How Humans might look after 100,000 years of evolution

[n2doc]

FUTURE... a word that has mystified every single human soul on Earth. Everyone wants to have an idea about their future.. But what about future of humans as a whole.. What is going to happen with us?? How will we shape the future of Earth?? But most importantly, how will future shape us in, say 1000 years or 100,000 years for that matter.


The future is always unknown, especially the distant future, but that shouldn’t stop us from making educated guesses. That’s exactly what artist and researcher Nickolay Lamm did with help from Dr. Alan Kwan, who has a doctorate in computational genomics from Washington University. Their starting point was the question: “What do you think the human face might look like in 100,000 years and why?”

From there, they reasoned out how humanity with advanced genetic engineering technology might reshape itself over time, taking over the role played by natural selection so far. Lamm then created a series of images of what he thinks the human face might look like 20,000 years, 60,000 years and 100,000 years in the future



Present :



60,000 years

- See more at: http://www.thesportsway.com/2013/08/future-of-humans.html#.Ugrl5Ra0Lww

[Scootaloo]

1. Apparently human evolution is limited by someone's photoshop skills

I actually don't find that to be a big surprise.

[madaboutharry]

2. The planet Earth will most likely

be uninhabitable in 100,000 years, so the speculation is probably moot.

[Fumesucker]

3. Zager and Evans

[iemitsu]

4. Looks like we are devolving into Lemurs.

[JeffHead]

5. If we're "evolving" towards that bug eyed look explain this guy...

Time traveler from 100,000 years in the future?

[Mnemosyne]

6. Marty Feldman's dad? nt

[DetlefK]

7. He (intentionally?) skipped many points to keep his prediction save:

- If you live on another planet in the solar-system, bigger eyes are no evolutionary advantage: You can't go outside, so you wouldn't live in perpetual darkness anyway.
- And the genetic outfit of the eyes won't have to change either: In space you live inside an artificial habitat which already protects you against UV-radiation, which would be neglectable anyway, as you live far away from the Sun. There's no need for humans to evolve sideways-eyelids.
- Bigger nostrils? I would have preferred bigger lungs.

And finally:
- Various implants: He mentions them off-hand, but doesn't take them into account, because it might make things too complicated.
If you live in a hyper-futuristic environment, where you can access any view and any data via monitor or GoogleGlass-contact-lenses, why would you need bigger eyes?
What effects would other implants have on the human evolution?
Would a neural up-link that let's you outsource thinking to a computer lead to a shrinking of brains over generations?
Would a wetware-implant for a magnetic sense (replicated from carrier pigeons as metallo-organic microparticles embedded in neurons, would be size of a pea and implanted right under the skin, e.g. inside the tip of the nose) change the way we evolve?
- Culture: Will we keep our recent beauty ideal of "tanned&skinny" or will we go back to pale and big-breasted Rubens-women? Or will we be attracted by visible cybernetic augmentations as a sign of wealth? Or a lack of visible cybernetic augmentation as a sign of superior augmented genes? In a technological environment, will women keep their preferences for muscled men or will they prefer men with thin elongated limbs suited for zero-gravity movement?

[LongTomH]

9. All good points.

Evolution is more likely to involve various forms of technological enhancements. The big danger is for a wealthy elite to enhance themselves and their offspring, leaving the rest of humanity behind.

[demwing]

8. Wanna see humans after 200,000 years of evolution?

or just look in a mirror

[deutsey]

10. According to another source, some humans will look like this

Descendants of today's conservatives?

(Morlocks from "The Time Machine&quot

[FiveGoodMen]

12. Today's conservatives already look like that

but you can't see it without wearing the special glasses.

[Posteritatis]

11. He's definitely underestimating the pace if widespread implants/GE start happening

If you combine germline engineering and in-place natural selection - and especially if you change the environment - stuff like that might start showing up in tens of generations rather than thousands.

Still some neat brain candy though.