Cambridge cosmologist Martin Rees thinks that human evolution is just the beginning of what we might become. He says:
"The stupendous timespans of the evolutionary past are now part of common culture. We and the biosphere are the outcome of more than four billion years of evolution, but most people still somehow think we humans are necessarily the culmination of the evolutionary tree. That's not so. Our Sun is less than half way through its life. We're maybe only at the half way stage. Any creatures witnessing the Sun's demise 6 billion years hence won't be human — they'll be as different from us as we are from bacteria."
I disagree, on two counts:
1) Theological disagreement = God says we are the purpose of His creation, intended to be made in His image; thus if we could look forward a few million years henceforward and still find ourlselves here, we would, in my view, still find almost all of the commonalities that make us 'human'.
2) Scientific / Philosophical disagreement = Mankind has reached a stage at which we have enough control over our evolution to see that we remain the culmination of progressive evolution; that is to say, we have acquired the knowledge and intelligence to reap the benefits of human states but to also curb dangerous advancements and deploy optimal science.
"The stupendous timespans of the evolutionary past are now part of common culture. We and the biosphere are the outcome of more than four billion years of evolution, but most people still somehow think we humans are necessarily the culmination of the evolutionary tree. That's not so. Our Sun is less than half way through its life. We're maybe only at the half way stage. Any creatures witnessing the Sun's demise 6 billion years hence won't be human — they'll be as different from us as we are from bacteria."
I disagree, on two counts:
1) Theological disagreement = God says we are the purpose of His creation, intended to be made in His image; thus if we could look forward a few million years henceforward and still find ourlselves here, we would, in my view, still find almost all of the commonalities that make us 'human'.
2) Scientific / Philosophical disagreement = Mankind has reached a stage at which we have enough control over our evolution to see that we remain the culmination of progressive evolution; that is to say, we have acquired the knowledge and intelligence to reap the benefits of human states but to also curb dangerous advancements and deploy optimal science.
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