This is what people of the future will look like. Interesting facts about disasters that await the earth in the future
Date of publication: 09.10.2012Evolution changes everything, including the appearance of a person. What a person looked like in the past and what he will look like in the future - you will find answers to these questions in this article.
Strictly speaking, these cannot be called answers. These are just assumptions. But assumptions based on serious analysis, including with the participation of the notorious British scientists, who, it seems, have already experimented with everything, measured, compared, calculated and created everything for everything exact formulas. Even to measure the power of love.
Despite the officially accepted point of view regarding the origin of man, the questions of “what man looked like in the past” and in general “where did he come from here” remain open to this day. There are at least two theories that rival the official theory of human evolution in popularity. First: man descended from the ancestors Adam and Eve at the will of the Lord God, as described in Old Testament. Second: man descended from a monkey, but he was helped with accelerated development by genetic methods... aliens.
From a scientific point of view, the first theory is complete nonsense, but the second, despite the strange assumption bordering on nonsense, has a right to exist, since it explains a fact that the official theory of evolution cannot explain in any way. Namely: why the abrupt, literally lightning-fast development of apes occurred about 12 thousand years ago. After all, as follows from the evolutionary logic of their development, apes should still live in caves today and hunt wild animals with the help of stone tools. But literally in a couple of thousand years (which is a short moment by the standards of evolution), people from primitive people became a highly developed civilization (meaning the Sumerian civilization), installing plumbing in their homes and creating masterpieces of gastronomy and fine art. "It doesn't happen like that!" - say opponents of the official theory of evolution, and the scientist Zecharia Sitchin wrote a lot on this topic scientific works, in which he collected and classified tens of thousands of facts that speak for alien interference in human evolution.
I will not insist on the correctness of this theory, although of all those available to me personally, it seems the most probable - all of these today are just theories and hypotheses, we will never know the real truth. Those who want to join the knowledge (but, alas, not the truth - perhaps only a small part of the picture of the universe and human history, hidden from us under the reliable cover of millennia, turning everything material, even history, into dust) will find this knowledge, I can only state a fact : We don’t know for sure what a person actually looked like several thousand years ago. Maybe evolution looked like this:
There is generally a lot of humor about this. When there is no exact knowledge, humor and irony are the most faithful friends person and you shouldn’t look for others.
Here, for example, is how a certain nameless artist sees the evolution of man:
Based on the realities of today's life, it is very similar, isn't it? But the notorious British scientists approached the issue not emotionally, but as befits scientists - scientifically and after analyzing all the factors influencing the change appearance man, they derived formulas on the basis of which a collective portrait of the man of the future was drawn. They proceeded from the following model of evolution:
And according to their calculations, a person in 1000 years will look like this (just don’t be alarmed):
Photo from the British weekly The Sun.
And here is a verbal portrait:
Average height - about 2 meters, bald skull (it’s not clear, is it only men or women too? - brr!), fewer teeth in the mouth, large eyes, long legs, arms and fingers, pear-shaped head, more dark color skin (than that of the average European today), a shorter gastrointestinal tract, and most importantly: a smaller brain and, how can I put it more delicately, very small gonads in men.
An unpleasant, literally repulsive subject, isn't it? But why is he like this? There is an explanation for everything.
The high growth is due to improved nutrition and advances in medicine, all in keeping with the growing trend. After all, today the average European or American is 2.5 centimeters taller than 50 years ago.
Shortening the intestines will become a natural defense human body from the set excess weight, in the process of evolution, naturally. That is, the current trend of growth in width will change to growth in height. Well, we'll wait and see, as they say.
Lengthening of the arms and fingers will be a consequence of daily use, increasingly developing, requiring “sophisticated hand-eye coordination.” It must be said that this statement is easy to believe, given that today many people live with their eyes and fingers literally glued to their electronic friends - phones, smartphones, tablets and other evil spirits.
I am also ready to believe in the shrinking of the human brain, since for most people today it is already dying off - even within the multiplication table, no one wants to make calculations, and many really can’t - why, there are calculators and computers. All thought processes come down to memorizing basic instructions: which button to press to arrive at the floor you need, which knob to turn so that the exact type of coffee you prefer pours out, and which of the ten visual bookmarks choose a browser to get to your favorite website social network. All! Thinking is becoming an unnecessary luxury, accessible, probably, only to those same British scientists. After all, even Russian scientists are trying to derive something new from known combinations. The brain will inevitably die!
