[vaseline2008]

As I have been more conscientious about the world around me I have come to one conclusion regarding Human Evolution: The next stage in Human Evolution will be the result of a catastrophic event where a large portion of the human race dies off.

How can I be so sure of this you ask? I look back at the not so distant past when the Black Plague and Spanish Flu killed off many of the humans that were on the planet. Those that survived gave birth to generations of humans better adept to handle future diseases such as HIV/AIDS. This is human evolution happening right before our eyes.

With advancements in biotechnology and medical science humans have been able to combat and win over many ailments and diseases. Vaccines for all sorts of diseases have been invented as well as preventive measures and treatments. The chances of a biological disaster in the human population is quite low now with all of our advancements in all areas of technology including the ability to communicate more rapidly and efficiently.

Ray Kurzweil confidently predicts that in the future man and machine will meld to create a "Singularity" (not a black hole), what I call Humanity 2.0. He predicts that through science humans will one day be able to achieve immortality, most likely in a number of stages (uploading your brain onto a "drive", using cloned organs, etc...). Weather or not humans end up looking like The Borg or not we are already fiddling around with cybernetic implants and genetic manipulation with the ability to sequence synthetic DNA to create a new and unique lifeform. With advancements in medical technology it really isn't too far-fetched. As scientists get ever more powerful tools at their disposal scientific and medical advancements accelerate. For example, it took over a decade to complete the Human Genome Project. Today NEC has invented a DNA Analyzer that is about the size of a large briefcase that can analyze DNA in 25 minutes.

For all intents and purposes, it could safely be said that humanity is now in control of our evolutionary process and future. So on to Natural Selection. Because of technology we are now able to bypass environmental disasters with relative ease. Think of all those who evacuated New Orleans prior to Katrina. Now you might say, not everyone made it out, many died. Now that brings up my next point, and the most critical of my whole piece. The majority of the people who didn't make it out were the "have nots". All those who had the ability and resources to get out of town when CNN first broke the news did so.

With advancements in robotics and Artificial Intelligence research, it is not inconceivable to picture a future where human labor is going to be replaced by robots. Cars that drive themselves, aircraft that fly unattended, why would it be so difficult to imagine a Combiner that would run off of GPS and harvest an entire field without human supervision? This would pretty much make the Middle and Lower Classes obsolete. If you remove those humans from the equation, then there is plenty of energy resources to power such devices.

With the current state of the world, wealth concentrating at the top with policies and sentiment to reinforce this, the wealthiest are able to marry the best looking, smartest, brightest and healthiest among the human race. Should immortality be achieved, it will the be wealthy who get it, not the poor. The future of human evolution will be the dieoff of the "have nots" and the "haves" will lay the foundation for the next stage in human evolution. All technology is only available to those with the purchasing power to obtain it. The rich do live longer than the poor because of the technology and resources available to them.

Most members of PO do believe that we are consuming Earth's resources at an unsustainable rate. When the majority of the human population is priced out of necessary resources, arable land, water, energy, etc... what incentive will the Haves have to "spread the wealth"? Why would the Haves give up the quality of their lifestyle to help out the Have Nots? Peak Oil doesn't seem to help matters, unless you are a Have, aka the 1%.

Although the future is not yet written, the chances of such a future from my observations has the highest probable chance. One other note, although many of the Haves inherited their wealth, many have obtained wealth on their own, so it is possible for someone to rise to the top and "make the cut". Please post any faults and arguments against my observations and hypothesis.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')s I have been more conscientious about the world around me I have come to one conclusion regarding Human Evolution: The next stage in Human Evolution will be the result of a catastrophic event where a large portion of the human race dies off.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vaseline2008', ' ')I look back at the not so distant past when the Black Plague and Spanish Flu killed off many of the humans that were on the planet. Those that survived gave birth to generations of humans better adept to handle future diseases such as HIV/AIDS. This is human evolution happening right before our eyes.

[Rod_Cloutier]

Extinction is a common natural phenomna as well. Anyone who say's humans are exempt from this is telling you a tall tale.

This former atheist who had a near death experience; where God showed him the future of humans:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFh988kskZM

A low tech future where people can telepatically grow their own food. (I've had a NDE myself, but even I had difficulty believing this).

[vaseline2008]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')our vision of a future world divided into rich people living long lives in luxury while the poor live mean, brutish and short lives below them is similar to the vision of the future that HG Wells put forward in his famous novel "The Time Machine" over a century ago where the human race winds up divided between the blonde wispy Eloi people and the dark, bestial Morlock people. I suggest you read his novel.

[SeaGypsy]

The concept is much older, it was first prophesied in the Bhagavad Gita. Orwell plagiarized it.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'r')epublicans are anti-science. Their platform denies global warming, is against reasonable population control, anti-environmental, desperate for unavailable energy, and against sensible national health policies. I find it curious one would lecture on medical issues?

[sparky]

.
pandemics are not unusual and are a recurring event
they have quite a large influence on human evolution
they discourage inbreeding

inbreeding favorise local adaptation
inbreeding decrease genetic variability

that's why sex was such a success , it keep mixing the gene pool
the larger the pool the more options there are to avoid or survive an infection
it's like a moving target for the bugs

the Amerid populations evolved from a narrow group of hunter- gatherers
the natural tendency for local inbreeding pruned further their gen pool ,
when they go exposed to the full range of old world diseases ,
they had a inadequate set of genes variation to work some ( relative ) imunity

inbreeding and incest are some of the oldest tabus ,through times and place
the often mentionned Egyptian pharaons is only partially true ,
all the children were from the same guys but there was plenty of wives
a constant flow of new genes would keep the pool clean

of course there is deep instinct to protect one's gene line ,
it is one's capital in the stock market of life
if an haplogroup breed another out , it's the end of this line

[SeaGypsy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'r')epublicans are anti-science. Their platform denies global warming, is against reasonable population control, anti-environmental, desperate for unavailable energy, and against sensible national health policies. I find it curious one would lecture on medical issues?

[Plantagenet]

The anti-science democrats are an embarassment to the country. Obama's destruction of multiple major NASA science programs so he can divert the money to food stamps is a disgrace.


Obama slashes science programs at NASA, diverts money to food stamps

[vaseline2008]

IBM 'Jeopardy' Winner Watson Gets Wall Street Job
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')inancial services is the "next big one for us," said Manoj Saxena, the man responsible for finding Watson work. IBM is confident that with a little training, the quiz-show star that can read and understand 200 million pages in three seconds can make money for IBM by helping financial firms identify risks, rewards and customer wants mere human experts may overlook.

[Loki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he rich do live longer than the poor because of the technology and resources available to them.

[Shaved Monkey]

Dont hold out too much hope for evolutions ability to make us(Western civilisation) stronger and help us survive .
Interesting fact women would chose a partner who smelt different to them
this gave genetic diversity.
The pill makes women chose partners who smell like them,reducing the genetic diversity.

http://www.livescience.com/2781-pill-wo ... mates.html

[SeaGypsy]

One fact of biology I have very personal experience of which weirds me out still after years. A woman's ability to kill sperm, preventing a pregnancy. The female immune system has in some individuals at least, evolved spermicide. Not just that, selective spermicide.

[vaseline2008]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Loki', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he rich do live longer than the poor because of the technology and resources available to them.

[vision-master]

' But you really can't argue if one has food and one does not the one with food will most likely survive than the one without.'

No, the one without will take whatever is needed.

[SeaGypsy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', ''') But you really can't argue if one has food and one does not the one with food will most likely survive than the one without.'

No, the one without will take whatever is needed.