Through intelligent design, Homo sapiens is driven to evolve into godlike beings. But do we really understand the nature of that desire?
About 100,000 years ago, Homo sapiens living in Africa was little more than a marginal ape with an ecosystem impact similar to that of a jellyfish that relies on tentacles to survive, or a mouse that survives on small pieces of food to avoid predators. During this time, Homo sapiens struggled to survive by adapting to its surroundings, and like other animals, it was driven by instinct. However, through the Cognitive, Agricultural, and Scientific Revolutions, Homo sapiens soon became the most intelligent species on Earth, bending ecosystems to its will. And today, Homo sapiens is not merely at the top of the food chain, but is challenging God’s domain of ecosystem transformation and creation.
For nearly 4 billion years, all life on Earth has evolved and died out according to the extremely simple laws of natural selection. But a new species, just a few million years old, has taken it upon itself to become a transcendent creator, introducing the laws of intelligent design into the ecosystem. Author Yuval Harari categorizes the methods of intelligent design they are practicing as three: biotechnology, the deliberate interference of humans with living things; cyborg engineering, the incorporation of partially inanimate objects into living things; and abiotic engineering, the incorporation of inorganic objects such as computers. These methods have allowed Homo sapiens to accomplish things that would have been unthinkable just 100 years ago.
Biotechnology has been used to create new species by artificially mating two species that have no sexual interest in each other, and to obtain human organs from animals, such as expressing cow cartilage genes in the backs of mice. Genetic engineering techniques have been used to restore the DNA of extinct mammoths and Neanderthals, bringing them back to life. Using cyborg engineering to replace human body parts such as retinas, arms, legs, etc. to turn humans into robots. Created computer programs and viruses to create a new artificial space called cyberspace.
Homo sapiens’ greed didn’t stop there. Not content with artificially interfering with the order of life, Homo sapiens now sought to further enhance themselves. Starting in 2005, the Blue Brain Project attempted to connect the human brain directly to a computer, creating a kind of brain internet. The idea was to map our DNA so that we could personalize treatments based on our DNA, allowing for perfect healthcare. This is a very different kind of evolution from that of natural selection. It’s planned evolution by intelligent design, driven by the desire for eternal life, which the authors call the Gilgamesh Project. This is different from the theistic intelligent design and creationism of Christianity, Buddhism, and other theistic religions, which posit an external, omniscient, omnipotent deity.
The author says that it is impossible to prevent Homo sapiens from evolving into something greater than themselves, a more enhanced godlike being, as they hope to achieve, because this evolution is driven by their strong desire for immortality. Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein warns of the imminent extinction of Homo sapiens and the emergence of its successor, Homo Deus. Having achieved radical intellectual advancement through the Cognitive Revolution, they will continue to evolve at the same prodigious rate as before, constantly overwhelming their reason and emotions through the above methods of intelligent design. But they do not have an ultimate goal for the methods of intelligent design they have developed; their successors will soon become what they want so badly, Homo Deus.
But they’re probably just irresponsible gods who don’t even know what they want. Eventually, their endless evolution of aimless rationality will lead to their demise. And this end doesn’t just mean the extinction of individuals, it means the end of all human civilizations and technologies, their history and culture. As such, the future of humans is becoming more uncertain and unpredictable with the development of science and technology, and this is something that Homo sapiens should constantly think about and reflect on.
In conclusion, Homo sapiens have achieved hitherto unimaginable evolution through their intelligent design and technological advancement, but this also means serious challenges to their existence and future. To overcome these challenges, humans themselves will have to recognize their own limitations and move towards harmony with nature. The true progress of humanity will not lie in mere technological advancement, but in achieving a balance between humanity and nature.
