So, humanity is probably reaching the limits of biological evolution. Quite simply put, natural selection only works if those who are less fit to live and breed die before they procreate. This is no longer the case for large sections of the human species, with our continually advancing technological prowess, we have rendered laughable many threats that once killed millions upon millions of people. Diseases such as typhoid (salmonella enterica), cholera (vibrio cholerae), tuberculosis (mycobacterium tuberculosis) and the black plague (yersinia pestis) are no longer much of a problem in the first world, and there is every reason to suspect that this trend is continuing to the rest of the world, if slowly (more on this bullshit here later).

These diseases have literally killed millions upon millions of people, those with better immune systems lived to pass on their genes while those with poor immune systems were likelier to die before making any babies. As medicine progresses, even those with horrible immune systems or people without immune systems at all can live long enough to pass on genes. I am not saying this is a bad thing, please do not misunderstand me. I am saying here that natural selection is happening more effectively in the diseases we treat than in humanity. Evolving diseases are a terrifying thing, it may be unlikely, but there is a possibility of the HIV virus becoming, say, airborne. You can be sure that it will be possible for someone to engineer such a thing, sooner or later as well.

Which brings me to the point. We had goddamned well better start evolving at a faster rate. Humanity is resilient and adaptable, and could maybe survive something like a super-plague or what-have-you, maybe even an extinction-level meteor strike. What about the second super-plague? The third meteor strike? It is just a matter of time before we go the way of the dinosaurs. We have to master the universe before it masters us, and technologically-assisted evolution is what will make that happen. This kind of evolution is much faster than the natural kind. The average person in the western world can talk to people and see things anywhere on the planet, almost instantaneously. Humans have had this ability for less than a hundred years. In the next twenty years alone, there will be developments in genetic engineering, nanotechnology and computer science that will dwarf our current achievements, assuming the fundamentalists don’t manage to kill us all before then. Space science will give us the solar system as a playground and a huge new source of materials and energy. These technologies will converge and they will be integrated into the human experience. We will engineer our own evolution, making ourselves into beings that our ancestors would consider gods. The future of tissue engineering raises the prospect of human immortality. Already, experiments are underway with a device that is literally a 3D printer for organs and body parts. Organ failure? Grow a new one! Brain aging? Grow some new neurons! This is an exciting time to be alive, things like death and scarcity may well be eliminated in our lifetime.

Singularity as fallacy? Perhaps, but if an actual artificial intelligence is possible, we will make one. If it can modify itself, it will. Each new version is better than the last, digital evolution in action. It is a natural thing for our race to evolve, and it is a natural thing for our race to go extinct. Both of these WILL happen, sooner or later. Maybe both at the same time as we merge with our technology. There’s nothing that says we cannot create artificial neurons with nanotechnology, or improved neurons with biological engineering. The human race will create a successor or die trying, a transhuman race to seed the galaxy with intelligence.

I, for one, am looking forward to it.