Just like sexual functions! Entertainment no longer requires physical exertion, the body weakens, virtual sex becomes more attractive than real sex, where you have to strain. And as you know, everything that is not trained atrophies.
By the way, in many works of science fiction, the man of the future was portrayed as a kind of superman - smart, strong and brave. But the truth of life is that all these works were written before the advent of computers, the Internet and gadgets, that is, an era that changed the vector of human development, which no one could have predicted 50 or even 20 years ago, not even British scientists. More precisely, the consequences that this development will bring. One joy: the development of humanity is a rather unpredictable thing, and perhaps one day the vector of our development will change again, and in the direction where we would all like to go. Where all people will be beautiful, smart, healthy and rich.
This is what I wish for all of us!
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Cold weather. Warming. Scientific and technical progress. How our body will change depending on possible future scenarios.
Global warming
Most possible variant one of the most frightening. However, not for the human body. After all, then the dream of all the beauties on Earth will come true - to have a slim and tanned figure like Hollywood divas. This is because those who live in hot climates eat a lot of plants that do not contribute to weight loss at all. And another banal reason is thermoregulation. Residents of warm countries are thin and have elongated proportions. The thinner a person is, the easier his body cools down; being slim is just an evolutionary adaptation to a hot climate.
And, according to anthropologists, people will most likely have their nose and lips widen and their jaws enlarged. Like all equatorials (a wide nose and jaws allow for better air ventilation, and plump lips allow liquid to evaporate). Perhaps the skull will elongate and we will get anthracite-black curls. Both allow the head to lose heat more efficiently.
glacial period
No matter how much you scare global warming, many experts are twisting their heads: they say, what are you talking about, what kind of warming, we live in an interglacial era. And by the standards of history, it dragged on for an unacceptably long time. So get out your fur coats. And meat. And lard. This is what the northern peoples eat. Eskimos, by the way, are able to consume 3 kg of fat per day (without having problems with cholesterol!). Are you weak?
Eating record amounts of protein and fat is responsible for the stockiness of northerners. That is, the more protein they eat, the more their muscles and bones develop. Therefore, if there is a total freeze, we will become short and wide (we will have developed muscles, and for some, fat deposits). According to the principle of a samovar: the rounder it is, the longer it retains heat.
And this is just the beginning. Scientists do not rule out: in the distant future, humanity may learn... to hibernate. Well, such examples exist among our primate relatives (fat-tailed lemurs) and among the same northern peoples. With the onset of the polar night, the latter can put their bodies into a state of suspended animation, when they sit around a fire and do not speak to each other for days.
GMO people
And this is possible. At least according to futurologists. Advances in technology will allow us to look the way we want. And the especially brave ones believe that our mortal body as such will no longer exist - only avatars, only hardcore. Gradually, parts of the body will be replaced by artificial ones, until eventually we will completely turn into intelligent machines, and perhaps we will even exist only in the Internet space. And perhaps someday genetic engineering will reach a level where we ourselves will be able to choose a specific appearance and any other set of physical data for our children. Fortunately, this will not happen soon. If it happens at all.
Well-fed future
According to Wells
But with the notorious scientific and technological revolution, options are possible. The future may be a paradise for some and a purgatory for others. Like in H.G. Wells's novel The Time Machine. “A small creature - no more than four feet tall”, “amazingly beautiful, reminiscent of a consumptive beauty” - this is how the father of science fiction described the first category of earthlings of the future - the Eloi, who have reached the pinnacle of technological progress. And so: “Ape-like... dirty white”, “with large grayish-red eyes”, “running on all fours” - disgusting Morlocks, degraded people, returned to the level of australopithecines.
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In the future, humanity may be divided into these two “races”. The latter will serve the former (after all, there may not be enough resources for everyone; in this case, someone will inevitably end up at the very bottom of the social and then evolutionary ladder). It is possible that only “Morlocks” or only “Eloi” will remain. Depends on which direction progress will take.
