Dougal Dixon - Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future (1990)

Kako će izgledati čovjek budućnosti? Ovako?

I to je jedna od njegovih manje tragikomičnih transformacija, kaže Dougal. Evoluciji i mutacijama, bilo slučajnima bilo namjerno izazvanima genetičkim inženjeringom, treba samo dati vremena. Uostalom kako je izgledao naš predak prije 5 milijuna godina.
Ovdje su samo ilustrirani dijelovi ove izvrsne knjige, u cjelini je možete čitati ovdje.

Homo sapiens neanderthalensis,
once the peak of human evolution
and now extinct..

DOUGAL DIXON

MAN after MAN

AN ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE FUTURE

FOREWORD BY BRIAN ALDISS

Illustrations by Philip Hood

St. Martin’s Press • New York

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Two creatures — a single ancestor. Each is a product of 5 million years of genetic alteration and evolutionary development. Each has gone through changes — artificial and natural — imposed from outside and from within — until neither resembles in the least the common ancestral creature. The name of the ancestral creature was Homo sapiens. It was ourselves.

Copyright © 1990 by Dougal Dixon

Illustrations copyright © 1990 by Philip Hood

Design by Ben Cracknell

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It is probably reasonable to conclude that, had it not been for temperature-based environmental changes in the habitats of early hominids, we would still be secure in some warm hospitable forest, as in the Miocene of old, and we would still be in the trees. С. К. Brain

CONTENTS

FOREWORD by Brian Aldiss	8
INTRODUCTION – EVOLUTION AND MAN	11
Genetic engineering	12
PART ONE:
IN THE BEGINNING	16
The Human Story So Far	16
8 MILLION YEARS AGO	16
3 MILLION YEARS AGO	16
2.5 MILLION YEARS AGO	16
1.5 MILLION YEARS AGO	17
500,000 YEARS AGO	17
15,000 YEARS AGO	17
5000 YEARS AGO	18
2000 YEARS AGO	18
1000 YEARS AGO	18
500 YEARS AGO	19
100 YEARS AGO	19
PART TWO:
MAN AFTER MAN	22
200 YEARS HENCE
Piccarblick the aquamorph	22
Cralym the vacuumorph	24
Jimez Smoot the space traveller	25
Kyshu Kristaan the squatty	29
300 YEARS HENCE
Haron Solto and his mechanical cradle	31
Greerath Hulm and the future	34
Hueh Chuum and his love	35
Aquatics	36
500 YEARS HENCE
Gram the engineered plains-dweller	37
Kule Taaran and the engineered forest-dweller	40
Knut the engineered tundra-dweller	42
Relia Hoolann and cultured cradles	43
Fiffe Floria and the Hitek	43
Carahudru and the woodland-dweller	48
1000 YEARS HENCE
Klimasen and the beginning of change	48
The end of Yamo	49
Weather patterns and the Tics	49
Plains-dwellers	52
Hoot, the temperate woodland-dweller	52
The end of Durian Skeel	53
Aquas	54
2000 YEARS HENCE
Rumm the forest-dweller	56
Larn the plains-dweller	58
Coom’s new friend	60
Yerok and the Tool	61
5000 YEARS HENCE
Trancer’s escape	62
Snatch and the tundra-dweller	63
Hrusha’s memory	64
Tropical tree-dwellers	66
10,000 YEARS HENCE
Symbionts	67
Hibernators	69
Leader of the clan	70
Disappearance of the plains	71
Cave-dwellers	71
50,000 YEARS HENCE
Families of plains-dwellers	72
The advancing desert	73
Islanders	74
Schools of aquatics	75
Melting ice	76
500,000 YEARS HENCE
Strings of socials	78
Boatbuilders	83
1 MILLION YEARS HENCE
Hunters and carriers	87
Aquatic harvesters	90
2 MILLION YEARS HENCE
Travellers	93
Hivers	96
3 MILLION YEARS HENCE
Fish-eaters	101
Tree-dwellers	106
Antmen	107
Desert-runners	108
Slothmen and spiketooths	111
5 MILLION YEARS HENCE
Moving stars	115
Builders	116
Emptiness	123
In the end is the beginning ...	123
Further Reading	124
Index

