If evolution is the adaptation of a species as influenced by its environment, is this always a positive thing, or an improvement? There's evidence to suggest that many species have become extinct through overspecialization - changing to take advantage of a environmental condition and then being unable to survive when that condition was proven to be temporary.
The human species has changed so much since our days as nomadic hunter-gatherers. And not always for the better. Indeed, I wonder whether modern humans could survive if conditions reverted to those more like the not-so-distant past, because we've lost so many traits that we must have had in order to be able to survive.
Let's look at what we, as a species, have lost:
- We've lost the ability to listen. Yes, it seems that this manifests most severely in the adolescents of the species, but I believe we no longer have the sense (in both meanings of the word) that would have been necessary to be effective hunters.
- We've lost the ability to think in the long term. The thing that truly distinguishes the intelligence of the human species is the ability to recognize the difference between past, present, and future. Today, we see reports of some animals demonstrating surprising abilities of planning ahead, while humans devolve further and further into a "now" mentality. We don't consider the potential, or even the probable, results of our decisions and actions. We don't even consider the lessons learned of those who came before us.
- We've lost the ability to think of the welfare of the group, and sometimes even lost the ability to think of anyone other than self. Many modern humans might be able to be the beaters that drove the mammoth into the trap, or the hunters that threw the spears from cover and made the kill, but how many could or would fill the often-suicidal role of closing off the avenue of escape for that soon-to-be enraged creature? How many could or would stand as the Spartans did at Thermopylae under the stinging hail of darts and arrows of the Persians, because their sacrifice might protect others? How many could or would stand in a Napoleonic (or American Civil War) line of battle, because it was better to die than to abandon your friends and relations? How many could or would take a particular career, or take a particular spouse, because their family would benefit? We're so absorbed in "me" that we rarely, if ever, consider the many definitions of "us" that each "me" is a part of.
- We've lost our sense of direction. Christianity and Islam initially grew and flourished as religions because they both had the positive goal, accepted by their believers, of making people into better people, of making the quality of existence better for those who believed. Both religions sidetracked (as all do) at times when the negative goal of claiming a higher percentage of Divine truth got in the way of the positive goal. The USA and USSR went to space because they had a vision of doing so, a positive goal - even if it was tempered a little by the negative goal of competing rather than cooperating to get there. But in these examples, even though the negative goals always mitigated against the effects of reaching the positive goals, they were still goals nonetheless. Today, we no longer set the goals and direction we once did. Do we today have the vision to see the unknown parts of Africa, Asia, and South America (or even parts of Canada) as we once had a vision to tame the "New World"? (No.) Do we have the drive to cure cancer as we once had the drive to eradicate polio? (No.) Do the Monroe Doctrine and Manifest Destiny operate only in the negative now? (It seems likely.)
- We've lost our faith. Not just in a religious sense, either. We've lost faith in God, absolutely, but also lost faith in ourselves, both individually and collectively.
All these things we've lost were originally traits that allowed the human species to survive even though the other species that we competed with were stronger, faster, and had many other physical advantages. There's evidence that the other species are catching on and developing some of these traits we've lost. Give another few million years and maybe the parrots or the dolphins or the bees will be writing books about the poor dumb humans that couldn't adapt well enough to survive, and thanking their Divine Maker for blessing them with more longevity.
