# Is the natural end of human evolution that we will become super intelligent, immortal beings ie Gods **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 30, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-natural-end-of-human-evolution-that-we-will-become-super-intelligent-immortal-beings-ie-gods/726589 "2015-07-30T18:07:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-natural-end-of-human-evolution-that-we-will-become-super-intelligent-immortal-beings-ie-gods/726589/21 "2015-07-31T05:25:13Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > . . . With the rise of technology, human evolution has basically come to a stand-still. . . . I believe it was sf writer Larry Niven who said this about medical technology. Now that we can keep people alive who would have died in a state of nature, we’ve “stopped” evolving. However, this is wrong…for two reasons. First, it puts more emphasis on sexual selection rather than differential survival: we’re all getting prettier and sexier! And, secondly, we still have differential survival. Traffic accidents are making us quicker, just for instance. There was an observation in a Scientific American article that human skulls are getting thinner, because we don’t hit people over the head with rocks or sticks as much as we did in our pre-technical closer-to-nature state. We don’t depend on thick skulls to keep us alive, because the other guy likely has a spear, bow-and-arrow, or handgun. So we’re investing less biological energy in heavy skulls. The modes of selection have changed…but we are still evolving, both via sexual selection and differential survival. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-natural-end-of-human-evolution-that-we-will-become-super-intelligent-immortal-beings-ie-gods/726589/22 "2015-07-31T14:43:55Z")
There is no reason to think that we are significantly from the Homo saps who left Africa 50,000 years ago and conquered the world. What we have is the accumulated knowledge since we invented agriculture. The result has been a steady increase in what we can do. Are we still evolving? Sure but that doesn’t come close to explaining our civilization. As mentioned several times, the end of human evolution is extinction. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-natural-end-of-human-evolution-that-we-will-become-super-intelligent-immortal-beings-ie-gods/726589/23 "2015-07-31T16:11:45Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > With the rise of technology, human evolution has basically come to a stand-still. As a biologist, I vehemently disagree with this. Technology allows us to _alter_ the elective pressures placed upon us by the environment, but it does not free us from the inevitable forces of evolution. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-natural-end-of-human-evolution-that-we-will-become-super-intelligent-immortal-beings-ie-gods/726589/24 "2015-07-31T16:25:17Z")
Further, the most interesting thing that’s evolving now isn’t people, but society / civilization. That’s the unit of evolution which will become more advanced. Not some pitiful hairless ape. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-natural-end-of-human-evolution-that-we-will-become-super-intelligent-immortal-beings-ie-gods/726589/25 "2015-07-31T19:18:58Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > As a biologist, I vehemently disagree with this. Technology allows us to _alter_ the elective pressures placed upon us by the environment, but it does not free us from the inevitable forces of evolution. \*selective. Not elective. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-natural-end-of-human-evolution-that-we-will-become-super-intelligent-immortal-beings-ie-gods/726589/26 "2015-07-31T19:37:27Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > Our new world of technology has essentially opened up a new world, some will enter it and some will not. Those who do not will likley continue to breed with others like themselves as will those who have netered this technical world. In my experience, those who enter the technical world get far fewer opportunities to breed, but your mileage may vary. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-natural-end-of-human-evolution-that-we-will-become-super-intelligent-immortal-beings-ie-gods/726589/27 "2015-08-01T23:16:11Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Humanity via science and tool using over the past few millennia has seen vast increases in man’s capabilities and we’ve only been doing real science for a few hundred years. It is reasonable to expect that if we continue on this path of progress for another several thousands or millions of years (which is a blink in time re the age of the earth and the universe) we will logically get to a point that we are effectively immortal intelligences able to manipulate the physical world to our whims? > > Obviously we would not be “homo-sapiens” humans at that point but it is reasonable to expect that is an achievable state of existence thousands or millions of years into the future? Yes, I don’t see any other alternative really. It is probably only 100-300 years away in my view, because machine intelligence will catch on and start to augment our scientific knowledge base. I have no idea what’ll happen in a million years, but we will probably achieve something akin to god status by the 22nd or 23rd century. However our current lives are based on finding ways to fulfill our biological needs and wants. What happens when we can do that with high efficiency with no side effects? Do we invent new wants and needs? I have no idea. We are probably the first species to reach this point in the galaxy (possibly the universe). ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-natural-end-of-human-evolution-that-we-will-become-super-intelligent-immortal-beings-ie-gods/726589/28 "2015-08-01T23:59:14Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > In my experience, those who enter the technical world get far fewer opportunities to breed, but your mileage may vary. I work in a microprocessor design group, and considering how much I’ve been spending on baby presents lately I don’t think this is accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-natural-end-of-human-evolution-that-we-will-become-super-intelligent-immortal-beings-ie-gods/726589/29 "2015-08-02T00:03:16Z")
Being optimistic here - If you consider human evolution to include the changes we make to ourselves through science, yes. We won’t be Gods, since Gods are by definition supernatural, but we will be gods in the 21st century point of view, just like we would be gods to the ancients. (Effectively hold the sun still - no problem with helicopters and floodlights.) Immortal - sure. In the future death will be nature’s way of telling you that you didn’t do a good job of backing yourself up. We’ll be limited by physical laws, of course, but who knows if we can hack around them, and our understanding might be different in a few thousand years. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-natural-end-of-human-evolution-that-we-will-become-super-intelligent-immortal-beings-ie-gods/726589/30 "2015-08-02T00:14:33Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > . . . However our current lives are based on finding ways to fulfill our biological needs and wants. What happens when we can do that with high efficiency with no side effects? Do we invent new wants and needs? I have no idea. We are probably the first species to reach this point in the galaxy (possibly the universe). Inventing new wants is the basis for the top tier, at least, of our economy. It’s wonderful! Who knew we needed Lego toys and decaffeinated tea and Dejah Thoris comic books and Disneyland and all! I once wrote a short sci fi story in which “immortal god-like” human descendants, having gone beyond any need or use for any material goods, and having explored art, music, and literature to exhaustion, had only mathematics – number theory, specifically – as the one literally inexhaustible field for intellectual endeavor. Coming up with a new theorem about the properties of numbers was the only way left for people to attain any kind of exalted status. Good to know there’s one resource that can never, ever run out! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-natural-end-of-human-evolution-that-we-will-become-super-intelligent-immortal-beings-ie-gods/726589.md?page=1)