The famous anthropologist Stanislav Drobyshevsky in his article “Pan or Morlock” writes: “(if humanity lives for tens of thousands of years in the bosom of a supercivilization) ... dimensions digestive system in general and the jaws in particular will become smaller, the bones of the skull will become thinner, muscle tone will inevitably weaken... interesting changes are possible: for example, fingers may become longer and their mobility may increase if success in working with a computer begins to be reflected in reproductive success.”
"Morlocks" will appear in an apocalyptic scenario. Pollution of the planet will lead to increased natural selection. All the weak and sick will die out. Physical strength and endurance will again come to the fore. Humanity will begin to run wild. “So far, unfortunately, everything is moving towards this scenario, and it is still very optimistic, because it implies, in principle, the survival of humanity. Sadly, we are destroying our habitat so quickly that with our leisurely rate of reproduction, we may not be fast enough to adapt to new conditions. Humanity may become extinct in the next couple of hundred years,” writes Drobyshevsky.
First of all, this concerns the most civilized part of the world. Australian Aboriginals, wild African tribes or Amazonian Indians most likely will not notice anything at all. And they will become the origins of a new humanity.
Bright future
About rudiments
Change awaits us in any case. First of all, this concerns the senses. For example, vision. Constantly sitting at the monitor will lead to modification of the organs of vision. It will be important to moisturize rarely blinking eyes with the help of increased work of the sebaceous glands - reflex blinking will no longer be enough. But our sense of smell, with which everything is already very sad today, will apparently disappear completely. As unnecessary, we have nothing to smell in the environment except roses and perfume. But evolution is not exchanged for such “little things” - the sense of smell is needed to track down prey or escape from it. Everything else is “pampering”, an extra part that takes up too much space in our brain, which could be “used” for more important things. For example, the ability to see in the dark (in case humanity has to go underground - say, due to a natural disaster).
By the way, rudimentary organs will also shrink. Such, for example, as wisdom teeth, which, according to anthropologists, will sink into oblivion within 200 years. The muscles of the ears, nose and the last two ribs will disappear in about 2 million years. Also your toes. But the brain will probably grow. For 1 kg. In 7 million years (as anthropologists believe, based on the history of human evolution).
Globalization and constant immigration will eventually do their dirty work. I mean, dark. Some anthropologists are confident that within a few centuries we will all become brown-eyed mulattoes. Like the Brazilians. Blue eyes, red hair and freckles, which even today can be included in the Red Book, may disappear completely. By the way, in 2002, epidemiologists from the United States found that only one out of six white Americans has blue eyes. And a hundred years ago, more than half of the white population of the United States had them.
There are many theories that suggest different ways for the human body to develop in the future. Scientists are constantly looking for clues about where we came from and where we are going. Some experts argue that Darwinian natural selection continues, while others believe that humans have already reached their peak.
For example, Professor Steve Jones from University College London says that driving forces evolutions don't play anymore important role in our life. Among people who lived a million years ago, it was literally survival of the fittest, and hostile environment had a direct impact on the human appearance. IN modern world With central heating and with an abundance of food, mutations are much less likely.
However, there is a possibility that our bodies will continue to develop further. Humans can continue to adapt to the changes taking place on our planet, which is becoming increasingly polluted and dependent on technology. According to the theory, animals evolve faster in isolated environments, while people living in the 21st century are not isolated at all. However, this issue is also controversial. With new advances in science and technology, people were able to exchange information instantly, but at the same time they became more isolated than ever before.
Yale University professor Stephen Stearns says that globalization, immigration, cultural diffusion and ease of travel are all contributing to the gradual homogenization of the population, which will lead to a homogenization of facial features. Recessive traits in humans, such as freckles or blue eyes, will become very rare.
In 2002, a study by epidemiologists Mark Grant and Diane Lauderdale found that only 1 in 6 non-Hispanic white Americans had blue eyes, whereas 100 years ago, more than half of the white population in the United States had blue eyes. It is predicted that the skin and hair color of the average American will darken, leaving very few blondes and people with very dark or very light skin.
In some parts of the planet (for example, in the USA), genetic mixing occurs more actively, in others - less. In some places, unique physical traits adapted to the environment have a strong evolutionary advantage, so people won't be able to give them up so easily. Immigration in some regions is much slower, so, according to Stearns, complete homogenization of the human race may never happen.
