Where are we headed? Human evolution seems to have been expanding the definition of classical evolution. From survival of the fittest, we now just add some new parts, and presto, your near deaf ear can hear again. The strange part of it is that it’s not our genes which dictate the change, but our knowledge and innovation that enable us to create a device which can increase someone’s fitness directly. This is in contrast to the classical view where the individuals of a population that have the ‘deaf’ gene do not survive and/or reproduce as well as the individuals that have perfect hearing so that over time, the % of individuals with the ‘deaf’ gene goes down and the % of individuals with a ‘perfect hearing’ gene goes up.
Now, if we take that and apply it to what we’re doing in this age, I sometimes think that cyborgs have become the inevitable and natural next stage of human evolution. Computer technology has taken off and our understanding of the human body increases everyday to the point where people are becoming afraid that modern science is turning us into machines by treating the human body as if it were one. The idea is that if we can figure out the ‘workings of the machine’, we’ll be in a better position to fix it. And for the most part, this approach has been incredibally successful and has led to the advent of prosthetic limbs and hearing devices. With such technology, we have gone one step further and introduced mechanical parts that work with our human parts, like our human parts. Modern prosthetic arms can intercept electrical signals via implanted transducers in muscle fibers at the stump, using these signals to control the prosthetic arm, essentially linking this mechanical arm to our nervous system. They’re even able to relay nerve signals from implanted electrodes in a human arm to a distant computer. So are cyborgs already here?
Humans have distinguished themselves from the other animals of the planet with our drive to further our knowledge and our great ability for innovation. As a species, I think that we are curious by nature (look at monkeys), and what are we are the most curious about is us. Are we just so curious about the workings of life that we can’t help ourselves? If we are in control of the evolution of the species, is our unconscious goal to recreate what we are, raising us to the level of God(s)? Maybe our morals are what push us in this direction, as we try to improve what we call the people’s ‘quality of life’. And the natural response of fear or disgust that we get from the idea, is that because we are subconsciously afraid that we’ll be replaced as the dominant species? And where does the spiritual side of human life come in?
Cyborgs…I know I should be thinking about fat men in red suits, cookies, and presents, but what can you do? Merry Christmas and Happy Solstice to all!
