How did Homo Sapiens Actually Form and in What Direction Is His Further Development Taking Place?

Abstract

This is the last article by Wolfgang Sassin, regular contributor to “Ideas and Ideals”, member of the journal’s international editorial board. He was very worried about the problem of the future, and the key idea in his reflections was the relationship between uncontrolled population growth and the corresponding transformation of man as a species, the transformation of Homo Sapiens into Homo Billionis (Wolfgang’s term). In the proposed article, controversial from the point of view of evolutionists, he reflects precisely on this. And he comes to the extremely important conclusion that a person of modern civilization should think not about control over nature, but about control over himself. The author offers his own scenario of human evolution, based on the fact that in the process of evolution, a person managed to turn his weakness into strength, thanks to the ability to think abstractly, have a strategy of action and be future-oriented, use in strategy not only his own experience, but also the knowledge gained from observing the world around us, to be open to existing patterns and to see ourselves and others as part of these patterns. Man acquired the ability for strategic thinking, which gave him the opportunity at all times to oppose something to the conditions of existence, in the spatial and temporal sense. The author shows that one should distinguish between biological evolution and the evolution of consciousness. In the conditions of uncontrolled population growth, a person begins to change as a species: he evolves towards Homo Billionis - a creature that is comfortable only in a herd. Instead of improving technology, man should rationally control himself and set rigid boundaries for his own motives and dreams, and not control and correct the nature of a small and easily vulnerable planet that he still tries to subjugate.