What is the next step in human evolution?

[KarumaK]

A million years from now? Who knows depends on outside forces. Assuming little climate change We'll probably be a uniform skin tone and the same as we are now. We've eliminated almost all the factors that cause genetic variation, aside from the sun I can't think of anything that would cause us to change form.

 

[j0z]

I doubt humans will change significantly, due to us shaping our environment (not THE environment) and the almost complete absence of natural selection.
Although if anything, I think our bodies will deteriorate, our limbs will grow ever shorter, due to us not needing them in space, and our brains will get bigger. We will eventually have to rely completely on machines for mobility and any physical tasks.

 

[Vondrakenhof]

Personally I think our eyes will evolve and allow us to see in other spectrums than visible light. Maybe infra red or ultraviolet.

 

[gerrymander61]

I am the next step.

 

[Jedamethis]

We will have huge brains and walk around in those.....what are those things that were in an article about robot suits that enhanced your abilities?

 

[Alphavillain]

Perhaps the long-awaited disappearance of the spleen and its replacement by a glovebox. You can always do with a new place to put yer keys.

 

[DragonsAteMyMarbles]

The main reason for evolution is adaptation - and one of the things that defines humanity is the ability to invent devices (clothes, weapons, vehicles etc) so we don't have to adapt naturally.
Bearing this is mind, I believe that the only way humanity can evolve is in response to the growth of technology - namely increased intelligence and manual dexterity.

 

[Easily_Forgettable]

I think things will slowly head down hill for Humanity.
With natural selection not being so prevalant, and with society being so 'easy' compared to the challenges of the past, that the human race will lose essential traits and instincts. Not so sure about the physicality though. There are people around the world being born with what we deem 'deformities' what if these are the nexts steps that Doctors are surgically correcting, maybe we'll go no where, who knows.
But its all going to end up with the extinction of us humans, eventually.

 

[cartzo]

our right hand will evolve to be one long finger for operating switches, using the tv remote and pointing at menus.
our left hand will evolve into one wide tray for eating fast food on the move, and our tongue will evolve into a huge naam bread shaped appendage so that we can eat the whole meal in one go without expending to much energy.

 

[messy]

We aren't going to get any more evolution, now that natural selection is dead.

Unless there's a technological apocalypse so we have no medical care. Possibly caused by resources running out with no adequate replacement. All those with more basic cultures would survive with large proportions of the west I imagine damaged and devoid of human life allowing selection to occur

And that's going to happen... how? o.0

Well oil won't last for ever, the amount of wind farms require (and solar panels) would be a massive undertaking, one which really should be happening now however Oil makes too much money. And consider all the environmental opposition to wind farms (ruining country sides). Nuclear fission has loads of opposition form environmentalists so there's a chance that won't reach the desired levels (although not as many plants would be required. Nuclear fusion is still in it's earliest stages so still not entirely variable. I suppose you could suggest biofuels but that'll take up massive amounts of land, the effects to wildlife huge and be very expensive so that too we face opposition. Now with no electricity the health systems will fail along we pretty much all of western civilisation

Now this is no guarantee this will happen but it's fairly plausible because if its life or death environmentalist will still protest the building of power plants.

 

[theunreliablecritic]

there will be more people who try to play god and then(drumroll) cross breed human dog things!

 

[BaldursBananaSoap]

I would quite like humanity to develop their brians so they operate from a completly logic stand point
Although I can see some people would object but they would make good scientist, doctors and leaders

I wish I had a Brian....................*sighs*

OT: Genetic engineering probably.

 

[NeutralDrow]

There is no next step.

Humanity will look like this for the rest of it's exsistence.

And someone beat me to it. I don't know if this will be true, but I certainly hope it is. There are two ways evolution could proceed.

One is simply random chance; if someone, somewhere, has a gene mutation that happens to spread throughout humanity, we might start looking different. This is extremely unlikely, though, as there are so damn many of us that any mutation spreading to enough people for them to pass it on and continue to mutate is not going to happen. Chance evolution occurs faster in smaller populations.

Two is some sort of cataclysm killing the majority of us off who don't possess whatever traits needed to survive. Considering how long we've lasted without major change, and just what we've accomplished and can accomplish with our current biological, social, and technological advantages...I can't see this happening any time short of the apocalypse.

Screw evolution. As long as it doesn't happen to us, things'll be all right.

Its unlikely there will be severe changes in the human anatomy via evolution. We live in a society that does not breed with genetically different members. There is likely to be evolution happening as we speak, in that more attractive features are becoming more common.

Physical attraction on a purely biological level is limited to looking vaguely healthy. The majority of what a society considers "attractive" is a cultural consideration.

 

[rainman2203]

Am I the only one who wants a prehensile tail?

I'd be hard pressed to believe we aren't dead in a million years.

 

[Kajt]

Wing would be quite nice.

turn into gelatinous blobs that can only communicate through texting?

We turn into obese 1337-speakers?

[small]I just had to...[/small]

 

[anNIALLator]

There would probably be no change because natural selection doesn't work on our civilisation. People seem to be thinking that evolution is something that has some sort of goal or aim to create "better" life forms.

 

[Red Rum]

I'm hoping for X-Men-style mutations.

On a side note, isn't there some crazy racist Asian guy who thinks humans will evolve into dragons?