Despite much learned, expert, and conflicting talk, based on solid Darwinian principles, we don’t know very much. So much has changed in the past few thousand years that the past may not be a reliable guide to the future:
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At National Geographic, back in 2009, the views of scientists surveyed ranged from nothing much will happen through transhumanism will change everything:
“Since the advent of settled life, human populations have expanded enormously. Homo sapiens is densely packed across the Earth, and individuals are unprecedentedly mobile.
“In this situation, the fixation of any meaningful evolutionary novelties in the human population is highly improbable.” [anthropologist Ian] Tattersall said. “Human beings are just going to have to learn to live with themselves as they are.”
James Owen, “Future Humans: Four Ways We May, or May Not, Evolve” at National Geographic (November 24, 2009)
Alternatively, transhumanism will change everything, according to Nick Bostrom of the Future of Humanity Institute:
Transhumanism raises a spectacular array of possibilities, from supersoldiers and new breeds of athletes to immortal beings who, having had their brains scanned atom by atom, transfer their minds to computers.
In addition to living forever, “uploaded” beings would be able to “travel at the speed of light as an information pattern,” download themselves into robots for the occasional stroll through the real world, think faster when running on advanced operating systems, and cut their food budget down to zero, Bostrom imagines in his paper “The Transhumanist FAQ.” If that were to happen, a new type of evolution would emerge, Bostrom said.
James Owen, “Future Humans: Four Ways We May, or May Not, Evolve” at National Geographic (November 24, 2009)
Some suggestions sound rather strange but there is a logic to them…
News, “Experts guess: How might humans change over the next 10,000 years?” at Mind Matters News
Takehome: Informed opinion ranges from “Changes have largely stopped” to “We will have webbed feet,” and all experts have some science basis for their views.
You may also wish to read: Researchers still puzzled: Why did human brains shrink? Human brain volumes decreased by 10% in the last 40,000 years, coinciding with spectacular intellectual achievements. Examples of brain shrinkage among animals are fascinating but have not provided much insight. But perhaps we should ask, how much does brain size even matter?