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PART TWO: MAN AFTER MAN

200 YEARS HENCE

PICCARBLICK THE AQUAMORPH

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The skull is shaped and positioned so that a rounded head and short neck add to the streamlining.	200 YEARS HENCE THE AQUAMORPH Homo aquaticus Fish-like and frog-like, the aquamorph is genetically adapted to live within a totally marine environment. Each physical feature – the streamlined body with the smooth skin and the insulating blubber layer, the gills on the chest, the paddles on the legs – was grown by the embryo. But this embryo was the result of manipulation of the sperm and egg cells. The chromosomal make-up was adjusted, creating genes that would produce features such as skin with a low drag fractor, and the whole organism was allowed to grow to its designed form.	Sliding easily towards the surface, the powerful aquamorph prepares to face brief contact with the hostile environment of its genetic ancestors. It does not envy the clumsy land-dwellers their damaged habitat.
The lower leg of Homo aquaticus forms a powerful, well-muscled paddle, spread by the toes.
Facial expression for the aquamorph is limited to basic responses. It relies on simple sounds to communicate.

CRALYM THE VACUUMORPH

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Without sound, communication in space must be by touch, using their sensitive whiskers.		Protected from the harsh glare of earthlight, tinted eyes peer deep into the darkness of space. If humanity has a future, it is there that potential might be. 200 YEARS HENCE THE VACUUMORPH Homo caelestis The ultimate triumph of the genetic engineer. The product of grafting, surgery and cell manipulation, the vacuumorph can live and work in the free-fall of orbit and the airless void of space. The basic human reproductive cells were manipulated to produce the necessary shape, but extra organs had to be grafted on, including a hard impermeable outskin grown from tissue culture. The result, however, is sterile. Homo caelestis has a limited life and no future of its own. The vacuumorph cannot breed and would not survive the rigours of gravity.
Heavy lids shield the eyes against solar wind, while a sealed lens protects them from the vacuum.	The spherical shape and the hard outskin keep in the body pressure, and contain the additional organs.

200 YEARS HENCE JIMEZ SMOOT Homo sapiens sapiens Only the most perfect human specimens are being sent to colonize the stars. Perfection, in this case, is clearly defined. Each colonist is carefully selected to ensure that his or her biological make-up is as flaw-free and reliable as possible. Space will be its own habitat. And later the surgeons will require the best raw material available when it becomes necessary to build new living creatures to fit those unknown environments to be found far beyond the solar system.

Physically fit, psychologically stable and rigorously trained, Jimez Smoot is the raw material for one of his world’s most dramatic and desperate experiments - the epic conquest of space.

JIMEZ SMOOT THE SPACE TRAVELLER

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200 YEARS HENCE KYSHU KRISTAAN Homo sapiens sapiens In the steamy shell of the once-great cities life is brutal and short. Disease is rampant. Starving hordes, the future beyond their control, squat in the ruins of collapsed civilizations. Electricity and water supplies have failed. Food is scarce and only the strongest and most determined can survive – and then only for a while.	As food becomes scarce, order becomes a luxury. Civilization has been replaced by a society on the edges of chaos. Boundaries are clearly defined, and family groups fight to defend their territories.

KYSHU KRISTAAN THE SQUATTY

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0 YEARS HENCE

300 YEARS HENCE HITEK Homo sapiens machinadiumentum When biological organs consistently fail, substitutes must be developed. The more vital the failed organs that cease to work, the higher the technical back-up needed. Scientists are already working to produce tissue-based replacements. As long as the brain functions, it is worth keeping it alive — even if the body has deteriorated.

