Will humans evolve into something ?

Question

Will humans evolve into something ?

Answer 1

We haven't so far!...All kidding aside, if you take as fact that evolution is true, there can be no doubt that humans will continue to evolve each time we face a strong enough need to do so. Keep in mind; things don't evolve just to evolve. The way it works is that some of the animals have a trait that makes them more successful in surviving than the animals that don't have that trait. Then, by the process of natural selection, these same animals ARE more successful and more likely to survive and to procreate (Sounds so much better than "make babies" doesn't it?) this causes more animals that have this new and improved trait more numerous in the gene pool which raises the procreation rate of animals with the successful trait exponentially. More procreation...more babies with the trait, until it is uncommon NOT to have the trait...So if we suddenly need another arm to be successful as a species, science would have us believe that evolution would cause that to happen.

Answer 2

Maybe..maybe not, it depends if something happens...like if the sun dies but we don't...we'll evolve...or the orbit changes, etc

Answer 3

Well, we are evolving, but I think you mean to ask if humans will ever evolve into something that wouldn't be called human.  That's a tough question to answer, because we as humans define what it means to BE human.  If we change, wouldn't our definition of humanity change with it?  That's more of a philosophical idea than a biological one, but definitely something to consider.

In any case, remember that evolution isn't a linear process.  It's not like we were monkeys, then apes, then humans, and then....something else.  Instead, we descend from a common ancestor that we share with apes.  Go back further, and that common ancestor shares a common ancestor with monkeys.  Go back even further and we're all just one big happy family.  So when you ask if humans will evolve into something else, the answer (assuming we don't go extinct before this happens) is...maybe.  Maybe SEVERAL something elses, since that's how evolution rolls.

To the person above me who said: "So if we suddenly need another arm to be successful as a species, science would have us believe that evolution would cause that to happen."  Not exactly.  Evolution doesn't just MAKE things like that happen.  It has to happen via mutation, and if it's favorable, natural selection perpetuates it.  There's a bit of a difference.  If our environment suddenly (and bizarrely) favors humans with 3 arms, and nobody has any mutations that produce 3 arms....we're just in trouble, aren't we?

Answer 4

Yes, humans will definately evolve into something.

However, you may be looking at it wrongly. As a species, we are evolving right now. Evolution is a very slow process.

By evolve into something, I am assuming that you are referring to the creation of a different, possibly superior, species.

Evolution in human civilisation doesn't work the same as it did in prehistoric times. There are certain environmental or competitive pressures that control evolution by favouring certain characteristics for survival, reproduction or competition between individuals, for example.

In the human species, we are facing fewer and fewer pressures to become stronger, fitter and more mentally capable. With the invention of technology and farming, many of our needs for survival are met without us having to do very much to sustain ourselves, society will even pay you money for food, and you don't even have to work even the tiniest bit for that.

So, our evolution, without the pressures forcing us to become more superior, will be determined by sexual attractiveness, as all other factors are very nearly null. This could result in, as mentioned in the BBC article, a distinct separation of species into two sub-species, with one being vastly more sexually attractive than the other.

However, we are at a pivotal point in technology at the moment, we are not too far off precisely controlling our own DNA.

We are close to becoming the masters our own evolution.

Answer 5

Well,...most of us will, but with you?...I am not so sure...

Answer 6

Species either evolve or become extinct.

Answer 7

Evolution happens by organisms having many offspring, then those many offspring compete intensely with others for food and mates so that only a tiny proportion of them succeed in having offspring of their own. Because of modern medicine, agriculture and birth control we have largely stopped the massive overproduction and competition cycle, most children now get to survive and have children of their own, so human evolution has stopped, for the time being at least.

If you count technology as a form of evolution, then the next stage of our evolution will be intelligent machines, or organic / machine hybrids. Let's hope they treat their human cousins better than we have treated our own cousins the great apes.