Hello, futuristic thinkers and evolutionary enthusiasts! Have you ever caught yourself daydreaming about the distant future, imagining what humanity might look like a century from now? The question of how humans will evolve over the next 100 years is a fascinating blend of science, speculation, and imagination. Today, we’re going on a thought-provoking journey into the future, exploring the potential physical, technological, and environmental influences that could shape our evolution.
The speed of human evolution has increased quite dramatically in the last 250 years. There are a lot of different variations in human genes and human bodies across various generations. For example, lactose intolerance is present in specific populations but not in others. It is related to a specific gene in a certain bacteria. The main thing that speeds up evolution is gene flow. The wider the gene pool, the more variety is achieved. In about 100 years, the humans living on planet Earth might acquire more features that they currently don’t have. Some of them might be useful, and some of them might be useless.
As remarkable as the human brain is, it does have many limitations. Humans have limited intelligence, working memory, and a bland sensory experience compared to animals. If scientists could ever make the human mind substrate independent, they would perceive the world in ways. Dr. Randall Cohn created the Carbon Copy Foundation. It’s a nonprofit organization researching that. To make synthetic people, Ecoles substrate independent minds pork for short. Let’s see the future human evolution timeline.
From genetic engineering to the impacts of climate change and the integration of technology into our bodies, we’ll dive into the myriad possibilities that await us. Whether you’re a science fiction fan, a budding biologist, or simply curious about the future of our species, this exploration promises to spark your imagination and challenge your perceptions. So, let’s fast-forward into the future and envision the next chapter in the human saga.
What Will Humans Look Like In 100 Years?
What will it be like to be human in 100 years? The futurist Ray Kurzweil made a fantastic prediction a few years ago. He said that advances in computer processing, artificial intelligence, robotics, and genetic engineering would all lead to a transformative moment in our history as a species. It would happen around 2045, and things would start changing so quickly that it would be impossible to define the present.
Moreover, humans would use these technologies to become trans-human, possibly genetically engineered cyborgs. The important thing is that humans would evolve millions of times faster than the process of natural selection would allow. What would it be like in 2116?
By 2045 standards, the people of today will seem a little primitive, maybe a bit quaint. But in 2116, that’s a different story. By then, it’ll be unheard of for a person not to have access to whatever is the equivalent of the internet. The idealists say you could communicate with anyone worldwide or tap into massive amounts of online knowledge. It will lead to an unprecedented era of peace.
Predicting specific physical changes in humans over 100 years is highly speculative and uncertain. However, technological advancements and potential societal shifts may influence various aspects of human life. Here are some speculative possibilities:
Increasing integration with technology: With the continued development of wearable devices, implants, and other technological advancements, humans may become more integrated with technology. It could involve enhanced communication through brain-computer interfaces, augmented reality, genetic engineering, or biohacking advancements.
Altered physical attributes: Genetic engineering and advancements in medical technology may potentially allow for modifications in physical attributes. People may be able to choose certain traits or enhance characteristics such as height, physical strength, or even features like eye color or hair texture.
Extended lifespan and healthspan: Medical advancements and an improved understanding of genetics may lead to increased average lifespan and improved healthspan. Age-related diseases could be better managed or even cured, and regenerative medicine could play a significant role in repairing and rejuvenating cells and tissues.
Evolution of fashion and cultural influences: Fashion trends and cultural preferences may continue to evolve, leading to changes in styles, body modifications, and aesthetics. Cultural diversity and globalization may also contribute to the fusion of various fashion trends, resulting in unique combinations and expressions.
Environmental adaptations: Depending on the impact of climate change and environmental conditions, humans may need to adapt physically to cope with changing circumstances. However, the timescale of 100 years may not be sufficient for significant evolutionary changes in response to environmental factors.
Here are more evolutionary changes for humans in the future.
Smaller brains
Human beings are pretty brilliant compared to every other species on Earth. Surprisingly, the human brain has spent thousands of years shrinking rather than growing. For millions of years, the brains of human beings grew and grew. But for the last 20 thousand years, it has been gradually shrinking.
In fact, by evolutionary standards, human brains have shrunk by the size of a tennis ball. But another point is that brains are becoming more efficient. It allows human brains to focus more on things like communication. With technology improving and populations growing, there’s no reason to think this trend will be reversed soon.
- A smaller brain works more efficiently than a larger one because the signals firing around it have a shorter distance to travel.
