Evolution of the man

© Copyright 2002-2003 Francisco Carrillo Gil.
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Francisco Carrillo Gil
http://iieh.com/autores/fcarrill...
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We try to answer in the first place to the first thing. The evolutionary tendencies that are observed in the hominids are included inside the called process of hominization, that is characterized by:

1) A tendency to the bipedism or straightened up position, that in the human species is reached fully. This tendency was practiced also in other fossils anthropoid primates, that lived in the trees and has been obtained imperfectly in the present anthropoid primates as gorillas and chimpanzees. Perhaps the change of habitat of our ancestors, the change of the forest with many trees to the savannah, with large open spaces to walk, as consequence, probably, of a climatic change, favored this biped tendency, although already it was aimed in arboreal primates. Another theory aims the existence of an aquatic phase of the human ancestor 5-6 millions of years ago, in the beginning separation of the remaining antropoid primates, when the African lands in the south of Ethiopia were flooded by the sea; in this amphibious environment, our ancestors would acquire the bipedism, the lack of hair and moore quantity of grease as others mammalian of the savannah. This it would explain the great quantity of grease of the human babies and its facility to be moved submerged in the water. The reduction of the tail is probable that be related to the acquisition of the bipedism.

2) A consequence of bipedism is the liberation of the ground of the anterior extremities; they were transformed into superiors. These extremities could be utilized to get and to catch food and tools; this fact favored the construction of implements and contributed to the development of the intelligence. The hands went itself doing less rough and with finer fingers if we compare them with those of other antropoids. Besides, the thumb, perfectly oponible to the remainders 4 fingers, was done more long than the other fingers. The nails tended to be reduced and the skin of the fingers, especially of the fingertips, accumulated many quantity of sensitive corpuscles, being done fine and delicate, very sensitive.

3) A change in the diet. This change are connected with the transition from the forests to the savannah. In these more open spaces, the vegetable food would be more scarce and our ancestors were obliged to complement its vegetarian diet with an animal diet, hunting animals in these more open spaces and having to be displaced more for such thing, which is probable that stimulated a bipedism increasingly more efficient. Also, the incorporation of meat to the diet enlarged the caloric contribution without necessity to eat so abundant and so frequent, as occurs to the vegetarian animals; this fact, perhaps provided more free time for other activities and what is more important, supplied more nutritive and caloric contribution to the brain, which could be developed with more facility.

4) A progressive development of the skull capacity, of 400 c c. in chimpanzees to 1.400 c c. in the human species, with the consequent increase of the volume of the brain, in relation to the remainder of the body and the consequent increase of the number of neurons. The number of these cells was seen favored by another parallel tendency of the cerebral surface that already appears in other mammals: the increase of the cerebral surface of the cortex: this introduce himself into the brain and give rise to the cerebral increase of internal surface; with this strategy, it is obtained a great increase of surface with a great deal smaller increase of volume and the nature has utilized it in other animal structures as for example the intestinal and pulmonary creases, etc. With this spectacular increase of neurons in the cerebral cortex, a greater intelligence was obtained. It could to package a great deal of information in a minimum space. All animals with certain intelligence, have big brains with internal folds (in the case of the mammals). The development of the intelligence led to of parallel form the development of a complex system of communication: the language spoken; it is the most elaborate system of emission of sounds in the animal communication that knows, although other animals, as birds, dolphins, whales, etc., have also developed complicated languages of communication, but these, although they can be more powerful in the communication to long distances, do not have the capacity of expression of diverse facts as the human language has it.

5) A growing "neoteny", that is: the humans conserve in adults childlike characters. This tendency favors a greater plasticity in the cells and permits a greater evolutionary flexibility and adaptability with respect to the environmental changes.

6) A progressive lack of hair in the body. This seems to be consequence of the protection of the body with clothes and skins; the reason is a greater intellectual development, or the aquatic phase of the human ancestor.