Harsh sunlight beats down on the plains-dweller’s dark skin as he runs effortlessly through the dusty grasslands. Vegetation is tough and will also be sparse during the seasons of drought.	500 YEARS HENCE PLAINS-DWELLER Homo campis fabricatus A human engineered to live on open grasslands needs the adaptations of a grass-eating mammal. For the plains-dweller these include massive teeth that are replaced if they wear out chewing tough silica-rich grasses and, more importantly, a specialized stomach within the bloated abdomen containing engineered bacteria that can break down cellulose – a substance not normally digestible by the human frame. Cutting edges on the hands help to scythe the thick grass while the long legs enable the creature to move swiftly over the open landscape.	His legs are long and slim, like those of earlier veldt-running animals. Speed is essential when you live in the open. Besides adding to the plains-dweller’s swiftness, the long developed feet enable him to see over tall grass.
	Blade-like callouses provide the plains-dweller with some degree of protection, as well as cutting through tough stems.
	The dark skin and mane of hair across the shoulders and running dozen the back protects the grassland-dweller from ceaseless sunlight. The long feet have become an extension of the legs, adding to his speed.

KULE TAARAN AND THE ENGINEERED FOREST-DWELLER

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FOREST-DWELLER Homo silvis fabricatus There is plenty to eat in tropical habitats. The climate is stable and seasons do not regulate the food supply. Like earlier animals that lived there, a human being engineered to live in the abundant rainforest needs only the ability to climb to feed itself. Cunning and intelligence are not necessary – though an instinct for survival is. A level of intelligence will redevelop in Homo silvis fabricatus over the coming millions of years, as evolution takes place, but not as much as in species faced with more challenging environments.

Ape-like arms and long fingers allow the forest-dweller to swing in the canopy of the trees; while its strong prehensile toes can grip the branches tightly. A heavy jaw is adapted to cracking nuts. Although intelligence has been suppressed in the engineering, natural curiosity still comes to the surface.

500 YEARS HENCE FIFFE FLORIA Homo sapiens sapiens In isolated communities across the Earth, groups of humans have consciously returned to the old land-based ways of living – farming, fishing and gathering. Descended from those who survived centuries of poverty and savagery while squatting in the city ruins, and now abandoned by those who can use their technology to escape, the farmers have proved particularly healthy and adaptable. Now that the population of Earth has fallen to a low and realistic level, the survivors can husband the limited food resources of the planet at a sustainable rate.

Subsistence farming can be harsh and demanding but combined with simple gathering and fishing, it enables small autonomous groups to live in precarious balance with nature.

500 YEARS HENCE TEMPERATE WOODLAND-DWELLER Homo virgultis fabricatus A human-based creature engineered to survive and flourish in a temperate forest without the back-up of civilization would need to be omnivorous. Forests are less abundant than jungle. To reach the full range of foodstuffs available, homo virgultis fabricatus has to be extremely nimble, and be able to live both at ground level in the undergrowth and high in the tree-tops. Arms and legs are of similar length and long, but agile, climbing fingers increase its range. A covering of fine hair keeps the woodland-dweller warm in the temperate conditions.
The omnivorous diet is reflected in the dentition, with heavy crushing back teeth for nuts, and delicate front teeth for catching insects. Its diet is close to that of early man; as is its evolutionary potential.
Long prehensile toes and fingers can grip rough bark. Lack of a supporting big toe means that the forest-dweller walks crouched but climbs with ease. It is the least specialized, and therefore, most adaptable of the engineered species.

1000 YEARS HENCE THE TIC Homo sapiens accessiomembrum Medical technology has developed ‘soft’ forms of the backups that keep alive the weakening human form. Replacement organs, grown synthetically, are grafted onto the body. Eyes, ears, mouth and nose still function. The fingers work only as organs of touch. Lifting or handling is left to arms grown artificially. Fashion plays a part in such surgery.

Genetic engineering is not so far advanced that something grown artificially can match the complexity of 3500 million years of evolution. Grafted organs are single not multifunctional.

The earth’s electromagnetic field fails as the magnetic poles reverse. On land migration ceases and at sea, as a result of changes to the ozone layer, the ocean currents change as wind patterns are altered. Beneath the waves, giant generators fall silent to be colonized by sealife.

