Where’s My Remote Control? Oh. Got it.
I read an article recently involving the evolution of humans 1000, 10000, and 100000 years into the future. Apparently human form will adapt to reach its’ peak in the year 3000, in that medicine, technology and natural evolution will all factor favourably into the efficiency of our bodies and lives. This is, of course, assuming that nuclear holocaust does not intervene. The average man will be 6 foot 6, have a lifespan of 120 years, and according to to the press photo attached to the article, be Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (interestingly enough, women will be Halle Berry). We’ll all be “brown” due to changes in diet, climate, and migration.
Now sure. Looking like freakishly perfect, over-sized “Bratz” dolls is all well and good, but it’s further into the future which troubles me. We will see ourselves grow less and less socially apt, as we grow more dependent on technology. Because of this dependence, our bodies will become frail and useless; that is, those of us who can afford this luxurious lifestyle. Have you ever read or seen H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine”? Well, 100000 years from now, ’society’ will include two groups: wealthy, weak, useless skeletons with an inability to harness emotions of any kind; and hideously deformed, incompetant ape-men with an inability to do anything useful.
From here, I can go on to conspire that the wealthy stick-men will push science and technology into the far reaches of space, becoming ‘aliens’, and due to their disappearance from the planet, the ape-men will as one evolve back into the form we hold today (the theory sounds familiar, doesn’t it?).
But I won’t go there.
Why?
BECAUSE EVOLUTION ISN’T REAL, YOU BIBLE-HATING FREAKS.
… okay, okay. I don’t believe that to be true. I believe that evolution (or as I call it, “the obvious”) is in fact real, and that I am not a freak. But still, I won’t turn this into a conspiracy theory about where aliens “come from”, or how we’ve evolved. I’m much too concerned about the direction we seem to be heading in. As it stands today, I find we are much too bitchy and snobby in person. The creation of BlackBerry should be a defining point in this inevitable timeline of technology dependence. When you’d rather e-mail or instant message someone than speak to them in person or writing, you’re just giving your personality a big old kick in the cornea.
Obviously, this technology has it’s pluses (which unfortunately include this digital newsletter). It was and continues to be developed with practicality in mind. Ignorance, however is greatly… well… ‘ignored’, in the quest for peaceful living. Not only that, but maybe we’re headed in the wrong direction entirely. Maybe we should be regressing and working even harder to achieve peaceful living. Maybe we should demolish the tubes of the internet, and cars, and self-flushing urinals, and churn some fucking butter! This isn’t going to happen (*childhood dreams crushed*). I think we can, you know, take it fucking easy on the laziness devices though. I was actually going to pick up a copy of Popular Science today to see if I could find an interesting article to go along with mine, but I took one look at the cover and found exactly what I was looking for.
At first, you think “cool”. Then you better damn well be thinking “… sick”. I mean “sick” as in “sweet”. And “sweet” as in “brutal”. Follow? Well, this shit is going too far. A fridge that can cook?! Mmmmm, I can already taste the lack of senses in my motionless waif of a body.
Isn’t it bad enough that we’re already confined to these carbon suits? Imagine what it’s going to be like when we’re thinking “man, I wish I could piss on my own accord” instead of “man, I wish I could shoot fireballs from my mouth”. We should really be working together to increase our undeerstanding of how to go beyond the body. And the internet can be one of the most useful tools in our quest! Current technology has its’ pluses. We just don’t realize that it hasn’t taken control of itself, and that we can guide the revolution.
Or we can let the scientists keep us in check-mate, as political powers instruct them, and — oh Jesus… I didn’t know pawns could be in such a position. Which is exactly where we are.
And this is where ignorance comes back into play. We’re in fucking check-mate and don’t even realize its’ the most powerful position of all.
- John O.
October 24, 2006 at 8:36 am
I think that in 3000 we will be almost exactly the same. Evolution will only continue to occur if we let people die, which is pretty unlikely to happen. There just isn’t any opportunity for better-adapted individuals to overtake the gene pool, because the fat and frail get to survive, so no specific groups get to have sex more than anyone else. And these days all sorts of different people across the globe are having sex with each other too. So maybe we’ll average out to be brown. But applying that same concept, we’ll probably average out to be shorter, not taller. And check it out, even though we have more information on nutrition than ever before (which is one reason we’re supposed to become giants), we’re totally bungling it and ruining ourselves. I agree with the idea that modern life could become pretty depraved. But I think it’d take mountains rising out of the ground tomorrow and isolating the whole world into little pockets of people to produce some big physical changes by 3000.
It’s really the tech that does the adapting for us now (which will help with lifespan and stuff like you mentioned.) Also, anyone can make themselves arthritic and frail and creepy by leering into a computer all day, but that doesn’t degrade the data in your genes. The most compromised skeleton can still churn out some kids with the genetic potential to be awesome. Each generation will forever have a new chance. To learn to shoot fireballs from their mouths.
October 25, 2006 at 10:13 pm
it’s funny, because in the year 3000 i heard that everyone will be psychic. i guess we can only imagine what would be in store.
I am currently reading a book called ‘The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral mind’. which is a guys theory about how humans didn’t have a conscience 3000 or so years ago, but were able to do things by the voices they heard in their head. maybe a mild form of schizophrenia. I guess they thought it was the ‘voice of god’, which they followed without question.. how could someone question if they didn’t have a conscience.
i have found holes in this theory…but i can’t remember them. and it turns out that speach had come from the ice age, as well as eating meat. to survive man had to begin hunting instead of gathering. thus speach ‘evolved’ from hunting. commands such as “oh look wilfred, there’s a jolly little rabbit bouncing around in that open field of ice and snow…”. “throw your rock at it, see if you can get it”…but i’m sure much more like grunts and first come first serve basis. if this theory can be proved…well, maybe we should devolve to find out.