7) A transformation of the face. The binocular and stereoscopic vision is not exclusive of the man, therefore this is reached in other animals and in all the apes, included the hominids. The eyes adopt a position in a front level. A vision in relief is obtained although the space of vision is lost (it is covered less visual space) and to see the sides one must rotate the head. The arches of jaws are done more graceful and small with reduction of the teeth. This tendency is related with the evolution of the alimentary habits. The man makes omnivorous, and the teeth, already little specialized in the primates, specialize less in the man. When te man prepare and cook the food, facilitate its breaking and the teeth are done less powerful and are reduced in size and in number Besides, the hands serve to be catch the pieces of food to the mouth and the teeth and the jaws do not have to start them of their places of origin; this, it do the hands. In this way, from faces with small eyes, narrow fronts and long and prognates jaws, it is passed to faces with wide fronts and cleared, big eyes and reduced jaws and small mouths. The faces pass to be wide underneath and narrower by up to the contrary thing: wide and large by up, in the front and narrow underneath, in the jaws and mouth.

8) Respect to the organs of senses, the human species has these with an own development of its ancestors primates. The eyes permit that the man relates with the environment interpreting the visible luminous energy. They are the organs of senses of the most power in a air environment; they are the one that more long reach and the quickest (the environmental information through the light travels to enormous velocities); therefore is able to say that they are of the most perfect. The eyes are the organs of maximum development of all the senses in the man. The men are diurnal animals and so, they have managed to see colors. In the mammals this is obtained in primates, some carnivorous as dogs and cats, although in incomplete form and more clumsily, in rumiants. As a general rule, the animals that have bodies and livery of colors, see theese. Also, the vision of colors is developed in diurnal animals such as many birds, in some reptilian, fish, insects, etc. Also, as primates that they are, the humans have stereoscopic vision, perhaps as an inheritance of the arboreal primates. Nevertheless they have not developed a great visual sharpness neither a great vision in the distance and in wideness, achievements obtained by specific birds, as the birds of prey and other birds that have large air displacements. In other side, the man covers only the visible spectrum of light, of middle frequency, and does not see the ultraviolet light neither the infrared one, as other animals do it.

The sense of hearing permits to relate with the environment through the sonorous waves that travel through a flowed environment, for example the atmosphere or the water, pressuring these ambients. In a aquatic one, hearing is a more efficient organ than the view or the smell. This information travels in a slower velocity than in the light. Hearing has a medium development in the man. This it is not capable to hear sounds neither very weighty, case of whales, neither very sharp (ultrasounds) as do the bats. Besides his auditory sharpness (capacity to distinguish different sounds) and his auditory power (capacity to hear distant sounds) is moderate developed. The human species, being a visual animal, and in smaller stage a hearing animal, has the other senses less developed. The smell, the most primitive sense, is relatively weak, if we compare it with other mammals as the dogs, cats, ruminants, etc. The touch is the just one for a visual animal, although the man has corporal zones with a greater tactile development, due to the use. I refer to the face and specially to the hands. The taste also is discretely developed although is very versatile as corresponds to an omnivorous animal.

In conclusion, the human species has typical sensory organs of a diurnal, terrestrial animal, with ancestors of arboreus habits but they have passed to live in more open lands, like sabannah, and his intelligence has carried him to colonize all kinds of terrestial habitats.

9) Another tendency that is observed is a slow but gradual increment in the stature, perhaps as a result of an each time better diet.

Evolution as vertebrate animal

Besides, one must consider the evolution of the man in the context of the evolution of vertebrates.

A great evolutionary landmark was produced in the Devonien period, 370 m.y. (millions of years) ago, when populations of fish of lobely fins conquered the terrestrial environment and they were transformed into the first terrestrial vertebrates, the amphibians. Subsequently, in the Carboniferous, 300 m.y. ago, from populations of amphibians, appeared the first reptilians, that were diversified during the Mesozoic, originating, among others, the dinosaurs and reptilians like pterosaurs, that went the dominant terrestrial vertebrates of the mesozoic era.

