Before we dive into the core concepts of this course it is necessary to build a perspective on the evolutionary events or transitions that led humanity to the digital era that we find ourselves in today. For that purpose, in today’s lecture, we will be getting familiar with a brief outlook on the evolutionary history of humans.
To begin with, who are we? Where did we come from? What is our purpose in life?
These are the essential questions on life that continue to intrigue humanity’s subconscious for centuries on end, the answers to which we seek through science, religion and philosophy.
The commonly acknowledged scientific answer regarding the origin of life is offered by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution which claims that we originated from a less sophisticated model and evolved through natural selection and genetic mutations into the complex beings we are today.
On the other hand, religious scriptures and mythologies also offer a wide array of stories and explanations. The Australian Aborigines believe in a distant past where gods walked the earth and created human beings. The Rig Veda of Hinduism talks of a cosmic man who was sacrificed to create humans and the Semitic religions believe in the creation myth of Adam and Eve. Apart from these religious narratives, almost every culture has its own unique variety of myths and beliefs on the origin of life.
According to evolutionary science, Humans, or Homo sapiens sapiens, the species you and I belong to, first appeared about 200,000 years ago. It is common knowledge that our species has been blessed with a kind of spectacular uniqueness. To begin with, we belong to the only genus with a single member. Our capacity to inhabit a vast array of environments, spanning from desolate terrains to urban landscapes to even space stations, is almost unparalleled. We have language, we are prone to believe in fictional realities and supernatural beings, we create extraordinary scientific tools and we also question the meaning of our existence. By these characteristics, we are unique in a far more profound way than any other species is unique.
Studies in human evolution reveal that more than one species of humans existed up until 30,000 years ago. The species recognized during the earlier stages include H. habilis, H. rudolfensis and H. ergaster. And the ones who existed at a more recent, later stage include H. erectus, H. heidelbergensis, H. neanderthalensis, archaic H. sapiens and H. sapiens sapiens. Some of these species overlapped with each other in time and space. This disproves the common misconception that human evolution happened on a step-wise ladder of progression from species to species where in fact it resembled a bush with many branches.
Nevertheless, it is quite undisputed that for the past 30,000 years, there has only been one species of humans alive, which is Homo sapiens sapiens.
So, what made the difference? Why are we the only remaining species of our genus? What gave our species an unprecedented evolutionary advantage over the others?
Archaeological and anthropological studies map out several answers to these questions. According to them, modern humans migrated across the globe and gradually replaced all other types of humans as a result of competitive exclusion. This could have occurred through violence but more so by the fact that modern humans were more efficient at exploiting the environment with an ability to cope with extreme terrains and by their flexibility in social behaviour. The most commonly acknowledged transitions in the history of modern humans which significantly contributed to their evolutionary advantage are
the use of fire,
the origin of language and creative intelligence,
the agricultural revolution,
the emergence of civilizations, and
the scientific and technological advancements.
The domestication of fire changed the course of human evolution. It proved highly advantageous for purposes such as clearing vegetation in large areas, hunting large animals, and protection from carnivores. Fire also made possible the inhabitation of extremely cold landscapes, which aided in population growth. Most significantly, fire increased the digestibility of certain kinds of foods. Energy input increased which contributed to the increase in the relative size of the human brain. A relatively larger brain corresponds with an increase in cognitive competence and the ability to survive in challenging environments.
With the gradual elaboration of the cerebral cortex, humans became more self-conscious making us more and more aware of our actions and our separation from nature. This led to two further developments. One was towards controlling the environment, which resulted in the acceleration of our technical and scientific advancements. On the other hand, man attempted to reunite with the universe from which his consciousness seemed to separate him. This paved the way towards ritual, art, religious faith, mysticism and some aspects of philosophy, metaphor, simile, and other symbolic enactments.
The appearance of language is generally considered to be a gradual process taking hundreds of thousands of years, and its beginnings can only be estimated through indirect evidence. Language is generally regarded as a privilege of modern humans who are the subspecies of Homo sapiens sapiens, emerged in Africa between 130,000 and 200,000 years ago. The fossils of early modern humans suggested that they already possessed the brain capacity and special anatomy of the oral cavity needed for spoken language. The first evidence of complex, spoken language and the first instances of art, such as jewels, cave paintings and musical instruments, dates back to about 40,000 years ago. Both art and language are regarded as complimentary since both require symbols that possess the same meaning for every member of a specific community.