There’s also a series of smaller brains that make humans aggressive, work together, and solve problems in peace and harmony.
Smaller teeth
There is genuinely a theory that humans will one day have beaks. In 2013, Dr. Fraser from Sheffield found evolutionary similarities between human teeth and the beak. The pufferfish used to have individual teeth but eventually fused into a single hard beak. Dr. Fraser predicts that ours will do the same. On the plus side, Fraser claims a beak will be more robust and practical than teeth because they can’t chip or fall out.
Wisdom teeth are used to help humans to chew food better. Due to various dietary changes, mouths got smaller. There was not enough space to have wisdom teeth in mouths anymore. More and more babies have been born without wisdom teeth in the last few decades.
Body hair vanish
Scientists think that eventually, there is a high chance body hair will die out from the human race within 100 years. The primitive man and a thick carpet layer of body hair protect his skin from the impact of heat and cold.
- Humans started to evolve, and thick body hair grew thinner.
When humans get too hot, they sweat, and thick body hair is a problem. It would become matted and stop from being able to cool down.
Eyes evolution
The big eyes will be vital for future humans to see in low-light environments. This is only one way humans might adapt in the future. So, eyes will become huge and blink sideways to protect from cosmic rays. That will develop a low-light vision to survive in dimmer environments.
Eyelid: Many living organisms have a third eyelid, a Nyssa tating membrane. This eyelid helps provide additional protection to the eyes. It also keeps the eyes hydrated. Humans have a tiny version of this in the corner of their eyes. Modern research has discovered that the Nyssa membrane has lost its purpose in human anatomy. It is why it, too, is set to soon disappear entirely in the next 100 years.
Muscle evolution
Muscles are great, but modern humans do not need that strength. Evolution agrees because humans have been growing gradually weaker. Humans whose genes favored smarts over squats were more successful, meaning they bred more. Over millions of years, this has led to humans with great minds but relatively little muscle.
- With technology increasingly available to perform most manual labor, muscles will become increasingly useless and brains more important.
Iris muscle: The plant iris muscle is small in the calf of the leg and lies next to two bigger muscles called the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles. It plays a small role in helping us walk and flex our toes. It’s already been dubbed useless muscle because it doesn’t have a significant contribution alone.
Erector pili muscles: Goosebumps are the result of the functioning of the erector pili muscles. These tiny muscles are located at the end of each hair follicle. When the human body is exposed to extreme cold, the erector pili muscles contract to generate heat.
This causes bumps on the skin’s surface and leaves the body hair looking like it’s standing up. In the past, these muscles are puffed up in a threatening situation to seem larger and more intimidating to the enemy. This function is now redundant; therefore, the erector pili muscles look like they are set to soon disappear within a hundred years.
Subclavius muscle: The subclavius muscle is a tiny muscle between the collarbone and the start of the first rib. It functions to stabilize the collarbone while moving the arm and shoulders. These muscles primarily aim to stabilize the body while walking on all fours.
As we no longer walk using all limbs, the function of the subclavius muscle is pretty redundant. It makes it pretty much a reality that this muscle might soon fall off the biological construct of the human body.
Palmaris longus muscle: The palmaris longus is a forearm muscle that extends between the elbow and the palm. In the past, this muscle helped our ancestors grab a firm hold while climbing rocks and trees. As humans live relatively comfortably now, the palmaris longus muscle offers no real purpose to justify its existence in the body. Statistics show that many people are born without this muscle atonia. It indicates that evolution has deemed this muscle fit for extinction.
Ear and Nose evolution
Darwin’s tubercle is a set of cartilage and skin that protrudes towards the year’s top half. While most people do not have it in sum, the protrusion is evident. Centuries ago, this point in the year was thought to help amplify sound waves received by the human ear. The man was a hunter then, and these body parts had a specific purpose. However, with the evolution of modern life, man no longer hunts for a living, and anatomical features such as Darwin’s tubercle will soon cease to exist.
One day, humans might look a lot more similar than they do today. It’s truly fascinating to think that ancestors could have come from anywhere. The extrinsic ear muscles are three anterior, superior, and posterior muscles in the outer ear. Despite their long and complex-sounding names, these muscles aren’t that useful. Most mammals have the same muscular makeup in their ears. So, the extrinsic muscles aren’t a body feature.
- Thousands of years ago, they were helpful for communication, but now they are useless. So, 100 years later, they will disappear.
