Human involution

[Lugubrious Pony 25]

Hello! Well, there are days when I like to philosophize about the world, the life, the afterlife and other things that only exist in my head. One of the things I like to think about is: 

 

Is the human race involuting?

 

Yes, involuting. I compare us to our ancestors, the antique civilizations, about how them, without too much knowledge about the intricate mechanisms of the world, made such wonderful and magnificent monuments to their gods, or the jawdropping intelligence they had related to astronomy, architecture, etc.

 

And then I think about the actual humans. How us, with our "great intelligence", supposed to overpass by much the one of our ancestors, can't do such things?

[Scootalove 10,689]

Well, our ancestors were basically the beginning of how it all came to be and as for the intelligence part we were able to start to recognize things and analyze them deeply so that we can understand how intelligence works.

 

We still have our knowledge, and we can adapt more on finding more ways to store and keep the knowledge that we attain.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Scootalove

[Delernil 952]

The thing is, we have the knowledge stored. It's stored where everybody can see it and nobody can steal it, the internet. We don't need all of that off the top of our head, but we can still memorize it. It's just the fact that the human race is finding better ways to keep and find knowledge.

[Sapphire Quill 1,186]

We're becoming better with our ways of knowledge, seeing things in everyday life, and remembering the next time you come around the situation,

Sure it may seem pointless at first, but we still take in the information, regardless.

[Malinter 3,064]

our ancestors were alot more patient, some great momuments took several generations to complete >_<

[Sanctified Absence 126]

Can't do such things?

 

May I turn your attention to what you are currently browsing, the Internet. Possibly one if not the most complicated and advanced thing Humanity has ever achieved.

 

We may not be building big flashy things anymore, but that's because we have become far more efficient as a whole.

[Sekhayet 253]

This is why. Live and breathe it because if you don't we will all die.

 

http://lesswrong.com/lw/j3/science_as_curiositystopper/

[Planty 1,053]

I think when you look at the rate of technology its crazy.

 

We develop through technology!

[Clover Heart 978]

Evolution doesn't work like this. Evolution isn't improving on a specific thing other than one's ability to survive. If you survive, you've succeded in evolution. If you don't, you've failed. Intelligence got us to where we are, but in a society where we live secluded from animals and the elements, provided we're still smart enough to build homes, have clean water, cook our food properly and have good medical care, we should be able to survive fine. Exceptional intelligence isn't required. We're still here and going strong, therefore, humans have been very successful in evolution.

 

Likewise, things can stop evolving. Many insects, such as bees, have evolved very little, if at all, in thousands and thousands of years. They don't evolve any further because they don't need to. They do just fine as they are. Likewise, it's possible that humans have plateaued. It's hard to say, but it's possible.

 

Reverse-evolution, (which I would think would be called "regression") however, doesn't happen. You don't go backwards. You simply stop moving forwards, resulting in death of the species.