The possession of language paved the way for more efficient communication and more advanced thinking. Which eventually resulted in the emergence of complex and better-functioning human communities. Advanced thinking enabled by language increased our mental abilities. Better communication enabled collective actions such as hunting to become more efficient. It also facilitated more efficient exchange of information which paved the way for the increase in the distance of trade which in turn ensured the abundant availability of resources and population growth.
The considerable increase in population is regarded as both the cause and consequence of the birth of agriculture. Until then all humans were hunter-gatherers. Hunter-gatherers depend upon natural ecosystems where there can be a lot of organisms unfavourable for human consumption. On the other hand, in an agricultural area, most species are potential food for humans. The sedentary lifestyle which accompanied agriculture also led to more childbirth.
With agriculture, it also became necessary for early man to closely observe the relationship between crops, soil types, rain, sunlight, temperature and the changing of the seasons. All of these new needs fostered the development of sophisticated cognitive skills for planning, organization, specialization of function, and timely employment of complex sets of activities.
The transition from hunter-gatherers to agrarian societies brought about a few significant changes in the social dynamics of early humans. The hunter-gatherer societies were more egalitarian in terms of power, wealth and social status. Everyone shared the task of acquiring food and their nomadic lifestyle made the accumulation of wealth or food, rather meaningless.
On the other hand, the agrarian lifestyle led to greater inequalities within the society. The concept of land as property emerged along with principles governing ownership. Agricultural surplus emerged as a symbolic form of social power. Moreover, the sedentary lifestyle enabled the possession of non-moveable properties. This led to a segregation of people and individuals or groups began violently competing with each other for more power, wealth and higher social status.
Agricultural societies also reduced natural ecosystems to become resources instead of habitats. Humans grew detached from nature, being less aware of the effects of their actions and their dependence on natural processes.
The field of human productivity shifted from the land to the marketplace, from toiling on the soil to mutually beneficial interactions with other people. As a result of the increase in social inequalities, population growth and conflict among groups, most agricultural societies emerged as economic, informational, and jurisdictional monopolies. It facilitated the rise of commercial centres, towns, cities, kingdoms, and overseas empires.
The emergence of socio-political organizations such as cities and social stratification was necessary for the establishment of the complex cultural phenomena of civilizations or rather the idea of states. Archaeologists identify four important social developments that played an important role in the development of early civilizations: the invention of written language, the creation of cities with monumental architecture, specialization of work, and organized religion.
Organization is an important characteristic power of the human mind. The mind organizes objects, ideas, beliefs, people, activities, events and countless other things. Civilization is the cumulative result of this faculty of the human mind. It is an outward manifestation of the organization of the life of the collective. It was made possible by the further development of a range of mental faculties and cognitive abilities.
The development of written language around 5000 years ago demanded an advanced capacity for precise definition, structured organization of thought and expression, and the formulation of grammatical rules. It made the transfer and long-term preservation of information possible and easy.
Corresponding to this, the rise of cities required the orderly physical arrangement of structures, labour had to be categorised and coordinated, and a social organization was required for restructuring authority and decision-making based on hierarchy. Societies began to stratify, and occupational classes of craftsmen and full-time specialists increased the technological complexity.
Religious symbolism and rituals were already in existence for a long period, even before the emergence of organized religion. However, the mental construction of beliefs and ethical rules of conduct, the hierarchical organization of authority, and the social organization of the community and events were all a result of organised religion. The close and structured association between larger groups of people in cities became a catalyst for rapid advances in law, formal systems of weights and measures, trade, development of money, public administration, participative governance and education. These capacities in combination necessitated the systematic application of mental faculties at the mental, social and physical levels.
-----------
By the 15th century AD Europeans established connections among continents by the organization of conquests. The exchange of people, other living organisms, raw materials, goods, and information began to take place. Trade flourished as a result of the conquests and in the 17th century world economy had Europe at its centre.
Within a few more centuries, the printing press, the steam engine and the harnessing of electricity transformed human society as thoroughly as the invention of farming and the plough had several millennia earlier. And the past one hundred years have witnessed the most radical technological advances of all.
The technological–scientific revolution took place as a result of the development of European science, the increase in the complexity of European technology and the spread of fossil fuels. The huge amount of energy available from fossil fuels significantly contributed to the outset of the Industrial Revolution, beginning in England in the second half of the 18th century. Industry became more and more based on machines instead of handicrafts, and it gained an ever-greater role in the economy at the expense of agriculture.
With the sudden increase in the extent of human technological advancements there occurred a significant change in people’s ideas about their surrounding world. These changes can be traced back to the scientific revolution which unfolded in the 17th century. The period is marked by drastic changes in scientific thought, characterised by an emphasis on abstract reasoning, quantitative thought, and an understanding of how nature works. It scrutinized religious beliefs, and moral principles, and necessitated new ways of communicating and disseminating information.