Paranasal sinuses disappear: Paranasal sinuses may have a few good uses. Many people think they’ll eventually disappear because they can cause many problems. Researchers believe they have evolved to strengthen the skull, but that’s never been confirmed. But the most exciting part of the paranasal sinuses is that they work to control voice, which is why two people have no entirely 100% identical voice. So there’s a chance these sinuses could have disappeared.
No appendix
In the past, the appendix was a thin tube located at the junction of the small intestine near the large intestine. This organ plays an essential role in digestion. However, it has no clearly defined role in the human body. If the appendix is removed, digestion continues with no impact. Scientists believe that an entire race will be born without an appendix.
Fewer toes
Toes are entirely pointless. When humans used to crawl, climb, and shuffle, the fifth toe was vital in helping them move. The toe has spent millions of years slowly shrinking into its current tiny stub. Evolutionary scientists expect humans will evolve into four-toed creatures within 500,000 years.
Grow taller
Society has always seemed to favor the vertically inclined. We will impose height requirements for specific activities and careers like riding a roller coaster or waterslide. Most Connecticut believe that good childhood nutrition is why we’re taller than our ancestors.
- Over the last 100 years, the size of the modern human has increased by about four inches.
So, as long as our children remain well-fed, the human species will continue to grow taller. Females, on the other hand, will be shorter and fatter.
Bones evolution
Some people are born with strange bones in their feet, and this feature also disappears with time. Another example is a strange bone behind the knees that certain people have known as a fibula. It is microevolution, where certain features become more prevalent and possibly even dominant. Even if they don’t have any advantage, some features seem to have disappeared entirely in the last few decades.
Another recently discovered and analyzed feature with many different people is a strange artery that some of us have and some don’t. The unusual artery in the forearms is known as the median artery. This peculiar feature normally is only present in fetuses. Then, it disappears completely when the person is born. There’s a problem with another artery in the body, but the actual reasons are unknown naturally.
- The scientists in the study believe that in the next 100 years, it might become the most prominent feature among all humans.
The tailbone: The tailbone marks the end of the spine. In primitive times, it marked the beginning of the tail in the human ancestors, the same as monkeys have now. However, as time passed, the human race evolved to exist without the tail. The tailbone thus became a redundant part of the human anatomy. While the tailbone still helps support specific pelvic muscles, its primary function is to start a tail that no longer holds. Scientists feel the human body will soon drop off the tailbone and learn to survive without it.
Cervical rib: The cervical rib is also known as the neck rib. The cervical rib is an extra rib that some people are born with. It has no clearly defined function in the human body. The cervical rib can cause pain and discomfort. The cervical rib may occur on one side of the body or exist as a pair in people with it. Scientists are convinced that this extra rib or pair of extra ribs will soon disappear in generations.
Weaker immune system
The immune system fights an internal battle to kill the virus and bacteria. Experts think it might continue to get weaker and weaker. As medical science improves, humans can increasingly rely on pills to guard their health.
- This leaves the immune system may lead to its capabilities being significantly reduced over the generations.
The risk of this evolutionary direction is that it leaves us in danger of being wiped out by an unexpected pathogen. Conversely, future humans will probably be more resistant to diabetes and heart disease.
Due to over-sanitizing lifestyles and relying so much on medications, human bodies are starting to lose the ability to fight off infections effectively. What does this mean for future generations? They’ll have a much weaker immune system; the smallest thing could potentially kill them, like a paper cut.
More attractive women
Scientists believe that women are getting more attractive. It is down to obvious things like healthier diets and basic hygiene. After all, people tend to look better with all their teeth.
- Research by the University of Helsinki suggests that females are genetically more attractive.
A study of over two thousand people found that more traditionally beautiful women had 16% more children. However, this gap didn’t exist between couples with ugly and attractive men. The gorgeous women have more children. Their genes are being passed or often bringing humanity’s average attractiveness up. So fast forward a few hundred years, and every woman would look beautiful.
Less Breed
In the future, people may not want to breed until retirement. According to Cadell and life history theory, the age of sexual maturity has historically increased with life expectancy.
- Once their life expectancy reaches 120 around 2050, Cadell suggests humans will become sexually active until their seventies.
The study’s shorter, slightly plumper women had more children and passed these physical traits on to their offspring. The same women tended to have kids earlier in life and lower blood pressure and cholesterol. The effects of natural selection would be slow and gradual.
