Future Shock 3 ... Humankind / Religion /
Society --- Compressed Evolution?
(Top Posts - Social/Legal - 110402)

Preface - Posts in this series:

Future Shock ... Will Humans / Trans-Humans /
Post-Humans be Religious?
http://prohuman.net/social_legal/future_shock_1_of_3.htm

Future Shock 2 ... Decrease in Religious Devotion?
http://prohuman.net/social_legal/future_shock_2_of_3.htm

Future Shock 3 ... Humankind / Religion /
Society --- Compressed Evolution?
http://prohuman.net/social_legal/future_shock_3_of_3.htm

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Certainly, the future is unknown, and the only approach
(to the future of humankind / religion / society ) that is
logically and reasonably available is one which contem-
plates and predicts based on possibilities, probabilities,
and an attempt to understand human behavior.

Reference: Beyond Religion - What the Future May Hold ...
http://prohuman.net/science/beyond_religion_the_future.htm

These are not rock solid adventures, validatable beyond
a reasonable doubt. These are possibilities and probabil-
ities (about which, like views on the presence or absence
of God and other supernatural beings / places, there is
considerable disagreement).

Does that mean futurism should be discarded as irrelevant?
No, of course not.

Does that mean things will always be as religiously-steeped
as they are today? Well, there are plenty of well-reasoned
positions to (at the very least) suspect, based on changes
which are expected to occur, that the humankind / religion /
society that we recognize today will change, perhaps radic-
ally, in the very near future.

The following is impacted by subjectivity and opinion.

Some are averse to considerations of religion diminishing
or, at the very least, averse to pondering that possibility
unless something definite is presented. For those who
doubt the possibility (or probability) of impacts of rapidly
advancing science and technology (never before seen),
therein resides the rather untenable position that the status
quo will continue simply because it has been that way for
so long, so why would things ever change?

For those who doubt or deny the never-before-seen pos-
sibilities that are present in the trans-human / post-human
dynamics, the illogic of that status quo (forever) stance is,
simply put, reflected by the same illogic that would exist if
entities observed chimps about 6 million years ago and
asserted that's as far as life on earth will ever go ...

... Think of the trans-human and post-human world as 6 mil-
lion years of naturalistic evolution squeezed down to 50 years,
and then one might ponder how such a time squeeze could
very easily result in a dynamically altered world (and dramat-
ically altered human species, perhaps even *new* trans-
human / post-human species) in a very short period of time.

Compressed evolution, chimps to homo sapiens in ~6 million
years - - - - - - as compared to - - - - - - homo sapiens to
trans-humans / post-humans in (pick one, several, or all,
based on how one views time) ...

o unknown (since it has taken an unknown period of time
   for whatever was happening prior to the expansion of
   our particular space-time continuum to eventually result
   in a trans-human / post-human world which may exist on
   earth, and on space platforms, moons, and planets within
   range of earth, in ~2050)

   -or-

o over 12 billion years (since it has taken that long, since
   the incredible expansion of our particular space-time con-
   tinuum, to get to a trans-human / post-human world which
   may exist on earth, and on space platforms, moons, and
   planets within range of earth, in ~2050)

   -or-

o over 3 billion years (since it has taken that long, since a
   primitive form of life evolved, to get to a trans-human /
   post-human world which may exist on earth, and on space
   platforms, moons, and planets within range of earth, in
   ~2050)

   -or-

o ~6 million years (since it has taken that long, since primi-
   tive pre-homo sapiens species evolved apart from the
   chimp line, to get to a trans-human / post-human world
   which may exist on earth, and on space platforms, moons,
   and planets within range of earth, in ~2050)

   -or-

o ~130,000 years (since it has taken that long, since homo
   sapiens evolved, to get to a trans-human / post-human
   world which may exist on earth, and on space platforms,
   moons, and planets within range of earth, in ~2050)

   -or-

o ~250 years (the period of time science, logic, and rea-
   son has flourished and our knowledge of our naturalistic
   origins / universe has expanded tremendously to a trans-
   human / post-human world which may exist on earth, and
   on space platforms, moons, and planets within range of
   earth, in ~2050)

   -or-

o ~100 years (from the view that with so few changes to
   human genes having occurred in the last ~130,000 years,
   the compressed evolution being discussed is more
   appropriately categorized as a ~100 year process (from
   the discovery of DNA to a trans-human / post-human world
   which may exist on earth, and on space platforms, moons,
   and planets within range of earth, in ~2050)

   -or-

o ~50 years (our immediate future to ~2050, if the develop-
   ment in a widespread area of sciences does, indeed, ad-
   vance on an exponential basis, to a world of trans-humans /
   post-humans on earth, and on space platforms, moons, and
   planets within range of earth)

Further helpful references ...

- - -

Living Forever (070100)
http://prohuman.net/science/living_forever.htm
"... what would happen if the body could be
rebuilt with new DNA, just as a PC can be
retrofitted with new software? Scientists at
the University of Texas Southwestern Medical
Center and biotechnologists at Menlo Park,
California's Geron Corp. posed this question,
which naturally led to another: Would human-
kind be able to extend the body's life, almost
indefinitely? The controversial answer ... is
a definitive 'yes' ..."

- - -

Don't Die, Stay Pretty (070400)
http://prohuman.net/science/dont_die_stay_pretty.htm
"This www.wired.com article (excerpts
appear in this post) is loaded with details
and hope for what may be the future of
humankind in the next millennium and
beyond, affording us the opportunity to
dream and perchance to realize the edge
of immortality in this certain plain of
existence ..."

- - -

One Possibility for a Continued
Pleasant Existence ... (070800)
http://prohuman.net/science/continued_pleasant_existence.htm
"... in this life: Over the next few decades, the
ability to control matter apart from your body,
in real time, and to transfer parts of your intelli-
gence, your being, to external storage devices,
may become a reality. I can see it clearly, as if
it's already a dream become real ..."

- - -

Life Perpetuation and Enhancement
(071900)
http://prohuman.net/science/life_perpetuation.htm
"So, here it is 2049 and you've been fortunate
enough to still be hanging around when all the
bugs have been worked out on a method of
life perpetuation and enhancement which
entails pleasure, youth, sex, joy, mental
alertness, enhanced physical capabilities,
mind expanding capabilities, the ability to
in real time interconnect to other beings
and intelligences and knowledge databases
dramatically expanding the scope of the
human experience, and ..."

- - -