Buzz
Human evolution is far from over. While civilization hasn't endured long enough to witness major changes, we can still anticipate gradual transformations as time progresses. This list highlights ten significant shifts that may occur over the next 200,000 years, provided that society continues its current trajectory.
10. Mono-ethnicity
In today's globalized world, multiculturalism is at the heart of society. It stands to reason, then, that humans could evolve into a singular, all-encompassing ethnic group, especially if cultural mixing continues. As intermarriage becomes more widespread, people will slowly shed the defining features of their individual ethnicities, adopting characteristics from across the globe. The clear advantage to this evolution? The concept of 'race' may eventually disappear.
9. Diminished Immune Defenses
As humanity becomes increasingly reliant on medications to maintain health, the human immune system is likely to gradually weaken. To illustrate this concept, consider a scenario where, with the aid of supplements, you could optimize your hormones to improve overall health. Over time, your body would grow dependent on these external hormones, and eventually, it might stop producing them on its own. The systems responsible for generating hormones would lose their significance, as your body would always have sufficient supply through supplementation.
After many thousands of years, humans might evolve to a point where hormone production no longer occurs naturally within the body. To extend this idea: if external resources were entirely responsible for our survival, numerous internal processes might become redundant. Why would the body require a strong immune system if every pathogen is defeated by medication? This could become a troubling side effect of relying on medication to combat illnesses.
8. Muscle Decline
Two main factors are driving the gradual physical degradation of the human race. The first is our growing dependence on technology, particularly machines, to perform tasks that once required physical effort. As each generation relies less on bodily strength, the entire species is likely to grow weaker.
The second potential cause of muscle loss is even more intriguing and would become especially relevant if we were to venture into space. In such an environment, physical strength would be of little use for everyday tasks. If we spent too long as space explorers, we would likely lose much of our muscle mass. Many of us are familiar with the tales of astronauts returning to Earth in frail condition. Future generations must be cautious of this, or risk finding themselves immobilized like the downtrodden humans in Wall-E.
7. Greater Height
Human height has experienced rapid growth over the past two centuries. In just the last 150 years, the average height of humans has increased by 10 cm. The primary factor behind this growth is thought to be the abundance of nutrition available to many populations. Famine, once a major barrier to growth, has nearly been eradicated in certain regions of the world.
The more food a child consumes, the more energy they have to fuel their growth. As long as excess food is available, humanity will continue to grow taller. Whether there is a limit to this growth or if biology will eventually place constraints, only time – and evolution – will determine.
6. Hair Loss
Having already lost much of our body hair for various reasons, it is likely that humans will continue to lose hair over time. Women, in particular, are often considered more attractive with less body hair, and since hairlessness can provide an advantage in sexual appeal, it is likely that females will eventually evolve to the point where body hair disappears entirely. The same could apply to men, especially concerning body hair, but as there is less societal pressure for men to have smooth skin, this change will likely occur more gradually.
5. Brain Rewiring
Technology has already begun reshaping the way our memory functions. The human brain, designed to operate with peak efficiency, usually recalls where information is stored instead of retaining the information itself. It’s far simpler to remember the location of the book containing vital facts than to recollect its actual content. In the era of the internet, this mental quirk has become even more prominent. How often have you tried to remember something and instead looked up the answer? That’s your brain remembering the location of the information – whether on the internet, Google, Wikipedia, and so on. As technology continues advancing, our brains will evolve to enhance efficiency, which may eventually come at the cost of our memory.
4. Smaller Teeth
The most noticeable change in our jaws will likely be the elimination of wisdom teeth, which are useless to modern humans and already rare in certain ethnic groups. In addition to this, we can expect our teeth to become even smaller. Over the course of human evolution, there has been a consistent trend toward smaller teeth. Evidence shows that in just the last 100,000 years, the size of our teeth has been halved. With no need to accommodate large molars, our jaws have also diminished in size. This pattern is expected to continue into the foreseeable future.
3. Self-Improvement
Humans may eventually reach a point where they can directly influence their own evolution with the help of technology. Whether this takes the form of literal self-improvement, such as through bionic organs, or gene selection that allows prospective parents to choose their child's traits before birth, this is a likely path for future human evolution. If allowed, gene selection could lead to a rise in so-called 'designer babies,' where all defects and undesirable traits are eliminated. Should this become widespread, it could drive many negative human traits to extinction.
2. Larger/Smaller Skull Volume
There are two primary theories regarding the future of skull volume. One group of scientists, the 'small skull' camp, argues that it is highly unlikely for humans to evolve with larger heads. The reason for this is straightforward: those who have given birth can attest to the fact that a baby's head is already quite large. Consequently, many biologists believe that a larger head would make childbirth impossible, something that evolution would naturally phase out. A bigger head at birth could also endanger the mother's life. Given this, it seems more probable that skull size will either remain unchanged or shrink over time.
That said, this viewpoint overlooks the growing role of Caesarean sections, which are allowing more and more children with larger heads to survive. In fact, some speculate that C-sections will eventually become safer than natural births, creating a scenario in which smaller-headed children born naturally could face a higher risk of mortality compared to those delivered surgically.
However, such a dependency on surgical delivery would be risky for humanity. If humans with large heads lost the ability to perform C-sections, extinction could be a real possibility.
1. Fewer Toes
In the distant past, when humans were still more dependent on climbing, our toes played an important role in gripping, much like our hands. However, as we evolved to walk upright and rely less on climbing, our toes gradually shrank to their current form. Now, our feet are no longer capable of grasping branches, and as a result, evolution has begun to phase out the smallest fifth toe.
While our other toes, especially the large one, are crucial for balance and movement, the little toe serves no real function. As a result, humans can easily function without it. In fact, the existence of this tiny digit often leads to discomfort, getting crushed in shoes or stubbed on corners. Given this, it's likely that humans will eventually evolve to be four-toed. Evolution has led many species to lose digits over time – for instance, the horse once had more than two hooves.
