We transform ourselves all the time, and very powerfully. The entire field of cognitive niche construction is dedicated to studying how the things we create/build/invent/change lead to developmental scaffolding and new cognitive abilities that previous generations did not have. Language, writing systems, education systems, religions, syllabi, external cognitive supports, all these things have powerfully transformed human thought and intelligence. And once they were underway the take-off speed of this evolutionary transformation was very rapid (compared to the 200,000 years spent being anatomically modern with comparatively little change).
Also, humans cognitively enhance ourselves through nootropics such as nicotine and caffeine. These might seem mild at the individual level, but I suspect that at the collective level, they may have helped spark the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution (as Michael Pollan has argued).
And, on a longer time-scale, we’ve shaped the course of our own genetic evolution through the mate choices we make, about who to combine our genes with. (Something first noticed by Darwin, 1871).
We transform ourselves all the time, and very powerfully. The entire field of cognitive niche construction is dedicated to studying how the things we create/build/invent/change lead to developmental scaffolding and new cognitive abilities that previous generations did not have. Language, writing systems, education systems, religions, syllabi, external cognitive supports, all these things have powerfully transformed human thought and intelligence. And once they were underway the take-off speed of this evolutionary transformation was very rapid (compared to the 200,000 years spent being anatomically modern with comparatively little change).
Matt—good point.
Also, humans cognitively enhance ourselves through nootropics such as nicotine and caffeine. These might seem mild at the individual level, but I suspect that at the collective level, they may have helped spark the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution (as Michael Pollan has argued).
And, on a longer time-scale, we’ve shaped the course of our own genetic evolution through the mate choices we make, about who to combine our genes with. (Something first noticed by Darwin, 1871).