However, overall the Earth is becoming more and more like a big melting pot, and a scientist has said that in a few centuries we will all become like the Brazilians. It is possible that in the future people may acquire the ability to consciously change the color of their skin thanks to the artificial introduction of chromatophores (pigment-containing cells present in amphibians, fish, and reptiles) into the body. There may be another method, but in any case it will provide some advantages. Firstly, interracial prejudices will finally disappear. Secondly, being able to change will help you stand out in modern society.
Height
The trend toward increased growth has been reliably established. Primitive people are thought to have had an average height of 160 cm, and human height has been steadily increasing over the past centuries. A particularly noticeable jump has occurred in recent decades, when human height has increased by an average of 10 cm. This trend may continue in the future, since it largely depends on diet, and food is becoming more nutritious and affordable. Of course, on this moment In some regions of the planet, due to poor nutrition with a low content of minerals, vitamins and proteins, this trend is not observed, but in most countries of the world people continue to grow. For example, every fifth resident of Italy is taller than 180 centimeters, while after the Second World War there were only 6% of such people in the country.
beauty
Researchers have previously found that more attractive women have more children than less attractive women, and most of the children born to them are girls. Their daughters grow into attractive, mature women, and the pattern repeats itself. Scientists from the University of Helsinki concluded that the trend towards an increase in the number beautiful women intensifies with each new generation. However, the trend does not apply to men. However, the person of the future will likely be more beautiful than he is now. His body structure and facial features will reflect what most are looking for in a partner today. He will have finer facial features, an athletic build and a good figure. Another idea, proposed by evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics, seems to be inspired by ideas from classic science fiction. According to his hypothesis, the human race will over time be divided into two subspecies: the lower, consisting of short ones, similar to underdeveloped goblins, and top class- tall, slender, attractive and smart superhumans, spoiled by technology. According to Curry's forecasts, this will not happen soon - in 100 thousand years.
Big heads
If a person continues to develop, turning into a more complex and intelligent being, his brain will become larger and larger.
With technological progress, we will depend more and more on the intellect and brain and less and less on our other organs. However, paleontologist Peter Ward from the University of Washington in Seattle disagrees with this theory. “If you have ever experienced or witnessed childbirth, then you know that with our anatomical structure we stand on the very edge - our big brains already cause extreme problems during childbirth, and if they became more and more, it would cause more maternal deaths during childbirth, and evolution will not follow that path.”
Obesity
A recent study by Columbia University and Oxford University researchers predicts that by 2030, half the US population will be obese. That is, there will be 65 million more adults with problematic weight in the country. If you think that Europeans will be slim and elegant, then you are mistaken. Obesity rates have more than doubled in most member states over the past two decades, according to a report published by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. European Union. As a result, on average, more than 15% of European adults and one in seven children suffer from obesity, and the trends are disappointing.
Will the people of the future become obese and lazy creatures, like the characters from the cartoon "Wally"? All in our hands. There are other points of view on this matter. The fact is that modern diets are high in fat and cheap “empty calories.” There is currently quite a negative attitude towards the problem of obesity, which will make people in the future better adjusted and picky eaters. In popularizing the concept of proper nutrition, as well as with new technologies of “food of the future”, everything will fall into place. When humanity finally figures out healthy eating, it is likely that heart disease and... diabetes, which are currently one of the leading causes of death in developed countries, will disappear.
Hairline
Homo sapiens is often jokingly called a naked ape. But like all mammals, humans grow hair, of course, in much less quantity than our hominid cousins and ancestors. Darwin, in The Descent of Man, stated that the hair on our bodies is a vestige. Due to the ubiquity of heating and affordable clothing, the previous purpose of body hair has become obsolete. But the evolutionary fate of hair is not easy to accurately predict, since it can act as one of the indicators of sexual selection. If the presence of body hair continues to be an attractive aspect to the opposite sex, then the gene responsible for it will remain in the population. But it is likely that people in the future will have much less hair than they do today.