 YEARS HENCE

2000 YEARS HENCE TUNDRA-DWELLER Homo glacis fabricatus Mosses, lichens and heathers provide the slow-moving tundra-dwellers with their diet. A hook-like nail on the foot, developed from the main toe, scrapes up moss and also provides a grip on the snow. Migratory by nature, the dwellers move to open tundra each summer but winter deep in the forests. As with all migrations it is the old, the weak and the young who fall prey to predators.

The five engineered forms do not perceive each other as members of the same species. When different types meet, they do so as competitors and enemies; or else ignore one another as irrelevant.

2000 YEARS HENCE AQUATIC Piscanthropus submarinus Developed in the earliest centuries of genetic engineering as a refinement to the aquamorphs, the aquatics were the first group to carry hereditary genetic changes. Clumsy and vulnerable on land, the sea is now their instinctive habitat. Piscanthropus submarinus can move swiftly and powerfully within water. The ocean provides food and does not vary its temperature as swiftly as air – valuable when the increasing cold forces land-based species such as Homo virgultis fabricatus into adaptation or retreat.

Even with long toes and fine balance, the temperate woodland-dweller has to move carefully across the slippery rocks. Curiosity proves stronger than its fear of falling.

YEARS HENCE

5000 YEARS HENCE MEMORY PEOPLE Homo mensproavodorum As the genetic engineers have long gone, there can be no further artificial changes. When climates and conditions shift, altering habitats, the inhabitants must normally adapt or evolve to survive. But the woodland-dwellers have a different option.	A genetically-manipulated but latent ability to recall the long-term past is forced to the surface by climatic extremes. A group of Homo virgultis fabricatus become the memory people.

10,000 YEARS HENCE SYMBIONT CARRIER Baiulus moderatorum Two species form a single unit of value to both – symbiosis. The woodland-dwellers have skills that their carriers lack. The hunting ability of the swift forest-dweller provides enough food both for itself and its slow-moving carrier. The tundra-dweller, in turn, provides both with general movement and protection against the cold.	Lacking thick fur and insulating layers of fat, Moderator baiuli can only hunt in short bursts before needing to return to the body heat of its carrier. Communication is by touch.

00,000 YEARS HENCE

STRINGS OF SOCIALS A string of figures winds rapidly through the arid scrub, kicking up clouds of dust from the red powdery soil. The sun is rising to the height of its heat, and soon the open semi-desert will be no place for any living thing. Despite their dark skins, and the protective covering of hair over their heads and backs, the socials would not be able to tolerate the shrivelling temperatures of midday. That is no problem, since at their speed the string will reach the Home before the conditions become too bad. The spine of the string consists of about 30 youngsters, each carrying his or her allocated load of roots and tubers in woven bags. Moving parallel to them on both sides are about a dozen mature males, their sensitive eyes and ears scanning the red and grey landscape for potential enemies, their elbows bent and their huge bladed hands dangling in front of them ready for the defence of the string. The socials evolved from the earlier plains-dwellers, the adult males are warriors and hunters. The juveniles of Alvearanthropus desertus do most of the food-gathering. At the tail of the string two of the young gatherers are carrying a living creature between them. It is somewhat like one of the socials but smaller, and it does not have the long legs that allow the string to move so quickly. The two socials that carry it have interlocked their arms to form a kind of seat, and on this the creature perches with its arms around the necks of its supports. They treat this creature with care: it is their seeker. Without a seeker the semi-desert would not yield up its tubers and roots, and its water deposits would remain hidden. Socials would use up their energy and time roaming the vast wastes in random attempts to find new food supplies. The seekers, although they are not part of the socials’ family and lead their own lives within the Home, are a valuable part of the community. The stringmaster pauses. There is something not quite right about the landscape ahead of them. He barks a single word and the whole string stops instinctively. They all drop down behind the scrubby bushes, to become invisible, but the cloud of their dust remains over their heads like a flag. It is another gathering string, one from another community, encroaching on neighbouring gathering land. With a few quietly grunted words, the stringmaster commands the young gatherers into a tight huddle, surrounded by about half of the fighting males, while the rest of the males spread out in a defensive arc facing the interlopers. They need not have troubled with the stealth. The interlopers know they are there and are approaching in a determined advance, eschewing any cover. The stringmaster views the approach in dismay. This is no gathering string that has lost its way. It is a band of warrior males, without a juvenile gatherer or a seeker amongst them. No further need for camouflage. The stringmaster barks orders that jab his own warriors into action. Up they leap from their cover and flail into the oncoming party. Instantly the stringmaster sees that his own fighters are outnumbered by about three to one, and so he calls forward those that are guarding the gatherers and their burdens. As for himself, he steps back out of the way of the fighting. He is too valuable to be wasted in the thick of the bloodshed. They are still outnumbered but they fight on, kicking out with their elongated legs and feet, hacking downwards and sideways with the cutting blades of their hands, poking and gouging with their long fingers. The gristly hand-blades, originally designed to cut grass, can now shear through flesh and smash bone, and these are the main weapons of both sides. Severed limbs and heads lie in the dust, still pumping blood, as the defenders are forced back to the knot of helpless gatherers. The females are confined to the community, looking after the young and the breeding mother. Only one female breeds at a time. The rest of the community revolves around her breeding cycle.

