Giles wrote:Colonization of Mars, for instance, will probably be successful just as much by changing humans to fit Mars as by changing Mars to fit humans.
True! Haven't thought about it from that perspective... Will definitely be the case, IMO.
But unless we also get our act more together as social beings, by dealing with our hard-wired (self)destructive traits in parallel to other developments, then I fear it will bring plenty new opportunities for war and genocide, too.
My hope is that eventually (after some very long time) evolutionary need for violence will gradually decrease, i.e. the hard-wiring you mention isn't set in stone. Genetic modification will probably play a HUGE role. If the main evolutionary objective is indeed "replication of (one's) genes" and continues to be so, the need for killing people could be replaced by the need to create enough of one's own genes without fear of their destruction... Could go some other direction though, who knows; pure speculation at this point, of course.
For instance, do smartphones and social media seem likely to result in any less aggression and destruction and in more happiness? Not yet, anyway.
Well that would take a bit longer than a decade for it so even think about beginning to have some hint of an effect...
. Good to set off against the pessimism I sometimes feel here.
