Question: Do you think humans could gradually evolve into a even more intelligent life form?

Mark Fogg answered on 23 Jun 2010:

Now that is a very interestingly philosophical question.
There are some Biologists/Geneticists, such as Professor Steve Jones of University College London, who think probably not. I hope I’m not misrepresenting his argument and oversimplifying it, but I understand the reasoning is that advances in public health in developed nations means more people are living to reproductive age, with less evolutionary selective pressure on them. This results in the brakes being put on evolution thereby resulting in a halt to human ‘advancement’. Then there’s the argument that because supposed ‘stupid’ people tend to breed more than the brightest (as an argument that just makes me go Ugh! anyway, look up Eugenics in America in the early 20th century), as a species our cognitive abilities will decrease rather than increase with more ‘dim’ genes in the population.
I tend to disagree for many reasons, but I’ll try to be brief. Sadly, the majority of the world’s population does not benefit from universal healthcare, so in Africa, many parts of Asia and South America that evolutionary ‘brake’ doesn’t exist. I think I’m correct in stating that evolution works more slowly on larger population (60+ biliion people is historically enormous), but that doesn’t mean it’s over. As for the ‘breeding’ argument, other than a natural revulsion it engenders (which is no scientific reason to be against an argument by the way), it has to depend on your classification of ‘stupid’. My Grandparents were poorly educated cotton mill workers. Certain elements of society could therefore have considered them ‘stupid’ and dictated they could not breed. As my brother, a Dentist, and I have proved by going to University and being in jobs that demand intelligence, that kind of argument is both dangerous and nonsensical.
I could probably write a huge essay on this, but should stop before I get carried away. 😉
To summarise, yes I think humans will gradually become more intelligent. s to whether we become a new species, evolution would tend to suggest that’s highly probable. Intelligence is an important commodity for our species and it has brought us to where we are today, until the pressure to be intelligent is removed, we’ll continue the upward trajectory, just more gradually due to a larger population.
I’m more than happy for someone to provide evidence of my ignorance, it’s what science is about after all. 🙂

Thanks for a great question.