Doesn't evolution spark from necessity for a species to survive, and the subsequent inherent adaptations an organism would develop to garner a foothold in its remodeled environment?
For the past several thousand years, humanity as a species has reached a general plateau of equilibrium in regards as to how we exist in nature. We have been the top of the food chain for a long while, and no real predators threaten us if we have the proper tools at our disposal. Furthermore, if something is out of order, we can quickly adapt using our intellect and ability to harness/produce technology to shift the surroundings to better suit our comfort and needs. As a result, we have no real impetus to evolve anytime soon because of how we have developed a unique cocoon of comfort and craftiness around us. Unless we were to see a new catalyst and be exposed to it for a considerable period of time, say a potentially widespread fatal disease we could not avoid, or perhaps increased contact with foreign wildlife, it wouldn't really trigger within us to devise a new biological need to counteract the affront.
I say the best hope of us evloving in some discernable way within the next few centuries is to increase our exposure to venomous critters, as in the inhabitants of Australia, for example, and in our frequent encounters with them, we may delevop in our children an overall immunity to the venom in which once claimed the ancestors. That would mean a greater percentage of deaths now, but for the future, it
may prove a benefit. I think the last kind-of evolution I've heard humans adapting to is our tolerance to cow's milk. 550 years ago, it was perhaps only 8% of the European population that could withstand it without getting sick, but with time, and of course technological advancement (think pasteurization), the percentage of humans who can hold it down is perhaps around 58-74%.
What I'd hope for in terms of the debate is akin to that detailed above: to further unlock hidden recesses of the mind, and to better utilize our thinking power, memory rention, recognition skills, all that jazz. There has to be reasonable basis for "psychokinetics" if they keep portaying it in film and video games, right?
---------- Post added at 12:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:04 AM ----------
To distract from all the words and scenarios I offered above, some suppostion:
