Humans 'could evolve into two species'

[abdulhakeem]

This is the shape of things to come for mankind

By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent
17/10/2006

Humans will grow to an average of 6ft 6in, live to the age of 120 and all have brown skin by the year 3,000, an evolutionary expert suggested yesterday.

Dr Oliver Curry, of the Darwin@LSE research centre at the London School of Economics, said our species will evolve to be taller and live longer, and that racial differences will become less and less pronounced, thanks to trends in nutrition, medicine and migration.

Further into the future, Dr Curry predicted, humans will decline physically and lose key social and interactive skills thanks to an over-dependence on technology and medical interventions.

By the year 102,000, mankind will have split into two distinct sub-species — the "genetic haves" and the "genetic have-nots".

The analysis of technological, biological and environmental trends suggests HG Wells may not have been too far off the mark in his novel The Time Machine in which mankind splits into a frail, wealthy genetic upper class and a downtrodden, ape-like worker class.

Dr Curry, who was commissioned to carry out the study of how man would evolve over the next 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000 years by the TV channel Bravo, said: "The future of man will be a story of the good, the bad and the ugly.

"While science and technology have the potential to create an ideal habitat for humanity over the next millennium, there is a possibility of a monumental genetic hangover over the subsequent millennia due to an over-reliance on technology — reducing our natural capacity to resist disease and our ability to get along with each other.

"After that, things could get ugly, with the possible emergence of genetic 'haves' and 'have-nots'."

Dr Curry believes humans will reach physical peak around the year 3,000, with improved nutrition and understanding of the human body. Men will reach average heights of between 6ft and 7ft. Physical features will evolve to emphasise features valued in the opposite sex by men and women looking for potential mates.

Men will therefore have more symmetrical facial features, squarer jaws, and deeper voices. Women will have lighter skin, large clear eyes, firmer breasts, glossy hair, more symmetrical features and smooth, hairless skin. Variations in skin colouring are expected to be smoothed out, with most humans moving towards a brown tone.

Further into the future the outlook is less rosy, Dr Curry argued, with humans declining physically thanks to excessive reliance on technology and medical interventions.

By around the year 12,000, he believes communication skills and emotional abilities such as love, sympathy, trust and respect will have diminished, eroding the abilities of humans to perform in teams. The increased eating of processed foods will mean humans do less chewing, leading to less developed jaws.

Immune systems will deteriorate due to hygiene and reliance on medicines.

Infants will be larger at birth, forcing mothers be rely on caesarian sections. Humans will be able to replace faulty stretches of DNA thanks to advances in genetic engineering — potentially leading to more genetic uniformity and vulnerability to disease.

Dr Curry predicts that 100,000 years from now mankind will be divided into two distinct sub-species with a genetic elite moving in ever more exclusive circles.

The genetic upper class will be increasingly tall, thin, clean, healthy and creative, while the genetic underclass will be short, stocky, asymmetrical, grubby, unhealthy and less intelligent.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/17/nfuture17.xml

[abdulhakeem]

The future ascent (and descent) of man

October 17, 2006
By Mark Henderson, Science Editor

Within 100,000 years the divide between rich and poor could lead to two human sub-species

HUMANITY could evolve into two sub-species within 100,000 years as social divisions produce a genetic underclass, a scientist said yesterday.

The mating preferences of the rich, highly educated and well-nourished could ultimately drive their separation into a genetically distinct group that no longer interbreeds with less fortunate human beings, according to Oliver Curry.

Dr Curry, a research associate in the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science of the London School of Economics, speculated that privileged humans might over tens of thousands of years evolve into a “gracile” subspecies, tall, thin, symmetrical, intelligent and creative. The rest would be shorter and stockier, with asymmetric features and lower intelligence, he said.

Dr Curry’s vision echoes that of H. G. Wells in The Time Machine. He envisaged a race of frail, privileged beings, the Eloi, living in a ruined city and coexisting uneasily with ape-like Morlocks who toil underground and are descended from the downtrodden workers of today.

Dr Curry also said that today’s concept of race would be gone by the year 3000, relationships between people with different skin colours producing a “coffee-colour” across all populations. With improvements in nutrition and medicine, people would routinely grow to 6ft 6in and live to the age of 120, he said. Genetic modification, cosmetic surgery and sexual selection — whereby mate preferences drive evolution — meant that people would tend to be better-looking than today.