	The hand-blades, originally developed to cut down thick grasses, have evolved as weapons making Alvearanthropus desertus a dangerous foe. When socials fight, it is to defend territory.	500,000 YEARS HENCE SOCIALS Alvearanthropus desertus Strictly-regulated and disciplined, social living produces a stable and efficient society essential for surviving in the more inhospitable places on the Earth’s surface. However, genetic aberration occasionally produces individuals whose responses are not standard, and these introduce an element of chaos into the tightly-structured existence of such communities. Within the society, responses to danger are consistent and predictable – as are responses to any other stimuli. Functions are hierarchical and rigidly defined.

500,000 YEARS HENCE BOAT PEOPLE Homo mensproavodorum The inherited skills that began with the making of fire threw up the memory of boatbuilding. With the forbidden memory came an instinctive drive to use it. Descendents of the memory people, the boatbuilders can now travel freely to colonize habitats not their own. Sharp teeth and hooked claws are their natural weapons, but with the discovery of metal comes the blade.

The aquatics have devised a method of returning briefly to the land, carrying their own saltwater environment within a tough sphere of gel. Faced with enemies, they are slow and vulnerable.

 1 MILLION YEARS HENCE

As the icecaps retreated, the symbiont tundra-dwellers – Baiulus moderatorum – retreated, living at high altitudes and near the poles. Nowhere else is there a suitable environment.	ONE MILLION YEARS HENCE HUNTER SYMBIONT Moderator baiuli Communication between hunter and carrier has been simplified to a telepathic link – the huge slow-moving tundra-dwellers controlled directly by the weaker but agile-minded hunters. Fights, when they happen, are usually ritual. Death is unexpected.

ONE MILLION YEARS HENCE AQUATICS Piscanthropus submarinus As the aquatics spend more time on land, their tough protective bubbles refine and become more efficient. Eventually the gel becomes form-fitting, holding the thinnest layer of life-giving seawater against the aquatic’s body. This covering is enough to keep the skin moist, and to absorb oxygen from the air which is then absorbed through the gills. A steady increase in population among the aquatics has led to food shortages and famine. With the sea stripped bare, the aquatics face a hostile environment.	The flexible envelope is made of gelantinous algae filaments and filled with seawater. Its close fit allows more freedom of movement than the earlier bubble.
With food in short supply competition between species becomes, literally, a matter of life and death. Once out of the water, aquatics labour under their own weight.

