Almost Human (BJ)

The archeological record of the past 100,000+ years shows that today's Homo sapiens sapiens (HSS) won out over other Homo sapiens subspecies such as Neanderthals, Denisovans, and possibly others. Nonetheless, many HSS carry genes from older Homo sapiens subspecies. HSS now directs its own evolution. Add the advent of science-based medicine, advanced pharmaceuticals, smart implants, neural interfaces, genetic modification, a healthy(?) dose of artificial intelligence, and a transhumanist philosophy, Homo sapiens sapiens could split back into multiple subspecies. This presentation covers potential paths of future (sub-)speciation (such as Homo sapiens maximus and Homo sapiens nova) that could occur before the end of the 21st century. Will it occur peacefully? Probably not.

 

This is Almost Human's second Biohacking Village talk. (The previous talk focused on the death of genetic privacy.) He does science and technology consulting with a dash of anthropology. In other words, it isn't just the cool technology, it is how it is used and abused. In other words, culture matters in technology adoption. He has experience in a number of Physical Science fields, as well as Anthropology. What he says is no one's fault but his own. AlmostHuman does science and technology consulting with a dash of cultural anthropology.