Impact of technology
Computer technologies that have become part of our Everyday life, will undoubtedly affect the development of the human body. Constant use of keyboards and touch screens can cause our hands and fingers to become thinner, longer and more dexterous, and the number of nerve endings in them will increase dramatically. As the need to use technical interfaces increases, priorities will change. With further technical progress, interfaces (of course, not without surgical intervention) can migrate to the human body. Why shouldn’t a person of the future have a keyboard in the palm of his hand and learn to press the conventional OK button with a nod of his head, and answer an incoming call by connecting his index and thumb? It is likely that in this new world the human body will be stuffed with hundreds of tiny sensors transmitting data to external devices. An augmented reality display can be built into the retina of the human eye, and the user will control the interface by moving the tongue along the front incisors.
Wisdom teeth and other rudiments
Vestigial organs such as wisdom teeth that are surgically removed may also disappear over time as they no longer serve their function. Our ancestors had larger jaws with more teeth. As their brains began to enlarge and their diets began to change and food became less tough and easier to digest, their jaws began to shrink. It was recently estimated that about 25% of people today are born without the rudiments of wisdom teeth, which may be a consequence natural selection. This percentage will only grow in the future. It is possible that jaws and teeth will continue to become smaller and even disappear.
Poor memory and low intelligence
The theory that future people will have higher intellectual abilities is also questionable. A study from Columbia University shows that our dependence on Internet search engines greatly harms our memory. The Internet replaces our brain's ability to remember information that we can easily find on the Internet at any time. The brain began to use the Internet as a backup memory. “People are less likely to make the effort to remember something when they know they can always find that information later,” the study authors said.
Neurophysiologist and laureate Nobel Prize Eric Kandel in his article also points out that the Internet is making people dumber. The main problem is that excessive use of the Internet does not allow you to concentrate on one thing. Mastering complex concepts requires paying serious attention to new information and diligently trying to associate it with knowledge already in memory. Surfing the Internet does not provide this opportunity: the user is constantly distracted and interrupted, which is why his brain is not able to establish strong neural connections.
As noted above, evolution follows the path of eliminating traits that are no longer needed. And one of them can be physical strength. Comfortable transport of the future, exoskeletons and other machines and tools of our ingenuity will save humanity from the need for walking and any other physical activity. Research shows that we have already become much weaker compared to our distant ancestors. Over time, advances in technology may lead to changes in limbs. The muscles will begin to contract. The legs will become shorter and the feet smaller.
According to a recent study, the population of the United States is caught in a vicious circle. constant stress and depression. Three in ten Americans say they are depressed. These symptoms are most common among people aged 45 to 65 years. 43% report regular outbursts of irritability and anger, 39% report nervousness and anxiety. Even dentists are seeing more patients with jaw pain and worn teeth than thirty years ago. Because of which?
Because of the stress, people clench their jaws tightly and literally grind their teeth in their sleep. Stress, as experiments on laboratory rats show, is a clear sign that the animal becomes increasingly unfit for the world in which it lives. And as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace astutely noted more than 150 years ago, when a living creature's habitat is no longer comfortable, the species goes extinct.
Weak immunity
Future people may have weakened immune systems and be more susceptible to pathogens. New medical technologies and antibiotics have greatly improved general state health and life expectancy, but also made our immune system more lazy. We become more and more dependent on medications, and over time our bodies may stop “thinking” for themselves and instead rely entirely on medications to carry out basic bodily functions. Thus, people from the future may actually become slaves to medical technology.
Selective hearing
Humanity already has the ability to direct their attention to specific things they hear. This feature is known as the "cocktail effect". At a noisy party, among many conversations, you may well focus on one specific speaker who has attracted your attention for some reason. The human ear does not have a physical mechanism for this; everything happens in the brain.
But over time, this ability can become more important and useful. With the development of media and the Internet, our world is becoming overcrowded with various sources of information. The man of the future will have to learn to more effectively determine what is useful to him and what is just noise. As a result, people will be less susceptible to stress, which will undoubtedly benefit their health, and, accordingly, will take root in their genes.
Artist Nikolai Lamm and Dr. Alan Kwan presented their speculative view of how the person of the future will see. Researchers base their predictions on how the human body will be affected by the environment - that is, climate and technological advances. One of the biggest changes, in their opinion, will affect the forehead, which has become increasingly wider since the 14th century. The researchers also said that our ability to control our own genome will affect evolution. Genetic engineering will become the norm, and facial appearance will be increasingly determined by human preferences. Meanwhile, the eyes will become larger. Attempting to colonize other planets will result in darker skin to reduce exposure to harmful ultraviolet radiation outside of Earth's ozone layer. Kwan also expects people to have thicker eyelids and pronounced brow ridges due to low-gravity conditions.
