The Dynamic Human

In this book, the authors offer alternative views based on the relativity of time and the cyclic nature of processes affecting our world. We contend that human evolution has been a gradual, though running at various speeds, process during which a complex system of feedback loops has led to enhancement of some human characteristics and the loss of others. Overall, these feedbacks have been of a selfamplifying nature which allows exponential change to occur. The same feedbacks can, however, be reversed by minor alterations in the rates of various natural and cultural cyclic processes that can produce stable states or even declines, depending on how their delicate balances are influenced.

We do not presume to predict events. Our aim is to offer a means of understanding the network of relationships connecting our biological make-up, our technologies, our social structures and the nature of the universe - a framework for better understanding of the current human condition and for construction of possible future scenarios.

In this chapter, the briefest possible description of changes that are crucial for differentiation of humans from their closest animal relatives is given. The erect bipedalism, freeing hands from locomotor duties, seems to have appeared first in the process of evolution leading to humans, several million years ago. The causes are not clear – they may be wading in shallow waters on the edges of inland lakes and rivers or chasing prey animals across savannahs. The appearance of the ability to produce sounds of articulate speech – lowering the position of the larynx in the throat – appeared next, though it is difficult to determine when. This ability to produce sounds as units of the arbitrary symbolic communication opened up great possibilities for communication and exchange of technologically and socially relevant information that facilitated the management of environment by humans.

A view of human evolution as a continuous process occurring over a few million years is presented. In contrast to theories replicating biblical events of abrupt creation of separate species that remain largely unchanged after they have been produced, the evolutionary emergence of humans is presented here as an extended over time process running at varying speeds in various periods, but being largely continuous from generation to generation. It is briefly documented by mention of key fossils that informed studies of human origins.

The unclear concept of “species” as a category of biological research is discussed as specifically applied to human evolution. The concept is a rigid 18th century pre-evolutionary category that complicates biological thinking about dynamic processes of evolution. Currently, there are 23 defintions of “species” used by biologists. With the above in mind, a discussion of the hominin fossil record is presented in terms of the number of purported “species” into which the fossils can be straightjacketed. The conclusion is that the simplest hypothesis, that of a single human species being present at any point in time during the last few million years, cannot be reliably falsified with the evidence currently available.

Patterns of thought about human place in nature and organic evolution are discussed. Basic reasons for placing humans among mammals rather than considering them biologically exceptional are given. The historical origin of the, still currently used, taxonomy of living things that classifies them into distinct static categories is discussed as an impediment to the understanding of the variable and dynamic nature of life. This dynamic nature of life producing variable organisms in every generation makes evolution an inevitable process commonly occurring today same as it has occurred in the past.

Evolution of specifically human periods of life – extended childhood and adolescence is discussed in the context of the entire process of reproduction. The essential characteristic of life is transfer of information from one generation to the next. Material structure of living things undergoes constant flux – old molecules are shed and new molecules are incorporated into cells – but the arrangement of parts of organisms remains largely the same, they contain the same information. Information is defined here as a particular arrangement of things. Such arrangement may remain the same even when actual objects are exchanged. Since individuals are perishable, the only way to maintain continuity of life is by passing information about organism’s structure to newly produced individuals – the offspring. This process of reproduction commonly involves sexual combination of genetic information. The evolution of human sexuality with its hormonal regulation is discussed and biological foundations of human love and other complex emotions are suggested.

Individual biological variation and its sources are described. The role of genes and environmental factors in the formation of variation is explained, basic methods of measuring variation given and examples of variation presented. Distribution of human variation within and between populations is discussed with the conclusion that the concept of “race” is not applicable to humans. Differences between people from various geographic areas are small, not sufficient for meaningful separation of humanity into distinct subunits comparable with breeds of some animals. The process of microevolution as a continuous alteration of variation ranges is exemplified by recent changes in the prevalence of genetic defects, anatomical variations (e.g. spina bifida occulta), reduction of human brain size by about 10% in the last few thousand years, shortening of body height when hunters-gatherers adopted agriculture and subsequent increase in body height in post-industrialised world, and by alterations of head shape in some nations in the last few hundred years.

The idea of allurement alludes to themes of creation and the centre of existence. In the previous chapters, human evolution has been explained. In this chapter, a grander outlook of evolutionary processes is explored. From cosmic beginings to human rituals, all are underpinned by allurement in all its kaleidoscopic magic and mystery. The ancients understood the power of allurement and coded it in all aspects of ritual behaviour and mathematical language. Allurement is the integument of existence.

In this chapter, we discuss the realm of altered states of consciousness as a significant aspect of human evolution. We argue that there is a need for humanity to retrieve its ‘shamanic’ legacy as a way of answering current ecological challenges. Both shamanic socieities and their engagement with altered states of consciousness, and mind/body practices of Western societies are examined. Far from being irrelevant, we show that intuitive modes of knowledge provide unique ways for understanding the nature of human existence and the non-human world.

From science fiction movies and books to the world of augmentation, modern humans are fixated by the future. What is in store for us? This chapter offers how future humans may be enhanced. Nowhere is this more evident than in our desire to augment the human brain. The exponential rise of biotechnology in the last thirty years has provided a necessary platform for future enhancement therapies to come into being. We explore various kinds of brain augmentation, present and future, while cautioning their unknown consequences for future humanity.