OUR EVOLUTION IS IN OUR OWN HANDS
Predicting the future is a fools game. Yet, the question of how humans will look in a million
years is so enticing that I nd it almost impossible not to speculate. Will our descendants
hurtle through space as relatively unchanged as the humans on the starship Enterprise?
Will they be muscle-bound cyborgs? Or will they choose to digitise their consciousnesses
—becoming electronic immortals? The truth of the matter is, thanks to technology, our
evolution is in our own hands
This might seem confusing… how can the natural development of living organisms be our
responsibility? Changes are taking place as a consequence of our actions? Take Dolly
Parton. From sweet creases on her face, a petite mouth and soft eyes. With plastic
surgery, she has evolved into a wide-eyed woman with a smooth face and a pair of the
most ENORMOUS … lips! .
Currently, many have implants to change an element of their body or to x something that
is wrong. A breast or a hip implant. In the Mursi tribe from Ethiopia, lower lips of girls are
cut, and a lip plate as big as 20cm is worn in the lip to enhance their beauty. Future
improvements could include robotic arm implants, or an arti cial eye that can read different
frequencies of colour and visuals.
We’ve all heard of designer babies. Scientists already have the technology to change the
genes of an embryo. At this point a human-robot hybrid doesn’t seem impossible! With the
ability to outline, plan and blueprint your child’s physical appearance, comes an increase in
the future change of humans. Once again, we are creating our own evolution.
Not all future adaptation of humans would necessarily be technological. Our evolution
could be sparked purely on our climate choices. As climate change brings rising
temperatures, droughts and shifting patterns of precipitation, animals are evolving to keep
pace. Homo-sapiens must evolve too. Humans will have to migrate to avoid the droughts
and oods, and as a result, we will experience what biologists call, gene ow. A type of
evolution caused by the blending of genes between populations when they mate and
reproduce. The intermingled genes in their children will impact on their skin colour,
creating racial homogeneity
However, this evolution would only occur if humans were still living on earth. NASA has
planned for us to be living on Mars in 80 years! The decision to move planets would cause
a whole different type of homo-sapiens evolution. With lower gravity, the muscles of our
bodies could change structure. Where gravity and sunlight are weaker than on Earth and
fl fi .
.
fi fifl
Predicting the future is a fools game. Yet, the question of how humans will look in a million
years is so enticing that I nd it almost impossible not to speculate. Will our descendants
hurtle through space as relatively unchanged as the humans on the starship Enterprise?
Will they be muscle-bound cyborgs? Or will they choose to digitise their consciousnesses
—becoming electronic immortals? The truth of the matter is, thanks to technology, our
evolution is in our own hands
This might seem confusing… how can the natural development of living organisms be our
responsibility? Changes are taking place as a consequence of our actions? Take Dolly
Parton. From sweet creases on her face, a petite mouth and soft eyes. With plastic
surgery, she has evolved into a wide-eyed woman with a smooth face and a pair of the
most ENORMOUS … lips! .
Currently, many have implants to change an element of their body or to x something that
is wrong. A breast or a hip implant. In the Mursi tribe from Ethiopia, lower lips of girls are
cut, and a lip plate as big as 20cm is worn in the lip to enhance their beauty. Future
improvements could include robotic arm implants, or an arti cial eye that can read different
frequencies of colour and visuals.
We’ve all heard of designer babies. Scientists already have the technology to change the
genes of an embryo. At this point a human-robot hybrid doesn’t seem impossible! With the
ability to outline, plan and blueprint your child’s physical appearance, comes an increase in
the future change of humans. Once again, we are creating our own evolution.
Not all future adaptation of humans would necessarily be technological. Our evolution
could be sparked purely on our climate choices. As climate change brings rising
temperatures, droughts and shifting patterns of precipitation, animals are evolving to keep
pace. Homo-sapiens must evolve too. Humans will have to migrate to avoid the droughts
and oods, and as a result, we will experience what biologists call, gene ow. A type of
evolution caused by the blending of genes between populations when they mate and
reproduce. The intermingled genes in their children will impact on their skin colour,
creating racial homogeneity
However, this evolution would only occur if humans were still living on earth. NASA has
planned for us to be living on Mars in 80 years! The decision to move planets would cause
a whole different type of homo-sapiens evolution. With lower gravity, the muscles of our
bodies could change structure. Where gravity and sunlight are weaker than on Earth and
fl fi .
.
fi fifl
