet hits, the small rodent that can survive.
Our technology is a strength now, but it could be a liability one day (nuclear war, worldwide epidemic, robot terminators ) and result in our extinction. Other species will continue to evolve and fill in the environmental niches, whether intelligence as we know it will is a harder question.
One of the most interesting, I think, and least reported evidences of the continuing evolution of homo sapiens is the development of the prefrontal cortex of the human brain.
In the last half of the 20th century, physicians and scientists began seeing for the first time in infrequent infants and toddlers the presence of prefrontal cortex skull capacities of a size slightly but observably and measurably larger than has been usual in humans.
The prefrontal lobe is the location of the final brain development in humans, and usually takes 22 years to complete. It is the seat of the most complex "executive" functions, from the formidable interpreting of reality to "planning complex cognitive behaviors, personality expression, and moderating correct social behavior ... orchestration of thoughts and actions in accordance with internal goals", differentiating "among conflicting thoughts, determine good and bad, better and best, same and different, future consequences of current activities" and "prediction of outcomes" (concise description from Wikipedia; emphases mine, pointing out that teenagers are incapable of determining consequences and outcomes, no matter how often parents tell them they must).
Perhaps the most important and summarized description of the "use" of the prefrontal cortex is the integration of the personality. This occurs in many ways, but ultimately in all humans is a spiritual event, involving the most esoteric and difficult theoretical pursuits -- the integration of energy and matter, of observation and value, of intention and attention, of self and other and all, in other words, creating personal definition of and interweaving of Consciousness in its many expressions. Dozens of young children of different walks of life and ethnicities observed and tested with slightly enlarged prefrontal cortex skull capacities prove to be more peaceful, merry, kind, intelligent and perceptive than usual
Over 5 million years, the human brain has tripled in size, but the prefrontal cortex has increased sixfold in size.
If you'd like to read about this, you might enjoy The Biology of Transcendence by Joseph Chilton Pearce, and The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield.
Last edited by allforcats; 08-25-2008 at 03:09 AM..
Excellent point! Strength, morals, ethics, progress, development, advancement, prosperity... These are ambiguous and subjective. Only future societies will be able to judge the extent that they have evolved from us, just as we measure our evolution from "primitive" societies. Every era thinks they are at the top of the food chain, don't they?
Excellent point! Strength, morals, ethics, progress, development, advancement, prosperity... These are ambiguous and subjective. Only future societies will be able to judge the extent that they have evolved from us, just as we measure our evolution from "primitive" societies. Every era thinks they are at the top of the food chain, don't they?
What, you saying we aren't
Yes, every society thinks the prior ones were "barbaric" with their lack of modern convenience and legal/ethical code. But its also funny how almost every society looks back fondly on "the good old days". They all complain about "kids and their music".... the ones that used to listen to The Doors and The Beatles while their parents spoke of moral decay now do the same moaning about the music their kids listen to.
Evolution is the same... we can see where we are now and judge it in the context of what came before to get us here. We can not predict where evolution will take us in most cases because we can not predict what will confer a reproductive advantage in the future. Short term maybe, but what will the earth and humanity be like in 500 years and what traits will benefit us??
Technology does remove some natural selection pressures from our species, but you can say it also adds others.
And then comes nanotechnology and nanobots which will be ingested in the body to cure most or all illnesses. Embedding computer chips in the brain at birth which will have internet capability. In 50 years people will be able to live 200 years and and by 200 years the life span could be expanded indefinitely. Those that choose to be part machine and part man will survive and those that choose not to fail.
Maybe the survivors of various branches of Man were more aggressive or were more adaptable. It may not have been intelligence as much as creativity. Or the advantage could have been a higher level of testosterone more so than a passive-minded culture that helped to determine who survived. Added to that may have been the ability to see patterns in the seasons and understand the necessity to plan. With the advent of an extended cooling pattern, the so-called "weaker" people were weeded out.
BTW, I've read that Neanderthals may have co-existed with Homo sapiens, but that they pretty much ignored each other. Another article suggested that they not only associated with each other, but mated. If I could be a fly on the wall back then, I would.
I'm still evolving. My tail is almost fully grown now!
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) and result in our extinction. Other species will continue to evolve and fill in the environmental niches, whether intelligence as we know it will is a harder question.