Otherwise, humans will look much as they do now, with one exception: Dr Curry also suggested that increased reliance on processed food would make chewing less important, possibly resulting in less developed jaws and shorter chins. Ten thousand years from today this effect could be compounded as human faces grow more juvenile in appearance. This effect — neotony — is known from domestic animals: dogs resemble young versions of wild relatives such as wolves.

Dr Curry raised the worrying possibility that reliance on technology could erode social skills and even health. As deaths from genetic diseases such as cancer are prevented, the genes themselves might become more common, no longer being “weeded out” of the gene pool. Increased use of medicine as a means of treating disease could lead to the deterioration of the body’s immune system.

Dr Curry’s predictions were commissioned by the television channel Bravo to celebrate its 21st anniversary on air.

“The Bravo Evolution Report suggests that the future of man will be a story of the good, the bad and the ugly,” he said. “While science and technology have the potential to create an ideal habitat for humanity over the next millennium, there is the possibility of a genetic hangover due to an over-reliance on technology reducing our natural capacity to resist disease or get along with each other.

“After that, things could get ugly, with the possible emergence of genetic ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2406821,00.html

[abdulhakeem]

Human species 'may split in two'

17 October 2006

Humanity may split into two sub-species in 100,000 years' time as predicted by HG Wells, an expert has said.

Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge.

The human race would peak in the year 3000, he said - before a decline due to dependence on technology.

People would become choosier about their sexual partners, causing humanity to divide into sub-species, he added.

The descendants of the genetic upper class would be tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative and a far cry from the "underclass" humans who would have evolved into dim-witted, ugly, squat goblin-like creatures.

Race 'ironed out'

But in the nearer future, humans will evolve in 1,000 years into giants between 6ft and 7ft tall, he predicts, while life-spans will have extended to 120 years, Dr Curry claims.

Physical appearance, driven by indicators of health, youth and fertility, will improve, he says, while men will exhibit symmetrical facial features, look athletic, and have squarer jaws, deeper voices and bigger penises.

Women, on the other hand, will develop lighter, smooth, hairless skin, large clear eyes, pert breasts, glossy hair, and even features, he adds. Racial differences will be ironed out by interbreeding, producing a uniform race of coffee-coloured people.

However, Dr Curry warns, in 10,000 years time humans may have paid a genetic price for relying on technology.

Spoiled by gadgets designed to meet their every need, they could come to resemble domesticated animals.

Receding chins

Social skills, such as communicating and interacting with others, could be lost, along with emotions such as love, sympathy, trust and respect. People would become less able to care for others, or perform in teams.

Physically, they would start to appear more juvenile. Chins would recede, as a result of having to chew less on processed food.

There could also be health problems caused by reliance on medicine, resulting in weak immune systems. Preventing deaths would also help to preserve the genetic defects that cause cancer.

Further into the future, sexual selection - being choosy about one's partner - was likely to create more and more genetic inequality, said Dr Curry.

The logical outcome would be two sub-species, "gracile" and "robust" humans similar to the Eloi and Morlocks foretold by HG Wells in his 1895 novel The Time Machine.

"While science and technology have the potential to create an ideal habitat for humanity over the next millennium, there is a possibility of a monumental genetic hangover over the subsequent millennia due to an over-reliance on technology reducing our natural capacity to resist disease, or our evolved ability to get along with each other, said Dr Curry.

He carried out the report for men's satellite TV channel Bravo.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6057734.stm

[Rizwan]

Usual guesswork from these self declared "experts"... 100,000 years??? :rubeyes:
Dude most of us find it hard to predict the next 50 years, let alone 1000 years...and her we have a wiseguy jumping millenniums ahead predicting 2 species...we could have splintered half way across the universe and broken into 1000 species by then! :rolleyes:

[Guardian Hijab]

:rubeyes:

Brother you have posted many articles, and this by far is the most interesting,coolest, and creepiest one yet

Nice:up:

[tangents]

With the speed we are in approaching the hour, it's mroe of a question of will this world still be around in 100,000 years? Anyway Haurn yahya does a great deal of work with debunking the evolutionary theory. He as severals books on the subject at his site, google his name to get to his site.

[.: Rashid :.]

Thats what I was thinking...will the earth really last another 100,000 years?? I can see it lasting another millenium...no more though.

