This article explores the possibility of a human apocalypse, comparing it to the extinction of the dinosaurs, and discusses the impact that advances in biotechnology and genetic engineering will have on our evolution. It discusses how the future of Homo sapiens could be shaped by human-driven selection rather than natural selection.
Most of us have probably thought about how the dinosaurs might have gone extinct at some point in our childhood. We may have wondered what happened during the time when dinosaurs ruled the earth that caused these giant creatures to disappear in an instant. Of course, no one knows how the dinosaurs went extinct. But we assume that something terrible must have happened. Meteorites struck, volcanoes erupted, food disappeared, and they shivered in the cold, bringing an end to the age of the dinosaurs. It’s a movie-esque picture of catastrophe. So it’s no wonder that when we hear that the end of the world is near, we naturally think of a disaster movie. But will the end of humanity, or more specifically, the end of Homo sapiens, lead to the dire consequences we imagine? Maybe there is another scenario. Let’s take a look at some of the more unconventional endings we could face.
We, Homo sapiens, like all other living species, will one day come to an end. It’s a law of nature, and it may be in the distant future, or it may be in the near future, but what if we could choose that day? Our distant ancestors, such as Australopithecus and Homo erectus, also faced extinction, but it wasn’t a tragic event; they naturally evolved slowly into us, Homo sapiens. If we were to end up like them, evolving into a different race, it would be a pretty good ending. But there’s a crucial difference between us and them. We can predict and determine how and when that day will come. Our understanding of biotechnology can help us determine the direction of our evolution.
First, let’s think deeply about biotechnology. To fully understand the impact of biotechnology on human evolution, we need to understand evolutionary theory. “The strongest survive” is a common misconception of evolutionary theory, but it’s a big misconception. So, what is the true theory of evolution? Let’s take a simple example. We know that wolves evolved and became dogs. Of course, this is not an accurate statement. To be more precise, we should say that those of the past packs that remained in the wild became wolves, and those that chose to live in symbiosis with humans became dogs. But those animals were probably much more like wolves than dogs. But does this mean that the poodle wagging its tail next to me is “stronger” than the wolf in the mountains? Not really. It just means that the poodle has easier access to food and a safer environment than the wolf – in other words, it has an advantage in survival. Using this example, we can define evolutionary theory once again as “Animals that have an advantage survive longer.” It’s a pretty obvious statement, and one that can be applied to many different things, from animals to products, companies, cultures, societies, and more.
So how can the development of biotechnology affect human evolution? The answer can be found in artificial selection. Let’s go back to the dog example above. The fact that poodles have survived as long as they have without being overtaken by animals like wolves is largely due to human influence. They didn’t survive because they were selected by the harsh laws of the wild, they survived because they were selected by humans. There are many examples of this. The domestication of cows and chickens is one example, and crops like barley and rice are also products of artificial selection. The use of artificial selection to change living things is biotechnology. And if the target of this biotechnology is humans, it will result in the evolution of the human race.
This raises an interesting question. If humans choose to evolve themselves through artificial selection, what will the end look like? Will we face extinction due to environmental changes, like the dinosaurs, or will we transform into a new species and continue with other forms of life? These questions suggest that the development of biotechnology is not just a technological advance, but an important factor that can determine the fate of humanity.
But the question remains. As we’ve seen, artificial selection has been practiced in the distant past, so why is it that we’re just now seeing the evolution of humanity? The main reason is that we didn’t understand the process of evolution before. Our ancestors didn’t intentionally breed gentle, hardworking cattle to domesticate wild cattle. They just kept them because they were useful. In other words, artificial selection up to this point was not much different from natural selection. That wasn’t the only problem. Since the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in 1859, the idea of using it to “evolve” humans, societies, cultures, and more has had some very dangerous consequences, from the anti-human rights eugenics movement in the United States in the early 20th century to the Nazi genocide of Jews in World War II.
But things are different now. The development of genetic engineering, a class of biotechnology, has solved many of the problems of human evolution through biotechnology. Genetic engineering is the study of how genes, the blueprints of life, work as organisms evolve, and its development has allowed us to evolve humanity much more directly and precisely, moving beyond artificial selection to intelligent design. As an analogy, consider the difference between before and after the development of genetic engineering: the way we used to build machines was to haphazardly assemble parts, leaving only those that worked the way we wanted them to work, and discarding everything else. This is extremely unproductive and unethical, especially when you consider that it’s humans, not machines, that are being discarded. However, the development of genetic engineering has allowed us to learn what each of these parts can be used for, and as a result, we can build laptops, computers, TVs, and other machines to our liking. With this knowledge, the next evolution will be at a much different pace than the last. And we’re already seeing it with genetically engineered foods.
Of course, many people still raise ethical concerns, such as “people with inferior genes will be marginalized” or “all of humanity will become homogenized.” But now it will be a matter of choice. For millions of years, humans have had to survive in the harshness of nature, and as a result, the bipedal creatures that were “selected” by nature became the humans we are today. But now it will be up to us to ‘choose’ whether we remain the same Homo sapiens or evolve into a new species that can no longer be called Homo sapiens. So does this biotech evolution really make us a different species from Homo sapiens? That also depends on our choices. Even if we choose to remain Homo sapiens forever, it will be as a result of our choices, not as a result of adapting to the laws of nature. Science has already opened up all sorts of possibilities for us. Maybe we are already a new species that has already changed the fate of our species, no longer by nature’s choice, but by our own.