 

2 MILLION YEARS HENCE

The body and limbs of Homo vates, the seeker, have atrophied from lack of use. Telepathic powers have weakened its other senses and removed its need for eyes and ears. The hivers now feed, protect and carry their guides.	2 MILLION YEARS HENCE HIVERS Alvearanthropus desertus A harsh and arid habitat has forced the socials to evolve into hivers – all individuality curtailed by the group’s need to locate water and food. A hump of fat across the shoulders still provides sustenance in the barren season, while heavy lids now protect their eyes against sand. Longer legs allow the hivers to travel great distances.

2 MILLION YEARS HENCE THE HIVE Alvearanthropus desertus/Homo vates The hive itself is a massive rock-like structure, with breathing chimneys and thick vented walls similar to those of a giant termites’ nest. Flat sloping roofs jut out to provide shade in the heat of the day. Tunnels and shafts beneath the hive reach down deep into the water-table where food is kept cool by constant evaporation from the moist walls. Damp air from the lower levels is driven through the hive by wind movement across external vents.
The queen is protected and provided for in caverns deep below the hive. Food is gathered for her by the young hivers. Warriors guard the ancient hive and her person. Nurses feed her young.

2 MILLION YEARS HENCE HOST/PARASITE Penarius pinguis/Nananthropus parasitus The islanders have evolved parasitic feeding habits that rely on the tundra-dweller’s metabolic need to produce surplus fat. In this way, the obese tundra-dwellers have found an ecological niche that allows them to exist now that the tundra plains have disappeared and the mountain tribes failed. Gone is the tundra-dweller’s thick fur and winter colouring, the need to lose heat means that Penarius pinguis requires direct air to skin contact.

Nananthropus parasitus have developed small blood-letting front teeth.

The only function of the long fingers and toes is to allow the parasites to grip folds of fat.

3 MILLION YEARS HENCE

The eyes of Piscator longidigitus polarize light, removing the bright reflections that normally prevent animals seeing below the surface of water. His brain automatically compensates for the refraction.	3 MILLION YEARS HENCE FISH-EATER Piscator longidigitus Three million years have passed and the results of constant natural selection and evolution are apparent. The temperate woodland-dwellers have diversified, and developed specialized body forms to fit different environments. Living by upland lakes and beside rivers, the fish-eater is equally at home on land and in the water. His pelt is smooth and glossy, his shape streamlined. Ears are small and close to the head, the neck is short and feet are broader than usual.
	The fish-eaters have evolved by natural selection the streamlined shape earlier engineered into the aquatics.

The hand has evolved two strong fingers that allow the tree-dweller to hang from the underside of branches.
	3 MILLION YEARS HENCE TREE-DWELLER Arbranthropus lentus The long hooked fingers evolved to cling to the jungle canopy, but they can also break open insect nests under the bark. Small but slow, the tree-dweller moves with deliberation through the humid rainforest, clinging tightly to the underside of the great spread of branches. Fruit is plentify and insects abound. With no enemies and abundant food there is no need for speed, aggression or change. Without the need to adapt or develop, the sloth-like tree-dweller will remain in a state of statis, able to breed but unchallenged.

3 MILLION YEARS HENCE ANTMEN Formifossor angustus Some diets are so specialized that the entire body form evolves to accommodate them. The slow-moving and solitary antman has claws for tearing open anthills, a long middle finger for reaching into the tunnels, and a startling coloration to warn enemies that its flesh is not good to eat. Extreme adaptation has lost Formifossor angustus the sharp teeth and nails of his woodland-dwelling ancestors. Instead the antman’s defence is his vivid coloration and his specialized diet.	The antman is immune to formic acid, the poison carried in an ant’s sting. But his body does not break dozen the poison, it redeposits the acid in his tissue, making the antman unpalatable to his potential enemies.
Eyes and nostrils can be dosed off against ants. The tiny mouth scrapes swarming ants from the long middle finger.
The blade-like nails can cut open anthills. The bony fingers lack nerves that carry pain.

His long strides take him swiftly across the scorching wadi and into the sharp blackness of the rock shadow at the other side. There he rests, looking out at the dazzling sand with his polarized dark-lensed eyes.