The evolution of the dinosaurs deserves a comment aside. This group of reptiles is very special. It includes great variety of forms very diversified and adapted to practically all the terrestial habitats of the epoch. Its adaptive radiation can be compared with that of the mammals in the Cenozoic. They had more than 150 m.y. to evolve and to be diversified, so they arose at the beginning of the Triasic, 230 m.y. ago, and they were extinguished 65 m.y. ago, to ends of the Cretacic, as a result of the impact on the earth of a great asteroid. It is not to miss, therefore, the degree of complexity and adaptations that reached. Many carnivorous forms reached the homotermic bodies (the same as the birds and mammalian subsequent); as opposed to the remainder of the reptilians, the majority of the dinosaurs did not crawl, but they ambulated, that is, they raised the womb of the ground upon walking, so, they were provided of powerful extremities organized for such thing. Besides, many forms, especially the predators, reached a biped position, walking on the posterior extremities and being supported in their strong tail, leaving in liberty a weak anterior extremities, with powerful claws, that would be able to be utilized to attack to their prey, among others functions. These carnivorous and biped dinosaurs, as opposed to other, cuadruped and vegetarian, they should have a high metabolism and to be of quick movements, as the majority of the present mammals and birds. The visual capacity should be high, and is probable, that they could see colors, because it is believed they had covered with bright bodies colors, at least enough species. Many, had social habits; others, on the other hand, they were solitary. Some paleontogist believe that if the dinosaurs had not been extinguished, some of them, perhaps the biped forms, carnivorous and light, would have reached greater degree of intelligence.. Had they time to reach it anyone? Of light forms of carnivorous and biped dinosaurs, the fowls (birds)arose, in the end of the Triasic, 200 m.y. ago. These groups of dinosaurs were launched to the conquest of the air, therefore, the short previous extremities went transforming gradually in wings to fly and the posterior extremities were done thinner and light, being adapted to a bipedism characteristic of the fowls, in this one, more than walking, they jump, save the ostriches, that run. Also, its body was covered with protective and waterproof feathers and went himself doing gradually more small and light. The all body went himself adapting for more or less prolonged flights.

In the ends of the Permian, 250 m.y. ago, the therapsid arose, ambulate reptilian, and like the dinosaurs, they did not drag the womb upon walking; of these mammalian-reptilians arose, in the Triasic, the mammals. These one achieved a series of adaptations on terrestrial environment, more efficient than those of their predecessors the reptiles and analogous to those of the fowls, such as the homotermic bodies, the replacement of the scales of the skin by hairs, (feathers in the fowls) more efficient to obtain the homeoterm, and more protection for their breedings (placenta and milk food). The mesozoic mammalian were small and their life in the terrestrial environment should be hard, therefore they had to compete with the reptilian world that dominated the earth, especially with the dinosaurs. Is probable, they had nocturnal habits. With the extinction of the dinosaurs, in the cretacic-paleocene crisis, in the end of the Cretacic, the mammals took advantage of their opportunity and they occupied the empty habitats left by the extinct forms, having a adaptive radiation similar of the gigantic reptilians, during all the Cenozoic.

So, a relating to vertebrates, the terrestrial environment was dominated by the mammals, while the air environment was dominated by the fowls, the most next descendants of the dinosaurs. If we compare both evolutive diversifications, that of the dinosaurs in the Mesozoic and that of the mammals in the Cenozoic, we note that the first one elapsed along a a lot of more time than the second: 150 m.y. against 65 m. y. Nevertheless, the evolutive results of the diversification of the mammals have been more spectacular, that the one of the dinosaurs. The evolutive rhythm has accelerated in this second radiacción, of terrestrial vertebrates, and the resultant forms have been of smaller size although with similar adaptations. It is probable that, in these evolutive processes, geological and climatic changes have influenced: the climate has gone doing colder, the continents have gone separating, originating in the fragmentacion of the Pangea II, at the beginning of the Triasic, has happened the alpine orogeny, with its more intense phases in the Cenozoic and the consequent quaternary glaciation, in the final times of this orogeny. All these factors have determined the evolution of the alive animals, especially of the vertebrates that occupy us. Do not forget us that the dinosaurs evolved in a period, the Mesozoic, relatively stable since a climatic point of view, with humid and quite hot climates. Also we should keep in mind that the alive animals evolve more fast if are submitted to certain pressures of selection that oblige them to change and this is obtained for example when there are geographical, geological, and climatic changes that be it sufficiently important but not too much quick neither abrupt, therefore then the organism do not resist them and are extinguished.

