Who are We, and Who (or What) Do We Want to Become? An Evolutionary Perspective on Biotransformative Technologies

This was published when the number of Popular Rationalists was quite a bit smaller.

Lyons-Weiler, J. Who are We, and Who (or What) Do We Want to Become? An Evolutionary Perspective on Biotransformative Technologies. Biol Theory 17, 138–152 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-021-00385-8.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13752-021-00385-8

It’s unusual and vainglorious for an author to review their own work, but on the occasion of the discovery of the BU gain-of-function research and the fact today I have been invited to give a keynote address at a conference on Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence, and related topics as a result of my publication, I had reason to revisit it and thought I might share it with the PR community.

Here’s the Abstract. The article is open access thanks to donations from you, the public, to IPAK. In the article, I present an in-depth analysis that interprets the lightning-speed race toward us coding ourselves with gene transformative technology coupled with Elon Musk’s penchant for plugging mammalian brains directly into computers from an evolutionary biology perspective citing many of the classic thinkers in evolutionary theory.

In my final analysis, I find that in Evolutionary Biology there exists a core universal ethos via which evolution wins out over technology and hubris on the basis of a fundamental right to the game of differential survival and reproduction on a level, natural playing field. The elites should not change the adaptive landscape for us all without checking with us all first.

What do you think?

Abstract.

Human evolution sits at several important thresholds. In organic evolution, interplay between exogenous environmental and genetic factors rendered new phenotypes at rates limited by genetic variation. The interplay took place on adaptive fitness landscapes determined by correspondence of genetic and environmental relationships. Human evolution involved important emergences that altered the adaptive landscape: language, writing, organized societies, science, and the internet. These endogenous factors ushered in transformative periods leading to more rapidly evolving emergences. I explore the impact of development of emerging biotransformative technologies capable of being applied to effect self-genetic modification and artificial intelligence-augmented cognition on the evolutionary landscape of phenotypes important to cognitive plasticity. Interaction effects will yield unanticipated emergences resulting in hyperrealm adaptive landscapes with more rapid evolutionary processes that feed back upon more fundamental levels while vastly outpacing organic evolution. Emerging technologies exist that are likely to impact the evolution of cognitive plasticity in humans in ways and at rates that will lead to societal upheaval. I show that the theoretical contribution of organic evolution in future human evolution is expected to become comparatively insignificant relative to that made by endogenous environmental factors such as external cognition aids and manipulation of the human genome. The results support the conclusion of a strong recommendation of a moratorium on the adoption of any technology capable of completely altering the course of human evolution.

Related: IPAK-EDU Course The Perils of Coding Ourselves (VN Alexander)