3 MILLION YEARS HENCE DESERT-RUNNER Harenanthropus longipis The fatty deposit across his shoulders is depleted but not yet exhausted. Bat-like ears radiate waste heat. Although similar in appearance to a hiver, the desert-runner’s ancestors originated in the temperate woodland. Through convergent evolution, the desert-runners are beginning to adopt the shape that was designed into the plains-dwellers all those millions of years before. However, the runners are carnivorous, unlike the hivers.

The slashing teeth of Acudens ferox have evolved from the incisors of his original ancestor, Homo sapiens.

SLOTHMEN AND SPIKETOOTHS

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In carnivores it is normally the pointed canines that develop as killing teeth. The spiketooth, however, has a jaw that drops down to allow the teeth to be used efficiently, and it is the upper incisors that have become the weapon.	3 MILLION YEARS HENCE THE SPIKETOOTH Acudens ferox Large plant-eating animals inspire the evolution of meat-eating creatures to feed on them. Acudens ferox is heavier than other hunting species. It can afford to be, needing neither speed nor stealth to hunt the slothmen. It has slashing front teeth able to penetrate the thick fur and tough skin of its prey.

Although much larger than the tundra-dweller, the slothman retains the proportions of the species from which it evolved. The fat layers are still in place and heavy claws are needed to pull the huge body upright.

3 MILLION YEARS HENCE SLOTHMEN Giganthropus arbrofagus Temperate climates encourage the evolution of large creatures, bulk retains body heat and large leaf-eaters can find enough nourishment to support their mass. By a process of convergent evolution the slothman is now similar to the giant ground sloth of South America from pre-human times. But two factors were needed to allow the tundra-dwellers to evolve into slothmen – plentiful food and no enemies. Sustenance is still there but now they face a newly-evolving predator.

Tree sloth form, parasite host with parasite and spiketooth. All come from the same basic stock.

ILLION YEARS HENCE

5 MILLION YEARS HENCE ENGINEERED PACK-ANIMAL The second phase of biological engineering is exploitation. When applied to a planet this is known as ‘terraforming’. Change and adaptation become secondary to whatever purpose the genetic engineers find important. Earth has not been exploited for 5 million years. When resources are abundant, methods of collecting and refining need not be sophisticated. The function of most of these altered creatures is as simple beasts of burden, able to operate within environments intolerable to their masters. The atmosphere is being changed. With oxygen no longer present in quantities sufficient to keep Homo sapiens-based species alive, air-tanks and purification systems are essential. Control is by telepathic input direct to the central nervous system.

5 MILLION YEARS HENCE ENGINEERED FOOD-CREATURE Developing animals so that they produce food more efficiently has always been one of the basic drives behind genetic engineering. A food species may look grotesque – but then the natural forces of evolution often drive in a different direction to the consuming forces of science and civilization.	Penarius pinguis, the parasite host, has been reduced to a mound of fat and flesh, fed by chemical nutrients. Harvesting devices remove meat as it is grown.

5 MILLION YEARS HENCE JIMEZ SMOOT’S DESCENDANT Descendant of Homo sapiens sapiens and the product of millions of years of genetic engineering and elective surgery, the newcomer is not yet at home in his new environment. The composition of the air can be changed but the unfamiliar atmospheric pressure presents greater problems. If the newcomer decides to stay, then further engineering will be essential. It was the constant need to withstand different gravities and breathe other atmospheres that led to one change being put on top of another; until genetically, psychologically and intellectually, the newcomer bears no resemblance to his ancestor, Homo sapiens sapiens. Encased in a pressurized suit, Man’s descendant sits astride a creature engineered from Homo virgultis fabricatus, the temperate woodland-dweller. Direct telepathic control is exercised over the central nervous system of its mount.