Evolution as a human animal

And it is of a group of mammals little specialized, the primates, of the ones that the man arises. Its separation of the anthropomorphic primates should be do 6 - 5 m.y. ago, in ecuatorial Africa. The first hominids, the australopithecines, evolved and were diversified in Africa and was 1,5 m.y. ago, when the genre Homo left of Africa and was expanded for Eurasia. In the last african wave arose the Homo sapiens, the present man, 200 thousand years ago. This species had to surpass the successive glacial periods of the present glaciation and this fact contributed, without doubt, to mark its evolution.

Once the Homo sapiens sapiens was colonizing the different continents, was adapting to its geographical and climatic pecularities and was arising the different human races. This happened 40-30 thousand years ago. Also its customs and way of life were changing. The first people should be nomad, hunters and harvesters of vegetables. The discovery of the agriculture and the stockbreeding should mark the subsequent evolution of the human societies. Quickly, should extend these practices in the most part of the world and is probable that they arose in several geographical zones independently, as a consequence of the evolution of the human intellect. With these practices, the human populations were done sedentary and appeared the first stable populations. These villages were itself organizing increasingly, with the consequent division of work, were itself making hierarchical the societies that lived in them, were encreasing in size and were being born the towns and later, the cities. Immediately the writing language was invented and were himself developing the different knowledges, as the mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, etc. The different religions should also be connected with the human species very soon, marking an assembly of norms and values in the human conduct and giving a sense to the existence of the man.

The transportation systems that the different towns had, were fundamental in the interrelations and commercial exchanges of the populations. The first men should be displaced walking and running. It is probable that they discover soon the utility of animals as the horse and other similar, depending on the geographical zone, for its displacements, perhaps in the same time that the stockbreeding. The utilization of these animals and also, that of cars moved by wheels and thrown by animals contributed of decisive form to the migratory movements of populations and to the efficacy of fights and battles. In the same sense, the first ships should be invented, at the beginning, boards of wood, then, rafts of woods and further on, canoes of oars; at these last boats, it would be put sails, later. In this way, took place also the first displacements through the rivers and along the sea. The systems of transporting, although went perfecting, they did not suffer large advances until the industrial revolution was making; the horse of vapor was invented in the second half of the XVIII century, and it applied soon to the ships and to the cars, and also, was invented the motor of combustion, in the second half of the XIX century, that revolutionized in a more decisive form the transportations. Since then, the technological advances have been unstoppable and giddy in spite of the military and social conflicts, being the XIX centuries and especially the XX one, periods in which the scientific and technological culture of the humanity has shot itself in a very accelerated form, with inventions as the submarines, airplanes, spacial rockets, radio, telephone, TV, computers... etc.

The future

What awaits us in the future? What evolutive courses will continue? It is difficult to answer these questions but we can speculate with several alternatives.

Possible evolutive tendencies

One of these alternatives is the spatial man (" Homo espacialis"). We have seen like the human species spreads, as all living organism, to be multiplied and to be expanded. It arose in Africa, conquered the continent, then extended to Eurasia and finally, to the Americas. At present, he is the dominant species of vertebrate in our planet; his means of communication are so powerful, that it does not exist distances and geographical barriers among the different human populations; this eventually, will bring increasingly a greater uniformity among the towns, because these are hybridized among itself and the human races will tend to make uniform.

