Stephen Hawking: "The Human Species Has Entered a New Stage of Evolution"
This is a fascinating essay about what makes us human: our minds, our bodies, or the whole host of human intelligence which has come before us?
In the last ten thousand years the human species has been in what Hawking calls, “an external transmission phase,” where the internal record of information, handed down to succeeding generations in DNA, has not changed significantly. “But the external record, in books, and other long lasting forms of storage,” Hawking says, “has grown enormously. Some people would use the term, evolution, only for the internally transmitted genetic material, and would object to it being applied to information handed down externally. But I think that is too narrow a view. We are more than just our genes.”
Ever since I saw the movie A.I. over a decade ago I’ve been interested in the idea that our evolutionary “children” might not be biological, but a combination of mechanical and informational. Biologically we evolve much more slowly in comparison to our ability to create the equivalent computational device.
We are fragile creatures, but essentially just biological computers. Our collective human memories have passed through phases of genetic, oral, written, and now mechanical storage, retention, and transmission. At some point, it’s almost inevitable that the intelligence (and intellectual capability) of our creations will eclipse our own intelligence - it won’t happen for some time, but it will happen.
For a while, we might become a hybrid species - sharing mechanical and biological parts, augmenting our perceived faults in storage and learning with mechanical bits - but eventually it will have to be admitted that our biological bits are the weakest link in the chain; we’re just not meant to be both metal and skin. The mechanical and informational parts will be stronger without their initial creators.
Where will we as a species then stand when we’ve created our own evolutionary successors, even if their existence lies solely within a realm of silicon and energy? Eventually, will these evolutionary “children” will begin their “lives” with the whole of human knowledge already intact within their brains, and absolved of the fragility of our biological bodies - and the inherent concept of “death” held therein - might they finally explore the vast tracts of the universe in the ways our species always dreamed we could?
Perhaps it’s having read “Childhood’s End” so long ago (and many times since) but there’s some comfort in the idea that our fate as a species might be that of grand universal enablers; creators and discoverers of pure intelligence as being - jump-starters of truly universal exploration.
It’s much better than the days when I wonder whether we’re just really smart locusts.