The science and reason of the 18th century eventually led to The Enlightenment which is marked by the liberation of mankind from nature. human behaviour has become more
and more characterized by instrumental rationality as most people ceased to be regulated by religious worldviews.
An important product of the Enlightenment was the belief in progress, which did not exist in earlier societies. Because of the rapid and impressive advancements in science and technology, some thinkers started to regard human history as an ongoing narrative of perpetual progress. This perception has also led to a counter-effect: the belief in the necessity of progress emerged as a core concept in societies, driving economic growth and the rise of complex technologies.
All of these advancements collectively paved the way towards the era of digitalization that we find ourselves in today, which promotes outstanding scientific innovations in terms of all sectors of the economy, and health care, to culture and education in the form of AI technologies.
The current era stands witness to an unprecedented technological leap characterized by the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This epoch, often referred to as "The Age of AI," marks a transformative phase in human history, reshaping industries, societal paradigms, and individual lives. Like any other preceding technological advancement, the integration of AI into daily life prompts significant shifts in individual and collective worldviews altering perspectives on human capabilities, societal structures and ethical considerations.
The field of Artificial Intelligence is now over a half-century old, having established itself as a legitimate intellectual discipline since the inception of the first programmable electronic computers in the early 1950s. Since then, the dream of creating intelligent machines has remained evergreen with its excitement. Bearing witness to remarkable advances in almost every area of the field.
Today, machines are capable of recognizing faces, processing speech, learning from experience, driving themselves autonomously for hundreds of miles, exploring the surfaces of distant planets, beating human chess masters with ease, diagnosing some diseases better than human experts, composing music, handling customer service calls interactively over the phone, and even improving their performance through simulated evolution and so on.
The AI industry at present, still faces many challenges. However, there has been a remarkable surge over the past few years in the level of speculation and enthusiasm about the possibility of achieving human-level intelligence in computers and robots within the next few decades. This has encouraged a new vision for humanity’s future among many technology enthusiasts and it has been gradually taking over the wider public consciousness.
According to this vision, the continued advancement of computer power and other information-based technologies, combined with advances in molecular biology, genetic engineering, and the field of nanotechnology, will soon culminate in the development of machines that will eventually match, and then quickly surpass, human-level intellectual capabilities. Once these machines achieve this level of sophistication, they will be able to analyse, understand, and enhance their designs, setting in motion an ever-accelerating loop of self-improvement.
This will utterly transform our civilization, in ways that are almost impossible to predict and will mark the beginning of a new “posthuman” era in the evolutionary narrative. This scenario is often referred to as the Singularity, an analogy from physics. Just as a physical singularity such as a black hole has an event horizon beyond which no information about it can be known, the technological Singularity represents a discontinuity or a rupture in the flow of human history, beyond whose event horizon nothing can be known or predicted. This marks an uncharted territory in our understanding and anticipation of future developments.
In 1965, the statistician I. J. Good wrote of a coming “intelligence explosion” in the following words.
“Let an ultra-intelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultra-intelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an “intelligence explosion”, and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus, the first ultra-intelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make.”
Taking a broader historical perspective, it is possible to imagine that the technological advances of the coming decades will be far-ranging and profound than those of the past century. Most likely their impact will be considerably more significant. Unless an extraordinary catastrophe occurs, the path of progression appears moving consistently upward, accelerating at a faster pace. What we consider cutting-edge technology today will likely appear rudimentary and outdated a century from now.
The implications of this possibility are worth considering. Does this progress mean that we will have succeeded by then in creating conscious robots with superhuman intelligence, ready to surpass or even replace humans in the ongoing march of evolutionary development?
What lies ahead in the next one hundred years? Is it possible that we homo sapiens are really on the verge of creating our successors? The notion of an imminent transition from carbon-based human intelligence to silicon-based machine intelligence does have its parallels in the Earth’s biological history: the origin of life itself was a phase transition from inanimate to animate matter, which took place billions of years ago on the early Earth; much later, life underwent another transition with the emergence of early amphibians on land. Such evolutionary shifts are possible.
Or could it be more likely that the development of ever more powerful technologies might, one way or another, lead to a catastrophe that destroys our technological society, or even result in the extinction of humanity?
Perhaps it is likely that all emerging intelligent civilizations in the Universe undergo a critical period of technological adolescence, a kind of evolutionary trial to determine if their maturity and wisdom will be enough to manage their newfound capabilities, and thus worthy enough to survive. Perhaps we humans are entering our own time of testing.