I sit in these Earth Science classes at the U of M and I listen to countless stories of how living creatures have evolved. These are stories of success. Right now it’s about dinosaur and flowering plants. My thoughts frequently drift off to human consciousness and I think about how consciousness might have evolved in humans. How did we humans ever evolve to have a body that can support our level of consciousness.
What puzzles me most is the question of how and why did consciousness make it more possible for humans to spread their consciousness-supporting genes into the next generation. What evolutionary advantage did consciousness offer that made it more likely that it would be supported in the future gene pool. Consciousness does not seem to follow evolutionary principles. It may even seem to work against evolution.
Arguably, a trait has to give an organism some advantage if it is going to spread in future generations. I don’t readily see how human consciousness makes it more likely that human genes would be passed forward. I don’t see how more consciousness would be encouraged and therefore emerge.
It seems to me that the very emotions and drives that consciousness attempts to mitigate are the very traits that have made humans such successful survivors and breeders. We have been successful in moving our genes into ever-burgeoning populations because of traits related to aggression, aversion and grasping. These are traits that consciousness seems to restrict, not promote.
Yet it seems that these same traits have made us successful breeders, and made those who possess them most likely to succeed in passing on their genes. “If you are a star, they let you do it” is not a unique or novel notion. The genes of Genghis Kahn are identified all over Asia today. The genes of the Buddha seem untraceable.
I actually think that these dominating traits may have been temporarily successful, but will lead to the ultimate demise of humans as we know them today. I don’t understand how they have been favored by the forces of evolution, but I also think they have taken humans down an evolutionary dead end.
Perhaps I am looking at a moment of time, a period of time that is just too short. I am simply living in one of nature’s mistakes. The time of human civilization is only about 10,000 years long. In evolutionary terms, that is but a brief moment, ample time for a misadventure that will ultimately collapse. I may be part of an experiment of nature that isn’t going to prevail. 10,000 years hardly even shows up on any kind of evolutionary record or time-line.
I think that the consciousness that has arisen in humans is not an evolutionary driving force, but it does offer us a way out. Perhaps, it is an aspect of human development that follows some kind of unknown, undiscovered evolutionary principle. It may give humans an advantage, if only if we choose to use it. We will have to knowingly step outside of the known evolutionary guidelines and principles and discover a new way to evolve.
Consciousness is a natural aspect of all things, most easily recognized in living beings. Humans have a great biological platform for consciousness. I wonder if we will use this trait that gives us a kind of worm-hole through the naturally evolving universe.
I think some of us will step outside the known laws of evolution and find a new way of evolving. Right now, dominance by those who follow the brutal laws of evolution seems to be prevailing. I am hoping for an awakening of the few who will find a way to survive. The “fittest” will be those who have recognized and use the advantages of their evolved consciousness.