Brainiac #2: What will humans look like in 100.000 years from now?

[waza]

The fact that humans descended from apes is well known. But how is evolution progressing in the future? What do we look like in 100,000 years?

Utopia

''If you want to know what Utopia looks like, look around, this is it" said English biologist Steve Jones of University College London in 2002. And he is not the only expert who thinks this is true. We are the future human beings because in Western society we have completely eliminated evolution. Evolution is based on selection and we've eliminated this part.

In nature the weakest die before they can reproduce. With bad eyes, for example, our hunting ancestors did not leave to hunt for prey. Whoever did not get enough food quickly died. But today you just buy glasses in the shop...fairly simple.

In the West 98 percent of the human species reaches the age of 25. The weaknesses of our species are also eliminated by drugs and medical facilities. They pass on their bad genetic package to future generations. Therefore there is no longer any genetic development. Human evolution is at a standstill.

But there still is an evolutionary mechanism in the human being. Sexual selection is still very strong. If people prefer a partner with a particular hereditary trait such as length or hair color, then that trait will increase. Almost everyone reaches the age at which they can reproduce but not everyone is giving their own genes. People who may remain childless do not contribute to the future gene pool. And whoever puts the most children on the world is giving the strongest direction to the future human being. Partly due to this selection mechanism we are at the height of human evolution. Our living conditions change drastically at this time. We live in societies that set entirely different demands from our capabilities than before. Moreover there are much more people than ever before. As a result, many more mutations can take place that make these evolutionary changes possible. If a significant evolutionary jump is made then it will take place right now.

Brain size

Okay... everything will change but what and how then? The forecast is extremely difficult; There has never been a species in the same situation in which we are now. There is no solid base to speculate. To predict something we need to look at
the hereditary qualities that are preferred by the other sex. You can expect that due to the selection of partners, these qualities are becoming more important. Compared to our ancestors our brain capacity has increased dramatically. More brains are more attractive in this complex society. Social intelligence makes you are more attractive to the opposite sex. If you want to store this big brain you will obviously need a bigger head. So far, natural birth prevents the growth of the head. The head can't be any bigger because it will no longer fit through the mother's pelvis.

But thanks to the ceasarean section the mother's pelvis should no longer be a limiting factor. It is therefore obvious that changes are coming. If our medical facilities remain available, the size of the birth canal is no limiting factor anymore.

Following in the footsteps of the Giraffe?

That big head may reach into the sky. Last two centuries the Dutch have been growing twenty centimeters on average. Partnership seems to play a role, taller Dutch people tend to get more children than short people. This was discovered by Gert Stulp, biologist at the University of Groningen in 2015. Women prefer a man who is longer than herself, giving short men a slightly smaller chance of reproducing.

If we grow in length significantly in the coming millennia will we reach the height of 3m / 10ft? Not quite. We have become taller because of the nutritious food, the consumption of dairy products and the control by consultation agencies. Our genes probably had a smaller amount of input. Natural selection plays a small role compared to the increasing quality of the environment. We should rather think of millimeters than centimeters. In addition the body-length trend, seen at a greater time period, is less unambiguous than that of our brain size. It's not that we've only grown bigger and bigger during evolution. Moreover, evolution has certain limitations. Just growing to the size of a giraffe is not that simple. If we continue to grow our skeleton will no longer be sufficient. Furthermore a hunchback giant is most probably unattractive. To grow longer we must also grow in width. It's therefore not likely we will see a significant growth in length.

Another point of discussion is the one about body hair. The present person is much balder than his predecessors. If that trend continues then we will lose our body hair around the armpits and pubic region. Therefore people in the future should prefer less hair. The trouble is we don't know how constant social preferences will be. Certain aspects that one generation finds attractive may be unattractive to other generations. Most predictions are probably unlikely to happen. In other words; if 10,000 years of breast hair is to be found attractive, the evolutionary development such as the trend of becoming less hairy might as well be eliminated.

Evolution

Very spectacular developments may not occur at all, certainly not on the outer parts of our bodies. We will gradually evolve. Even with the rising sea level, human beings do not suddenly get gills for example. We may still look totally different in 100,000 years. There are more and more opportunities to make changes in our DNA. Who knows, in the long run, we restore our ability to see to genetic levels. And why shouldn't we go further and enrich ourselves with something like a cat's ability to see at night? We may also eliminate diseases and other inconveniences.

Predicting the future is almost impossible. How do you predict the future for mankind?

Photos © Google images

Comments

[ctheprince]

I say they won't exist. Just my humble opinion

[waza]

Well....true if we don't change the way we treat the planet as we do nowadays. And ofcoirse as long as Trump is president in only goes down hill..😉

[practicaleric]

Interesting article...I dont think our bodies will change drastically, what is happening is that humans are getting smarter. Bigger brains I guess. Thanks for sharing

[waza]

Think technology and AI will play a significant role in the (near) future.

[randowhale]

This post received a 1.6% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @waza! For more information, click here!