Homo Sapiens -Our Future

Let us start off with this article by asking ourselves a question.How would humans look like a hundred thousands years from today??????Other than the ‘2012’ fans I think most of us would agree on a figure straight out of an alien movie!There would be an imaginative few who would add some innovative exoskeletons and tails,other people modest enough might suggest that we would look just like humpty-dumpty,but I am certain that a big head and a crooked posture would simply be a chartbuster.The reasoning is supported by the idea that human today do more mental work than physical.But could we all be wrong???

Atleast the big brain theory is.The fossil record of skull sizes over the past several thousand generations shows that our days of rapid increase in brain size are long over!!So we have no big head is in store for us for the future  and  a major physical reshuffle is also unlikely.Does that actually mean that we have stopped evolving?No, not so.Scientistssay on the basis of genetic researches that only are we humans evolving but also that we are doing it at a great pace.We humans show genetically induced changes to our physiology and perhaps to our behaviour as well .Though it’s not evident but humans races around world are becoming less distinct.

One defining factor of such a change is culture.It has been proven that culture too has a lot of impact on our evolution .While many of the changes are transient ,like clothing fashions,some cultural changes have deep effect.Even the condition of modern life today is bringing about changes to gene for certain behavioural traits.The dramatic changes in birth rates in many countries is a good example that continues to keep the scientists puzzled.Some scientists go on to say the existence of something as simple as spectacles would cause more people to be born near sighted.

Having established that we are indeed transforming ,the question that arises is how much genetic transformation would bring a significant change in our species.My answer to this question is indicative.How different do we think we are than a chimpanzee(from genetic perspective of course)??Well you would be amazed to know that our DNA is 98.5% identical to theirs.Small thought it is,this difference  sets us worlds apart and even makes us able to congratulate ourselves that the answer was not 100%.!!!!

But the all important question yet remains.What sort of changes would be evident in humans in the distant future?Well to be honest even the scientists are not certain of the nature of changes that the human race will go through.We must also not forget that some species remain identical for hundreds of thousands or millions of years.The evolution of humans themselves had long periods of little change,such as the Homo erectus which did not change very much for 1.5 million years.

Some scientists say that the lack of effective natural selection for humans in industrial cultures will cause the human species to deteriorate,since natural selection is needed to maintain specie’s health.But this is counteracted by immigration of people from underdeveloped countries .We must note that Darwinian type of evolution today does not exist only for Homosapiens.With survival of the fittest not being the central idea of today’s world our evolutionarytrack could take unexpected twists and turns.

Not many things are certain when it comes down to future but one thing for sure.Given the amount of impact we have on our habitat and environment we will have a definitive impact on our evolution in future.Though we do not know yet what the implications of our present activities  would have on our evolution but it is we who would knowingly or unknowingly decide whether our future would be as shown in WALL-E,The Time Machine or HALO.