Which do you think will be the next important step forward in human evolution?

That’s kind of a nonsense question. You’re making the assumption that evolution has a final goal.

As far as cultural evolution goes, I think people will become more accepting of other people’s ethnicities, beliefs, etc..

eventual androgyny

@rooeytoo gross.

I don’t mean that kind of evolution,I mean knowledge evolution and of course evolution does’t have a final goal

Making stupidity obsolete. :P.

Nanotechnology for human uses maybe?

atrophy of the muscles of the body and an increase in brain size and an increase in the amount of the brain we are able to use consciously

The computer and the Internet was a really big step forward, and we haven’t yet explored the capacity of what this can offer us. We’re starting to explore it by having advanced cellphones/mini computers we can take around, but it still has a way to go. So I foresee the next big step forward as being some type of stylish, easy to use wearable computer, integrated with our society and culture, where we can look things up or talk to someone within seconds. As well, the giant servers that would store all of this data would likely need to be made more efficient, so there could be some technical evolution there. Then again we may also have a few terabytes of solid-state storage built in to the wearable computer. Hmm… maybe we could be our own servers. Interesting thought.

last 3 answers are very good but I’m looking for something radical

@ vinifera7

i belive the question is asking what is the NEXT goal not the FINAL goal

A sixth finger, so one gains an edge using XBOX and Playstation controllers.

I actually think we’re on our way to devolving. We no longer select mates based on genetic superiority, we do less with our bodies, we have more ailments. I don’t see that moving us forward.

@NaturalMineralWater: How is androgyny gross?

@TaoSan: 1 in 500 people are already born that way.

@asmonet

WOW! I never thought the rate was that high!!!!

Google Brain
here’s a good article that talks about intuitive technology that they want to implant in our brains o.O

The device created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists can turn any surface into a touch-screen for computing, controlled by simple hand gestures.

a Web camera, a battery-powered projector and a mobile telephone into a gizmo that can be worn like jewelry. Signals from the camera and projector are relayed to smart phones with Internet connections.

The device can recognize items on store shelves, retrieving and projecting information about products or even providing quick signals to let users know which choices suit their tastes.

“It is very much a work in progress. Maybe in ten years we will be here with the ultimate sixth-sense brain implant.”

There will never be a next step. We’ll wipe ourselves out in a century, or less.

@fireside

I’d lurve you but I don’t want to break that nice, round number! :)

@asmonet…Devolving is absolutly where we are heading. The world isn’t going to end but I see us heading towards an eventual, societal collapse. Coupled with the dead on assesment in your answer, another Dark Ages is in the works.

at least this means another renaissance…

@asmonet and @blondesjon I agree completly. I believe the next step in human devolution is mental retardation. Think about it- Humans no longer need to think on a higher level, hunt for food, or select mates on superiority…I’m not trying to be insulting to anyone. Promise.

Either that or our appendix evolves to give us superpowers…lol.

evolution works on a grand scale, and I think humanity will obviously do something totally ignorant and wipe our species out before anything evolutionary can ever happen. On a more positive note, I could see cell phones the size of rice grains implanted in our teeth or our cheeks, biology-based computer systems that operate on a higher number of codes, (instead of just zero and one, it might be zero, one, two and three), and finally, the total transferance of the human mind into a machine to make us true androids.

These are nice hopes, but you know some lunatic fringe from the Middel East is going to gather up some of the missing nukes from the fall of the USSR, detonate them and wipe all life out on this planet in the name of their imaginary friend.

@evelyns_pet_zebra
There’s no benefit to operating in a ternary or quaternary system. Binary is useful because it’s either 1 (true) or 0 (false), which is the most basic form of logic.

@evelyns_pet_zebra: Evolution actually works on a small scale, small mutations over time infiltrating into a larger group. It’s not spontaneous all around.

asmonet, I meant grand as in long periods of time. We wouldn’t see anything noticeable in human evolution during our lifetimes, as we don’t live long enough to notice the changes. That’s what I meant by grand scale. Sorry you misunderstood my meaning.

Vinifera, not to argue, but the guy who invented one of the first computers said it would never amount ot much more than a glorified adding machine. He should see the damn things now. It just goes to show that predicting the future can never come close to the actual possibilities.

Remember, two hundred years ago, half the stuff we take for granted was considered impossible. Should humanity live long enough, I am sure we will do things that people nowadays claim is impossible.

You mean, sorry you weren’t clear?
No big, I’m just being nitpicky. :)

Cybernetics. We have been seriously co-evolving with machines for about 600 years now. I think the next big evolutionary breakthroughs will be in the area of human-machine interfaces; i.e., machine-assisted intelligence and collective decision-making. The Borg come to mind, only I think that in our version individuals will not be so subordinate to the collective, and human-hive intelligence will not be so centralized and directive.

I think machine assisted individuals will develop the personal bandwidth necessary to manage problems posed to a collective intelligence (of the sort described by James Surowiecki in “The Wisdom of Crowds”). It could be something like Fluther, only the membership would be more organically constituted, dialogue would be more serious and substantive, and the output would constitute the state of knowledge in any given field at any moment—and that knowledge would be applied in real-world situations.

This would necessarily entail that we evolve institutions, structures and processes for accrediting individuals, ideas and methods on the fly.