Mono ethnicity
The world is getting more and more connected by the day. What will humans look like 100 years later? Scientists believe interbreeding will eventually mix up our gene pool so much that individual races will disappear. All human beings will be part of the same mono ethnicity, which scientists believe would resemble the current appearance of Brazilians.
With increased globalization leading to more mixed-race couples, people could eventually have one ethnic group dominate the entire world. The theory is that different cultures continue to have relations. People will start losing the main distinguishing features of their ethnicity and take on characteristics from different cultures in the world.
- Racial differences will blend until humans have the same skin color.
However, the process of cross-mixing isn’t so black and white. There are a wide variety of genes responsible for our many distinctive traits.
Cyborgs
Many scientists believe humans will soon start combining humans with machines. Professor Yuval Harari believes that within 100 years, humanity will become a species of godlike cyborgs. Elon Musk has launched a project to use computer chips to connect the human brain to an AI. There’s even a movement called transhumanism devoted to mixing humans and cybernetics.
One of the components of the theory of evolution that Darwin made known was the survival of the fittest.
- This theory states that the strongest of any species will always survive while any handicaps or disabilities will disappear as no other species member wants to mate with them.
Human genetics seems to play less of a role, with the outcome more dependent on science and technology. In the next stage in the evolutionary scale, Bionic and prosthetic limbs are becoming more seamlessly integrated into the human body and more realistic.
Scientists predict that some people might be using specific prosthetics or voluntary amputations even if they do not necessarily require them. They will become optional surgeries viewed to make life easier or enhance specific experiences or tasks. Prosthetics will no longer become a solution or treatment for a disability but a tool for non-disabled people.
For example, hearing aids are now being developed not for people with hearing impairments. Today, hearing aids can be connected through smartphones and computers using Bluetooth. Soon, hearing aids might block out background noise to allow the wearer to focus on a specific conversation.
One possibility includes tracking health indicators such as blood pressure and heart rate. Technology is developing so quickly that this could be a possibility for ancestors 100 years from now. This access to technology and science will determine the evolution of species.
However, it’s not in physical appearance and physical alterations that humans will change over the next 100 years. Genetic mapping, mutation, and altering will allow human DNA to be controlled and eventually perfected. Scientists are talking about the development of programmable cells. These cells could be created in a lab to influence genetic coding.
- Control over these cells and their genetic coding could eliminate certain diseases, disorders, and other genetic or hereditary qualities.
- Programming and controlling certain cells also allows us to use certain diseases to attack others.
Today, humans have already begun experimenting with what’s being called designer babies. This process involves genetic mutation and selecting ideal genes when implanting an embryo. This would allow babies to be born with pre-selected qualities and genetics. It could also allow for a reduction in the manifestation of specific diseases or genetic disorders. Looking forward 100 years, this could lead to a more genetically ideal human species.
Whether living in space, as cyborgs, or with current bodies with ultra-developed minds, the human species is the smartest to have walked this earth.
We’ve explored the realms of genetic engineering, technological augmentation, and environmental adaptation, each offering a glimpse into the myriad paths human evolution could take. This journey has not only stretched our imaginations but also highlighted the incredible potential for change and adaptation that lies within our species.
As we return to the present, let’s carry with us a sense of wonder for the future and a recognition of the role we play in shaping it. Thank you for joining me on this fascinating exploration into the potential future of humanity. Until our next adventure into the unknown, keep dreaming, keep questioning, and never stop imagining the endless possibilities that the future holds for us all.
More Articles:
Can Humans Breed With Other Animals?
What Is The Evolution Of Life On Earth Timeline?
What Is The Evolutionary Fitness?
Could We Control Human Overpopulation?
Can The Human Brain Live Without A Body?
What Makes Humans Different From Animals?
Can Animals Understand Humans?
References:
Human Hybrids. Michael F. Hammer. Scientific American.
Yong, Ed. “Mosaic humans, the hybrid species.”
Heng, Henry H.Q. “The genome-centric concept: resynthesis of evolutionary theory.”
Tyson, Peter. “Meet Your Ancestors.” Nova ScienceNow.
Dunham, Will. “Rapid acceleration in human evolution described.” Science News.
Hurst, Laurence D. “Human evolution is still happening – possibly faster than ever.” Science and Technology. The Conversation.
Flatow, Ira. “Modern Humans Still Evolving, and Faster Than Ever.”
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