Post-gender society
With the development of reproductive technologies, reproduction in the traditional way may disappear into oblivion. Cloning, parthenogenesis and the creation of artificial wombs can significantly expand the potential for human reproduction, and this in turn will completely erase the boundaries between men and women. People of the future will not be attached to a particular gender, enjoying the best aspects of life as both. It is likely that humanity will completely intermingle, forming a single androgynous mass. Moreover, in the new post-gender society, not only will there be no physical genders or their supposed signs, gender identity itself will be eliminated and the line between the role models of behavior of men and women will be erased.
Many creatures, such as fish and sharks, have a lot of cartilage in their skeletons. Human beings could follow the same developmental path to develop more flexible bones. Even if not thanks to evolution, but with the help genetic engineering this feature would provide a lot of advantages and protect a person from injury. A more flexible skeleton would obviously be extremely useful in childbirth, not to mention its potential for future ballet dancers.
Wings
As Guardian columnist Dean Burnett writes, he once spoke to a colleague who doesn't believe in evolution. When he asked why, the main argument was that people do not have wings. According to the opponent, “evolution is the survival of the fittest,” and what could be more convenient for adapting to any environment than wings. Even if Burnett's theory on this matter is based on immature observations and a limited understanding of how evolution works, it also has its right to exist.
The world is changing, each subsequent decade, century or millennium brings its own, characteristic changes, and the speed of change only increases. And just as the world changes, people change. Evolution continues. At the moment there are many various theories, which give their options for human development in the future. However, some anthropologists and researchers still believe that evolutionary processes no longer play as important a role as they once did.
Biological evolution is a natural process of development of living nature, accompanied by changes in the genetic composition of populations, the formation of adaptations, speciation and extinction of species, transformation of ecosystems and the biosphere as a whole (c) Wikipedia
For example, according to Professor Steve Jones from University College London, evolution is fading into the background. If in the distant past, the strongest survived, then in the modern world, a person surrounded by comfort is unlikely to continue the mutation. At the same time, scientists do not exclude the possibility of changes and development of our bodies.
In addition, we must not forget about the existence of the Hardy-Weinerg law, which states that evolutionary change is mathematically necessary as long as the genetic population remains under the influence of at least one of five factors:
- Mutation
- Non-random mating
- Gene flow
- Genetic drift
- Natural selection
Based on this law, we can draw a simple conclusion - there will be evolutionary processes. That is why many scientists do not dwell on the debate “for” or “against” evolution, but put forward their own assumptions about what a person will look like in the future and what evolutionary changes threaten us over the next millennia.
Height change
The tendency to increase growth is known and studied for certain. If we take into account at least the last 100-150 years, then it is not difficult to calculate that humanity has become taller by an average of 10 centimeters. For example, every fifth resident of Italy is taller than 180 cm, and in the post-war period (after the Second World War), the number of people with such height was no more than 6% of the total population.
Average height of men on the world map
According to researchers, one of the main reasons for this change is the abundance of nutrients that are available to modern humans. And if earlier hunger prevented the body from developing, now in a large part of the world such an issue is no longer of secondary importance.
Human head size
It is interesting that there are two opinions on the issue of changing the size of the skull. The first says that the size of the skull will increase. This is primarily due to the development of man himself, because technological development implies the need for intellectual development and brain development. That is why, according to some scientists, in the future we will look like real standard “aliens.”
However, there is also an opinion opposite to this assumption, which states that the size of the cranium, if it undergoes changes, will be insignificant. Paleontologist Peter Ward, from the University of Washington in Seattle, thinks otherwise. The reason is very simple - any woman who has given birth at least once in her life will tell you with complete confidence that the baby’s head is already quite large sizes. That is why these days the method is increasingly used Caesarean section and that is why evolution is unlikely to take such a step (no, we do not consider evolution to be something that has its own will - editor's note).
