S is for Speciation
In the natural world, speciation happens all the time. A species becomes isolated, no longer breeds with its kind, and a new species is born. In addition to symbiosis, speciation is one of the key evolutionary processes responsible for diversity of life on Earth. According to E.O. Wilson’s venture, Encyclopedia of Life, there are currently 1.8 million known species. However, reports estimate there are probably an additional 50-100 million others living on the planet. The cataloging of species has obvious direct benefits since insights gathered inform everything from the invention of new medicines and technologies to providing clues for coping with climate change and pollution. Typically when asked if humans will speciate, the response is “Definitely not!” However, when it comes to reprogenetics, off-planet living and artifical intelligence, all bets are off. Today, in vitro fertilization and sperm and egg donations are commonplace, as is prenatal genetic screening. The ability to understand how genes code personal characteristics such as physical and mental attributes through assisted reproduction techniques is slated to follow, as the desire of parents to have a perfect child could be attained by inserting new genes into babies to make them cuter, smarter or more successful. The potential Gattaca-ization of society, if the service is not free, could lead to the fact that haves and have-nots no longer reproduce, eventually leading to speciation. But, considering the educated consensus is that the planet is too small for two types of humans, and space habitation will occur by the recreation of biospheric conditions on various planets throughout the universe, surely a speciated human will be born sooner than later, somewhere. Now, with regards to the rise of sentient machines, posthumans, or the notion that people will choose to download their consciousness and ride into the Noosphere, well, let’s just ignore that for now and look up into the sky and see that the diversification of new forms of life, in many respects, is similar to the diversification of celestial species that surround us: galaxies, stars, planets, comets and dust clouds.