Natural selection will not remove ignorance from future generations — Richard Dawkins
Will humans, as a species, ever be free from the process of natural selection? Or will natural selection persist indefinitely, with only the players — what do we compete for and who do we compete with — involved in the process change over time? I will lean in favor of the latter scenario.
Natural selection is an unyielding, harsh, and merciless process. If you are not well-adapted to your environment, or if another individual is better suited than you, your distant descendants will not exist to pay respects at your grave.
The fundamental concept of natural selection is simple — it’s a process where organisms with traits that assist in acquiring essential resources (such as food, light, water, shelter, etc.) have an increased likelihood of survival and reproduction. As a result, these organisms produce more offspring than their peers. Over time, this results in an increase in the prevalence of these advantageous traits within the population. Such advantageous traits have been physical or psychological.
The impact of physical traits on survival and reproduction is straightforward to understand. If an individual within a species is stronger, faster, has a longer neck, or can breathe both on land and in water, it is likely to secure a larger portion of resources. This enhances its chances of survival and reproduction. Over time, as such individuals produce more offspring, the advantageous trait become more prevalent within the population.
Much like physical traits, psychological traits also enhance an individual’s chances of survival and reproduction. These traits can include behaviors, attitudes, and cognitive abilities that may provide an advantage in securing resources or attracting mates. Over time, much like physical traits. the advantageous psychological traits also become more prevalent within a population.
Natural selection has been a driving force since the advent of self-replicating molecules and biological entities vying for limited resources in their environment. However, over the past 10,000 years, humans have, in many respects, managed to circumvent certain aspects of natural selection through the aid of technology — stone tools, wheels, gun powder etc.
This is particularly true for physical traits, where technology has either leveled the playing field among the peers or has given advantages over other species. For instance, physical traits that were once advantageous, such as the ability to run faster, can now be augmented by motorized vehicles. If we continue on this trajectory of augmenting the process of natural selection, it raises the question: could we someday transcend the process of natural selection altogether? Attractive as it may sound, there are arguments against this.
The counter argument is that to sustain our biological form, we would always need some sort of resources, and as long as resources are limited, the process of natural selection will persist indefinitely. What may changeover time, however, is the nature of the resources that are being competed for.
The nature of competition has already shifted away from securing basic resources like food by hunting and gathering. Currently, the resources we compete for are predominantly monetary, which are subsequently used to procure necessities essential for survival.
What may also change is who we compete with. In the future, the process of natural selection may function within the context of competition among civilizations, or galactic alliances, striving to perpetuate and expand their horizons, and to venture into unexplored territories. Civilizations possessing advantageous technological traits, will gain upper hand. In this sense technological traits will also get added in the mix of physical and psychological traits in deciding winners and losers.
Perhaps the competition will be within civilizations and will be for the spice Melange found on the planet Arrakis.
Ciao.
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