Skin color and facial features
Monoethnicity is the word that comes to mind for many scientists when it comes to the distant future of humanity. Mixed marriages have long ceased to be something out of the ordinary and “purity of blood” is preserved only among certain ethnic groups, which are usually in a certain isolation, territorial, religious or any other.
However, globalization and cultural fusion, together with the availability of free movement, are doing their job and sooner or later all this will lead to an averaging of facial features and skin color. Yale University professor Stephen Stearns says this. According to various researchers, skin and hair color will darken. Therefore, it is believed that in a few centuries or a little later, most of the world's population will look approximately like Brazilians.
There is a parallel point of view, whose adherents believe that over time, humanity or individual people will be able to acquire the ability to mimicry, and therefore, it will be possible to change skin color according to at will. Such statements could be considered science fiction, but scientists are already experimenting with the introduction of chromatophores (pigment-containing cells that are present in amphibians, reptiles, etc.).
Human hair
It's no secret that ancient people were much hairier than us. No, this does not mean that they had very long hair, far from it, it’s just that the hairline was much more noticeable than it is now. The famous scientist Charles Darwin once said that the hair on our bodies is nothing more than a vestige, a kind of greeting from the past of humanity.
In those distant times, hair replaced a person’s clothing, but over time, such a need disappeared due to the spread and availability of clothing and heating. Therefore, there is a good chance that in the future humanity will become almost bald. However, even here we cannot talk about confidence in such changes. So, for example, hair acts as one of the indicators when choosing a sexual partner, which means that if the need for hair does not completely disappear, then the hair will not go anywhere, unless there is a little less of it.
Teeth
If you look at the jaws of a person who lived about 100,000 years ago and the jaws modern man, you will notice the changes even with the naked eye. In the past, the size of human teeth was twice as large. This was necessary so that you could crack nuts, tear raw meat with your teeth, etc. Later, the human brain developed, his diet changed, and as a result, the jaws, like the teeth, began to shrink.
One of the most noticeable changes is the disappearance of wisdom teeth. Already, almost 25% of people are born without the rudiments of wisdom teeth, which can be attributed to the influence of natural selection, and in the future, this percentage will only increase. According to scientists, human teeth will continue to shrink, and perhaps even disappear.
Muscles
It is only a matter of time that humanity will lose muscle mass, scientists are almost sure of this. Already, humanity is weaker than its past self. This is due to ever smaller volumes of physical labor, which is gradually being replaced by technology. The faster technology and automation advance, the faster humanity will become in terms of physical strength.
Meanwhile, serious developments are already underway to create artificial and reinforced body parts, muscle tissue, exoskeletons and other things. All this can lead to the fact that people's limbs may begin to change. Reduction in muscle mass, legs will become shorter and feet will become smaller.
In addition, there is a second scenario, which assumes that humanity will lose muscle mass in connection with the “relocation” to space. Many people know that after returning to Earth from space, astronauts have to re-recruit their physical fitness. Now imagine what will happen if such a flight drags on for a very, very long time.
Brain functions
Naturally, the brain will not remain unchanged. In the modern world, we can already see the influence of technology on our thinking. The human brain works in such a way as to perform a task as efficiently as possible, therefore, instead of remembering a certain amount of information, the brain prefers to remember directly the source from which the necessary data can be taken. So, for example, it is much easier to remember where you put the book, and not what is written on page 329 in paragraph 3. Therefore, in the future, there is a high probability of our memory deteriorating. On the other hand, humanity has not revealed its full “brain” potential, so there is no need to be too afraid for future generations.
Another interesting change may affect our hearing. Throughout the evolutionary process, man has learned to focus his attention on certain sound waves captured by the ear and isolate what he needs most. Although, of course, such a skill is not omnipotent, however, during a noisy party, we are able to distinguish the speech of our interlocutor among the many conversations and noises. Of course, such a mechanism is not possessed by the ear, but by our brain, which plays the role of an analytical filter. At the same time, the development of media and the Internet is increasingly clogged with unnecessary “noise” and useless information that people are trying to sort right now. Based on this, we can come to the conclusion that in the conditions of such an information environment, humanity will have to more effectively learn to determine what is useful for it and isolate it among the turbulent general flow.