And to further my thoughts even more. I was recently watching TV. I didn’t know what kind of program it was, but it was a scientist saying “the human body has reached the end of human evolution, now technology is our future”.
first of all, when was it that we started using the majority of our brain, that we don’t use? or is that just cushion so we don’t hurt the parts we use…? or why can’t we shoot fireballs out of our mouths. or ‘will’ food to appear infront of me…hmm, i’m thinking arby’s. what? no food? damn my lack of evolution…and damn that scientist…how does he know whats going to happen? That man deserves a stern spanking.
i want to evolve quicker just to see what it’s like to use everything in my body…like all of my brains…so i began to imagine, which turned out that i started to imagine a genie and i had three wishes…my first wish was ‘to see what it was like to use all of my brain for one hour’. well, my imagination ran off for an hour, and i had managed to slip through demensions, and i had electricity surrounding my body…etc etc etc.. finally my hour was up and i had been lost within a demensions and died.
damn genies and their tricks.
October 26, 2006 at 12:54 pm
Hey, the “10% of our brains” thing is a myth. We do use all our brains, just not all at the same time. Cuz then we’d be electrocuting our minds. The whole body’s like a brain. Memory-storage spiilover even gets on down to our liver, and maybe some other organs they think? And not just hangover memories. For example some kid was given an old man’s liver and began calling the man’s widow (they hung out a lot after the transplant) by their private pet name (racy!) which he couldn’t possibly know, etc…
As far as I know the only real junk we have is tons o -longer-needed DNA. I guess even “vestigial” organs still do things, and that no part of us truly useless.
I wish it made me feel better.
p.s. That book sounds rad Ben.
October 26, 2006 at 4:39 pm
So Jess, you think we’ve reached out physical peak right now? It’s obvious that things like average height and life expectancy have been steadily increasing since the dawn of time — not at all trying to invalidate your point. I think it’s an interesting theory.
I do believe that socially we will become absolutely inept. Unless John Titor was right and WWIII is on its’ very brink right now. Another World War would bring survivors closer together. And the possible fall of technology thereafter would help even more. But if WWIII doesn’t happen, we’re doomed to adding our thoughts to the internet (which will in itself become useless) without ever truly conversing. I can actually see us adapting to a form without vocal chords or vocally usable tongues.
Anyways, I’ve added a link in my post to BBC’s article on the Evolutionary Theorist’s study that I was referring to. Check it.
October 26, 2006 at 4:56 pm
WWIII would be horrible, but it would be effective. But consider this. If there was a world war three, mose of the able bodied (maybe smart) persons would be killed or seriously injured. Possibly making the world population of the people who possibly couldn’t get into the war, or people severely damaged from the war…such as; people sitting infront of the computer, disabled people in wheel chairs …or half-witted mentally challenged people. of course scientists would still be alive, and they would have to make the world easy for people such as them…thus the rise of technology.
i prefer to lead a more spiritual life, maybe listening to that little voice (the voice of ‘god’
) which, more or less, make everything easier.
maybe if people just wake up things will be better.
October 26, 2006 at 8:03 pm
I think if there is a “WWIII” it would be a Nuclear War, thus not involving the same strength of troop deployment. It would basically kill at random – ablebodied or not. Also destroying major centers of technology (some of the most sought-after targets I’m sure). But who knows. It may never happen.
And yeah it would be excellent to lead that form of spiritual life. But try talking Hollywood into it.
-John
October 26, 2006 at 10:34 pm
Yeah, I really do think that there isn’t much genetic change in store for us, although it does seem kind of crazy to not expect anything within ONE THOUSAND years.
But ….the approach that “evolution” or “we” might have a “peak” misrepresents things, I think, because we as a species have no destiny, or some perfect form already imagined for us by someone or something (sorry to all the crazy Creationist loiterers on this site) . There’s no goal our bodies are marching towards without us; we’re just whatever we’ve become to stay alive over the millennia. Evolution’s a byproduct of just trying to stay alive, and humans as a group aren’t having any trouble doing that anymore. There’s no genetic reason to get any taller that I can think of, so I don’t see it.
Also, I learned the other day (in Biology class!) that the expression of about 40% of our physical traits and personality and IQ, etc, are pretty heavily determined by the environment we grow up in. My guess is that gradually increasing height is more a sign of food availability than anything else.
Sort of the same with life expectancy. Our cells today aren’t programmed to live any longer than they were way back when that I know of …. it’s just that there’s nothing to kill us, and lots to avert disaster, like surgery and flouride and stuff. I mean, the reason we get old is because supposedly we’ve served our function and reproduced, and what happens to us afterwards just doesn’t matter. Nothing’s really changed there.
There’s prolly the inevitable scientific tampering that ‘ll prevent our cells from knowing when to kick off and prolonging life… but unless a long life gene shows up (not really possible) and we graft it into everyone’s sex cells, life-extension will have to be done for every individual and not really be evolution.
Anyways… I think we COULD have become way more awesome, but this modern life doesn’t ask anything of us anymore.
P.S. Social ineptness: yeah I totally see our mouths becoming some emergency back-up communication device. Hopefully for telepathy, though, and not the internet.
October 27, 2006 at 2:51 pm
I guess it all does come down to whether or not you believe in destiny, and whether you define destiny as “the hand of God” or the seemingly forever concurrent construction, destruction, and reconstruction of species, societies, and empires.
You know who else was pretty good at not dying? Dinosaurs.
That’s who.
October 27, 2006 at 4:16 pm
if science tampers with extending life…we could indeed say goodbye to nature. population would continue to grow aswell as crime. if there are too many people, then there are a lack of jobs, and everyone knows that we ‘need’ money to live. which in my mind is ridiculous…personally i hate money.