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).
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).