Ako mislite da ljudi idu samo "naprijed":

Leading Geneticist: Human Intelligence is Slowly Declining

Does this surprise you? Let’s see what the “expert” has to say about it. Via myscienceacademy.org:
by Mike Barrett,

Would you be surprised to hear that the human race is slowly becoming dumber, and dumber? Despite our advancements over the last tens or even hundreds of years, some ‘experts’ believe that humans are losing cognitive capabilities and becoming more emotionally unstable. One Stanford University researcher and geneticist, Dr. Gerald Crabtree, believes that our intellectual decline as a race has much to do with adverse genetic mutations.
According to Crabtree, our cognitive and emotional capabilities are fueled and determined by the combined effort of thousands of genes. If a mutation occurred in any of of these genes, which is quite likely, then intelligence or emotional stability can be negatively impacted.

“I would wager that if an average citizen from Athens of 1000 BC were to appear suddenly among us, he or she would be among the brightest and most intellectually alive of our colleagues and companions, with a good memory, a broad range of ideas, and a clear-sighted view of important issues. Furthermore, I would guess that he or she would be among the most emotionally stable of our friends and colleagues,” the geneticist began his article in the scientific journal Trends in Genetics.

Further, the geneticist explains that people with specific adverse genetic mutations are more likely than ever to survive and live amongst the ‘strong.’ Darwin’s theory of ‘survival of the fittest’ is less applicable in today’s society, therefore those with better genes will not necessarily dominate in society as they would have in the past.

While this hypothesis does have some merit: are genes really the primary reason for the overall cognitive decline of the human race? If humans really are lacking in intelligence more than before, it’s important to recognize other possible causes. Let’s take a look at how our food system plays a role in all of this.

It’s sad, but true; our food system today is contributing to lower intelligence across the board.

The Water Supply, Fluoride is Lowering Your IQ

Researchers from Harvard have found that a substance rampant in the nation’s water supply, fluoride,  is lowering IQ and dumbing down the population. The researchers, who had their findings published in the prominent journal Environmental Health Perspectives, a federal government medical journal stemming from the U.S National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, concluded that ”our results support the possibility of adverse effects of fluoride exposures on children’s neurodevelopment”.

“In this study we found a significant dose-response relation between fluoride level in serum and children’s IQ…This is the 24th study that has found this association”.

One attorney, Paul Beeber, NYSCOF President, weighs in on the research by saying:

“It’s senseless to keep subjecting our children to this ongoing fluoridation experiment to satisfy the political agenda of special-interest groups. Even if fluoridation reduced cavities, is tooth health more important than brain health? It’s time to put politics aside and stop artificial fluoridation everywhere”.

Pesticides are Diminishing Intelligence

One study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that pesticides, which are rampant among the food supply, are creating lasting changes in overall brain structure — changes that have been linked to lower intelligence levels and decreased cognitive function. Specifically, the researchers found that a pesticide known as chlorpyrifos (CPF) has been linked to ”significant abnormalities”. Further, the negative impact was found to occur even at low levels of exposure.

Lead researcher Virginia Rauh, a professor at the Mailman School of Public Health, summarized the findings:

“Toxic exposure during this critical period can have far-reaching effects on brain development and behavioral functioning.”

Processed Foods, High Fructose Corn Syrup Making People ‘Stupid’

Following 14,000 children, British researchers uncovered the connection between processed foods and reduced IQ. After recording the children’s’ diets and analyzing questionnaires submitting by the parents, the researchers found that if children were consuming a processed diet at age 3, IQ decline could begin over the next five years. The study found that by age 8, the children had suffered the IQ decline. On the contrary, children who ate a nutrient-rich diet including fruit and vegetables were found to increase their IQ over the 3 year period. The foods considered nutrient-rich by the researchers were most likely conventional fruits and vegetables.
Interestingly, one particular ingredient ubiquitous in processed foods and sugary beverages across the globe -high fructose corn syrup – has been tied to reduced IQ. The UCLA researchers coming to these findings found that HFCS may be damaging the brain functions of consumers worldwide, sabotaging learning and memory. In fact, the official release goes as far to say that high-fructose corn syrup can make you ‘stupid’.
Gene mutations may have something to do with our ongoing decline in intelligence, but let’s stop to think for a moment what we’re doing to ourselves to make this decline even more prominent.
Additional Sources:
Rawstory
Reuters