Evolution in Real Time

"Thus we see not only thought as participating in evolution as an anomaly or as an epiphenomenon; but evolution as so reducible to and identifiable with a progress towards thought that the movement of our souls expresses and measures the very stages of progress of evolution itself. Man discovers that he is nothing else than evolution become conscious of itself, to borrow Julian Huxley’s striking expression. It seems to me that our modern minds (because and inasmuch as they are modern) will never find rest until they settle down to this view. On this summit and on this summit alone are repose and illumination waiting for us” (Teilhard, 221)

For me, this statement made by Teilhard sums up some of my first thoughts when addressing consciousness and its relevance in “Defining the Human”. I thought, how weirdly contradictory  that we use our ability to separate ourselves from the not-human (our self-consciousness) to then try and define and talk about humanity and therefore the very concept of consciousness. More simply put, using our (collective?) consciousness to talk about consciousness is difficult and unsettling, yet intriguing.

           

Additionally, we are conscious of evolution. More importantly, humans are conscious of their (our?) own evolution. We are aware and able to recognize that consciousness is a result of evolution. We use our consciousness to make this distinction between humanity and animality—and therefore recognize our consciousness as a defining quality of our species.

           

The circularity of consciousness easily confuses me.

           

            What does it mean for human kind to be so conscious of our own evolution?

In a TED talk Juan Enriquez: Will our kids be a different species? Enriquez says,

“I think we're transitioning into a homo evolutis, that for better or worse, is not just a hominid that is conscious of his/her environment, but beginning to directly and deliberately control the evolution of its own species, of bacteria, of plants of animals.”

            We, through science, have begun to push the boundaries of consciousness. We now not only recognize and talk about our consciousness but act on it to possibly change the course of evolution.

            Enriquez also touches on a concept called “Evolution in Real Time”. Meaning that human brains may be evolving so fast that we are not able to predict the changes through research until they've already happened. He believes it is possible that in the space of one generation, humans may evolve into a biologically different species.

            But how in control are we really?

            Our impacts on the environment have already spiraled out of our control. And we’ve created machines that not only collect and interpret data (seemingly with an artificial consciousness) but machines that may be impacting the future of our species.