That's all. No, of course, there are many more options for evolutionary changes, but it is quite difficult to list them all, and it is not really necessary. We tried to briefly describe the most noticeable of them and give general idea about what awaits our descendants in the distant (or not so distant) future. Good luck and evolve!
Man has always been and will be interested in what will happen in the future. Ancient fortune-telling rituals were based on this interest. By the way, fortune tellers were popular not only in the past, they are still popular now. Man has always wanted to lift the secret veil over what will happen in the future. Let's try to do the same today and analyze the opinions of scientists on the question of what will happen in the future.
Scientists forecasters
This term arose in modern times, some call specialists in predicting the future futurologists, some forecasters, but the meaning is the same. Based on various analyzes and inferences, they derive concepts of what will happen in the future, both near and far. In 1999, an international forecasting academy was even established; it gathered the best forecasting experts under its roof. These specialists are headed by the Russian Doctor of Historical Sciences Igor Bestuzhev-Lada. Moreover, anyone who writes at least one article with predictions can become a member of this academy. The International Academy has created a Moscow branch, which also strives to understand what the future depends on, but only in Russia.
World forecast
So, the opinions of futurologists differ from each other, but general trends are still present, here they are. In the next century, the Earth is facing a war for natural resources. Man will remain a consumer on the planet, so he will conquer for himself more and more tasty pieces of territory, which have fertile soils, fish rivers, minerals, fresh air and water. It is already clear that the civilization of money is leaving, futurologists say. Financial crises and huge national debts of the leading world powers are proof of this. Everything on Earth will change - people, natural complexes, religion, everything that people are used to.
Predictions for 100 years by direction
Scientists and forecasters made the following very interesting forecast in the areas of human life. It has a lot more realistic thoughts and is really worth watching. The first direction is the migration of humanity to the ocean. Scientists predict the emergence of ocean farms, where people will grow fish and plants to create food supplies. Communications are the second direction of achievements of the future. Scientists promise the penetration of electronic systems even into the human brain. Most modern cellular telephone in 100 years it will become a real artifact. The third direction of progress involves the transmission of thoughts at a distance. If a person does not learn to do this, then a device for transmitting thoughts will definitely be created! And it’s no longer computer hackers, but a roommate who can calmly “hack” a person’s brain. The main type of fuel will be sunlight And nuclear fuel, gasoline and gas will become a thing of the past, as will the dangerous production of them. The next very interesting direction of the future will make man immortal. Each person will receive a chip that will receive signals from the body about violations and immediately correct them. He will simply treat what is called “without leaving the cash register.” Money on Earth will become unified for the convenience of the world community. And people will be so tired of working that even vacations at resorts will not be enjoyable. It is for these and environmental purposes that recreational complexes will be created in Antarctica. The next direction of human development can hardly be called development. Homosexuals will receive equal family rights as everyone else and will raise and raise children. And how can one not believe these predictions in the light of the latest regulations in France on this topic? Up to 80% of marriages on Earth will be same-sex in 100 years. (Ugh, ugh! So that it doesn’t come true!) And last prediction worthy of our attention is the ability of a person to order the weather. People will learn to cause and stop rain, snow, hail, wind and other delights of the heavenly office.
The future of Russia
Forecasters also tell what awaits Russia in the future. Both Vanga and Duval believe that in the 30-40s of the 21st century a new union will be born in Russia Slavic states and the greatness of a new power like the USSR is recognized even by the United States. In the Slavic union, a new religion will be born, which will quickly take over the whole world and lead it to harmony and love. Duvall’s prediction is surprising that already in 2014 Russia will become the most rich country peace. And it is our scientists who will invent a cure for old age. Soothsayers say that no matter what awaits Russia in the near future, it will lead the world and become a very prosperous country.
Personal forecast
What awaits me in the future is a question many people, especially young people, ask themselves. There can be only one answer here - what you want will be with you. You can never be a boss if you don't want to learn. You will never be able to go to Tibet if you do not want to earn money wisely and read and study a lot. You can never win the lottery without ever buying lottery tickets. Build your own destiny, walk confidently along your own path, try to clearly understand what you really need in life. And then you won’t even need to go to a fortune teller or look into horoscopes. You are your own astrologer, because you are the spark around which the world revolves. Your world.