In the second half of the XX century, the man has been launched to the conquest of the space… The Earth remains him small. To ends in the decade of 60, the man began going to the Moon; yet, he has not stepped other planets but he has already sent spatial probe to the most remote planets of the Solar System and he is collecting information of these and of more remote places of the Universe, utilizing telescopes that are in orbit as the Hubble. Already, the man has been discovered more than a hundred planets beyond the solar system, and it is calculated that it can exist intelligent life easily in our galaxy and of course in other. (It is probable that the intelligence is a natural, evolutive process of certain forms of life, whenever the necessary environmental conditions are given and in a sufficient time). The SETI project tries to detect signs of this life. He is working in freighting spatial stations inhabited and in a not very distant future intends to send men to Mars.

So, we hope that a part of the human population colonize the space, in a more or less limit of time, in permanent spatial stations, in a sort of orbital cities, or well in planets of the Solar System as Mars, conditioned previously, or quite in satellites as the Moon, or of the gigantic planets, as Europe, Ganímedes, Calixto, Titan, etc.; and in distant one more future it is able that the man explore other stellar systems…

According to the professor Gaetano Rotondo, expert in aerospace medicine, "our grandchildren will not have an easy life in the stars: their physicist will change and they will have to learn moving without force of gravity. They will suffer therefore a so drastic adaptation that upon returning to the Earth their adaptation will be difficult. The first modification and the most evident one will affect to the distribution of the corporal liquids. Two liters of blood will be transferred of the legs toward the torax and the face. So, the face will be more rounded and the eyelids will tend to be swollen, conferring an asian aspect to the face. The eyes will turn red and the facial veins will dilate. The nose will be more congested. The front and the face will have dilated veins. The brain will be bigger and with a greater blood irrigation. The neck, the arms and the hands will also tend to enlarge of size, while the muscles of the legs will more hypertrophy, upon not having that to conquer the force of the gravity to walk, and they will adopt the chicken legs aspect. The torax will be shorter, because the diaphragm will rise, pushing to the heart, that will be smaller, toward a horizontal position. The abdomen will be less large, the back will lose the physiological curves and will enlarge the space among the vertebras, with what we will gain a height centimeters pair. It will disappear the curve of the gluteuses and this, united to the atrophy of the muscles of the legs, it will be able to cause psychological problems of identity and adaptation in the women, on account of the reduction of the physical differences with the men.They will disappear the wrinkles, since the tissues will be more turgid; particularly the breasts will be maintained always firm and the veins of them will not be varicose. The absence of the gravity will cause also a descalcificación of the bones, but the bony fragility will be seen likely compensated by a smaller frequency of fractures and traumatic wounds by falls.The quantity of red corpuscles and hemoglobin will be reduced, giving rise to the so called spatial anemia."

Besides, if a human population leave the Earth for living in the space, after a relatively long period of isolation, these men, or at least a good part of this population, will tend to be seemed a lot among itself. It will be a clear case of gene derives and geographical spatial isolation. After a long period of continuance in the space is possible that the genes of these populations have suffered a quantity such of mutations, recombinations and adaptations to the spatial environment that a new species arise and these spatial humans cannot be reproduced again with terrestrial.

Other alternatives correspond to the evolution of the man in the Earth. If we achieve that the planet endure our environmental impact and permit that we continue surviving in it, several possibilities can occur:

We go first with the pessimists:

The Earth returns inhospitable for our survival, because a series of factors are caused by the human action, as desertization, deforestation, hibernation effect, decrease of the ozone layer, acid rains, contaminations of diverse type, overpopulation, decrease of biodiversity, nuclear radiation, etc. As a result of these actions, large climatic catastrophes would be produced, pandemies, hungers and wars and the human population would remain enough decimated. The survivors would have a difficult life; the drinkable water would be a very scarce good; the UV radiation of the sun would be able to be dangerous upon being scarce the ozone layer and would give rise to damaging mutations and cancers; during a more or less prolonged time, the surviving humanity would suffer a cultural regresión because he would have to go surpassing these unfavorable conditions of life; many survivors would be defective and mutate. This species would be the "Homo deletereus". Some futuristics films of pessimistic type have shown us this discouraging future that would be able to put an end to our species or well, if the present environment could regenerate, after an indeterminate period of time of human purgatory, a humanity would arise again reborned; it is also possible that the environment did not return to its more benign intial situation and then, the man, to survive, would have to be adapted to the new environment and probably he would go transforming into a different species; perhaps he took refuge under land, building subterranean cities. In this case, the individuals would be of pale skin, without melanine and with more diminished visual capacity, besides, they being quite stunted and with weak musculature. He would be the "Homo subterraneus".

It is possible that a nuclear disaster destroy our species, in a more or less quickly time, giving more opportunities to other more resistant animals as the insects.

Also, we have to consider the impact of asteroids, as the one that put an end to the Dinosaurs.

We can speculate with more optimistic possibilities:

The human species manages to surpass the negatives environmental impacts on the environment, utilizing technological and scientific inventions. It can control the climate, to reduce the contamination, to replant forests, to brake the desertization, to control the superpoblation, to utilize clean sources of energy (especially the energy of fusion from the hydrogen, the "energy of the stars"), etc, although to obtain global, positive results, in a short time, is quite complicated.

The evolution of the man, as that of any another living organism, is going to be conditioned by the environmental evolution, by the environmental changes. These are going to determine a greater or smaller pressure of selection and therefore the velocity and the way in which the human species is going to evolve. As the man is one of the alive animals on the Earth that more modifies the environment, is conditioning their own evolution, although, unfortunately does not always do it consciously and of positive form; the environmental impacts caused by him, often are negatives and destructive in the environment, which results negatively in the own health of the human species.

Only their technological and scientific capacity can brake the environmental deterioration and that, is the great human hope.

The progressive development of the capacity of the skull favors an greater intelligence; both processes, seems to be, increase in a parallel form, just as suggest the remains fossils. Will continue this tendency in the future? Is probable that it is so, and the man will have a head increasingly more large and he will have a greater mental capacity. (" Homo macrocephalus"). Besides, it has been verified that the present man only utilizes from a 10 to a 20% of its cerebral potential, which can signify two possibilities: Is it necessary that this be thus for the good function of the brain? or well the brain is infraused by the man and using technical of learning, perhaps it can be get a better performance. There are determined persons, that by nature, perhaps genetic, use their brain in a more complete form; they are persons with paranormals powers. Why did it occurs with the human brain? Why is it such capacity wasted? The nature has an economy and does not be used to squandering energies; it does not conserve useless materials; these, eventually, will disappear. From where does such cerebral waste originate?

What will occur with the rest of the body? It is not easy to answer. The diet is an important factor. The increase of population of the humanity is a decisive problem. If it is not controlled, it will cause wars and famines and finally, deaths. To impede this, it will try that the alimentary resources enlarge to the rhythm of the growth of the population. A stable and healthy diet improves the constitution and physical health of the persons; an adequate nutrition with a various diet and with the sufficient vitamin contribution, united to a joust practice of physical exercise, of some sport with moderation, produces a proportionate physicist and, eventually an increase of size of the population. If this is obtained, the human race will improve in its physical aspect, being approaching the model idealized by the greeks, for example. (" Homo helenicus"). But this healthy life, it is probable that it cannot have all the humanity. Only the more or less wealthy classes and with certain cultural level, people of the rich countries. Perhaps the genetically modified food utilization promote a greater quantity of these people and the pantry of the humanity will increase, and the hunger that in the present time pass many underdevoloped populations can be reduced. Besides, one must keep in mind the bad habits and customs that the humanity has, as drugs, alcoholism, greed, lasciviousness, etc; these habits reduce and damage a healthy evolution of the species. Therefore, not all the human population would be able to evolve of satisfactory form, but only more or less fortuitous groups; and as the natural hybridization and crossbreeding is produced, the genetic defects that eventually appear, as a result of some insane habits of life, are transmitted of risky form to the population.

