Just as a caterpillar turns into a butterfly humanity is about to go through a metamorphosis. We are about to become something very different that what we have been and the process has already begun. We are in a phase of accelerating evolution. Although it has been accelerating since the beginning of the industrial revolution it was the invention of the transistor that really started to change the world. And then the Internet was so significant that it was probably the single most factor in transforming society at the rate it is going today.
With the advances we are seeing in genetics, computerization, communication we are transforming who we are as a species. We are changing life on this planet. All life is changing. We are crossing genetics between tomato plants and moths, something that could never happen in the wild. But does this mean that what we create is "artificial"? I think it is natural, however it's a new kind of natural. It would be unnatural for change to stop.
We have to listen to hear what the universe wants us to become. We are the mechanism for the universe to be self aware.
We are at the transition point between old evolution and new evolution. Old evolution was based on random events and selection on success. We are transforming into and engineered evolution where we get to choose what we are going to evolve into. We can manipulate the genes. We can import genes from other species. We will soon be able to design genetics from scratch. Create a superior engineered human that we design. And then that superior human will create one that is even more superior. Humans with better technology, better machines, faster computers and a fusion of machine and biology. Maybe something wonderful, or something terrible.
Old evolution isn't going away. If we manage to cause our own extinction then we are back to old evolution. Maybe in another 500 million years the cockroaches will take over and get it right. Maybe nothing will evolve our technology and when the Sun expands and burns this planet to a crisp maybe some place else in the universe will get it right. Or maybe not. Maybe this is all there is and we are so rare that if we blow it - it's all gone. We just don't know, so we should respect what we are as if it is all there is.
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