Maybe thats jus me :shrug:

-Rashid

[Te'oma]

Is this like the articles in the 50's where scientists said we would all be scooting to work in flying saucers? *looks around* Dang, George Jetson stole my ride again :D
I do agree that we will all be brown though...as the ozone depletes, natural selection will eliminate those with less pigment from the gene pool

[Genghis Cohn]

Thats what I was thinking...will the earth really last another 100,000 years?? I can see it lasting another millenium...no more though.

Maybe thats jus me :shrug:

-Rashid
The earth has already lasted several thousand million years and there's no reason to think it won't last as long again. The human species is another matter. H. G. Wells made similar prophesies in The Time Machine over a hudred years ago.

[mara]

:rubeyes:

Brother you have posted many articles, and this by far is the most interesting,coolest, and creepiest one yet

Nice:up:
:) Subscribe to that. I have the feeling the long studies are not good for the human brain. :embar:

[Kal-El]

I plan for my great great great grandchildren to be Starship captains though :( The world better exist! I got plans! lool :D

[islam..~*^rules]

lol :rofl1:

btw Kel-el congrats!!!1 :up:


final fantasy fan!! :p

[.: Rashid :.]

The earth has already lasted several thousand million years and there's no reason to think it won't last as long again. The human species is another matter. H. G. Wells made similar prophesies in The Time Machine over a hudred years ago.

According to the most accepted scientific theory, 4.57 billion years. Thats more of a "few" than "several" :p

Of course i have no idea how long the Earth will last. It could be another 1000, or another 1000,000.

But jus remember that the futures of man and this planet are very related. Can you honestly not see man destroying the planet (literally, not in a hippy sense) in 1000 or 2000 years time?

Even then actually, good point. Earth could survive, but not man. In fact, I think thats more likely than my anti-matter war scenario :p

Woner how long it is before the earth gets so close to the sun that everything dies *-)

-Rashid

[Al-Nasser]

Usual guesswork from these self declared "experts"

exactly.........this is the problem of the atheists

Now, surely, whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is Allah's; and they do not (really) follow any associates, who call on others besides Allah; they do not follow (anything) but conjectures, and they only lie.
010.066

they base their kufr on theories, conjectures and guessing

they are running away from the truth by guessing what can satisfy their inclination towards kufr which is decorated to their hearts by the devil.......

[Nawar]

Utter theoritical rubbish.

Only a bunch of imaginative bigots, with too much time on their hands, sitting in their 'evolutionary expert' labs, could come up with terms such 'human sub species', and 'underclass'.

I have heard these terms from such theorists in the past, they'd love a world like that wouldnt they.

[Genghis Cohn]

According to the most accepted scientific theory, 4.57 billion years. Thats more of a "few" than "several" :pWhen, precisely, does a number stop being "a few" and become "several"? I came across a definition of it as "more than two or three but less than many", which i will use. it is, of course- it goes without saying- entirely coincidental that it serves my purposes.

Of course i have no idea how long the Earth will last. It could be another 1000, or another 1000,000. or thousands of millions.

But jus remember that the futures of man and this planet are very related. Can you honestly not see man destroying the planet (literally, not in a hippy sense) in 1000 or 2000 years time? I don't think so: if humans are still willing to destroy the planet they will destroy themselves probably and certainly the technology that might develop to enable them to destroy it before they can do so. It's worth remembering that the recent earthquakes off Indonesia and in Pakistan released much more power than every nuclear weapon the human race possesses.
Even then actually, good point. Earth could survive, but not man. In fact, I think thats more likely than my anti-matter war scenario :pThere we agree.

Woner how long it is before the earth gets so close to the sun that everything dies *-)

-Rashidit's a matter of the sun expanding to absorb the earth I think. Before that- in a mere thousand million years or so- the earth will be too hot to support life, whether we're still there or not.

[junaid.ahmed]

Salaam,

first post,

Did any body notice that the project was funded by "Bravo" a TV Channel - the study is designed to create fantasies that could be aired and sold to couch potatoes watching TV all day.

The following two verses in shaa Allah, shall remind us of how close we are to the Hour.

“The Hour (of Judgement) is nigh, and the moon is cleft asunder.” (al-Qamar 54:1)

“Closer and closer to mankind comes their Reckoning: yet they heed not and they turn away.” (al-Anbiyâ’ 21:1)