It is time we took the creationists to task. Why are so many afraid of evolution? In context, the creation story was written over six thousand years ago when virtually nothing was known about the Planet Earth, how the Sun and stars moved or even that the Earth was round. That being said, the creation story is a beautiful metaphor for why God’s world was created but not how.

Signs of evolution are all around us. Even the most uneducated understands that the many species of dogs are bred to be different from one another – a form of forced evolution derived from the original wolf. Even the most uneducated understands that Tommy has red hair because Grandpa had red hair.

However, evolution is more than the old arguments about Jewish history or other animals. The human being is evolving, too. A genetic history of humankind taken from blood samples proves that all humans go back to African ancestors. Three great migrations out of Africa created the Asian race, the European race and the Paleo-Indian race.

Awareness of our changes in early years of humankind, however, does not prepare us for how we will evolve. There are signs emerging that give us clues. The following examples foretell the direction of our evolution – a direction that leads to a human/electronic being. Not part human and part electronic but a genetically united new version of our species. That may sound like science fiction but the process is well under way.

To start simply, is a person with an artificial leg controlled by the brain still wholly “human?” Is a person with a pacemaker still wholly human? These are simple examples of the integration of humans and electronics.

Experiments with telepathy have developed to the point that in a laboratory, two individuals can compete playing a computer game directing the action only with their thoughts – no wires, no remote, just their brainwaves. Several television shows have televised the ability of disabled veterans to move limbs by directing the motion of prostheses with their brains. A double amputee won Olympic class races on springs instead of feet. These are primitive examples but one can understand that merging humans with electronics and changing powers of the brain to accommodate that integration is plausible.

A rat has been enabled by a chip in its brain to see and interact with wavelengths beyond normal visible wavelengths. Can humans be bred from birth with these capabilities? Perhaps with a fetal modification, an unusual skill will be normal for a lifetime or a deficient condition can be repaired. As human and electronic interdependencies become more common, perhaps parents will not want their child to fall behind in school because the child did not have a memory chip embedded.

The examples above are mechanical. Evolution also is occurring socially. One need only compare how an individual worked, shopped, traveled, communicated and maintained the home before 1996 versus how those under thirty do all these things with a small remote. Is this remote a harbinger of future human-electronic integration such that the remote device will become integrated within the human body?

Yes.

Ancient Mariner