If the sedentary life is accentuated, working in front of the computer, for example, the muscles of the body, eventually can go atrophied, acquiring, then the men, forms with big heads and frailer bodies, thin or thick? and with smaller and more atrrophy extremities. These figures would recall to those of many models of aliens: the greens and the greys, although perhaps more high. Would be the "Homo alienigenus".

Another possibility can be the evolution of the men toward androids: the fusion of the man and the machine. (" Homo roboticus"). It would be an ideal man to colonize the space. This futuristic image is familiar in certain fiction science films and at present, advances are being gotten that can aim toward that direction. For example, already we are being manufactured the first neurochips and also, are built microchips increasingly more tiny; the introduction of these in the brain does not seem a very distant fact… A first step could be the informatic man, (" Homo informaticus") with his intelligent dress and full of sensors, plagued of portable microcomputers that can be connected without cables with central computers mother. A danger of this is that in the fusion of the man with the machine, conquer this last one and they prevail in the androids the powerful powers of the computer, enslaving thus to the biological essences of human type, just as is shown in some futuristics films as "Matrix"; the man is conquered for his metallic creatures, the robots androids, that seize the human genes (biochips) and they rebel himself and make independent. In this sense, are disturbing the declarations of the physical Stephen Hawking, that is: "It is convenient to improve the human race with genetic engineering, specially in the intelligence, if not in a future the computers would be able to come to surpass us and to control us, because the advances that are being done in artifical intelligence are important."

Another variant is that the man come to create robots similar to himself, with feelings and emotions, and that these robots replace to the human species when disappear. (This theme treats in the film "Artificial Intelligence"). Another aspect of this informatic world is the construction of the virtual reality that can give rise to a double life in the man: the real one and the virtual one. The men hooked to the virtual reality would be able to acquire also the type of persons with big heads, with more atrophied bodies, upon not using their musculature. (" Homo virtualis")

Also, they are important the achievements in medicine and in genetic engineering. Each time, the transplants of organs and the implants of artificial organs have more success. The operations are done with technology increasingly more sophisticated; the bisturí is being substituted by other more efficient tools as the laser, the ultrasounds, the microcameras, artificial tissues, etc. The genetic illnesses will be e surpassed better each time, thanks to the replacement of defective genes by healthy genes. Even, in this sense, it is spoken of the improvement of the species. Also, if the methods of cloning are perfected, we would be able to obtain clonic supermen, although with diverse intentions, not always positive. All these advances would conduct us to the beating of illnesses and of many objections of the old age, and the population would have a better quality of life and a higher average age, each time. (" Homo supersanus") These positive advances, would favor an increase of the human population (it is already increasingly high), which would get to a competence more important, and to an intensification of wars and killings. Finally, it would be able to achieve a world population with a high technology, and with a strict regulation of the birthrate, whenever the reproductive potential of the human species were not reduce by this technological development, the new habits of life and the environmental contamination, just as is happening at present in many countries developed.

Still, there are other more fantastic challenges. We recall the infrautilización of the human brain. It would be able to develop the paranormal powers that at present, only a few privileged persons possess, utilizing adequate technicals. (" Superhomo paranormalis"). Which are these paranormal powers? They are of various type: The telekinesy, that is, to move objects with the mind; the telepathy, that is, the divination of the thought; the divination of future and past facts; the healing of illnesses utilizing the mind and the hands; the hypnosis of persons to control them or to discover facts that have happened them and that do not recall; the splitting of the spiritual person of the body and a trip more or less distant respect to the body of this spiritual person, with return to the same one (astral trip); the vision of invisible phenomena for the normal persons, as auras of persons, apparitions, etc.; the capacity of communication with the spirits and ghosts (mediums). These powers are present in specific "special" persons, although normally, each one of these special persons is powerful in one determined, not in all. The exercise of these capacities has the danger that be done with negative intentions, that is, to damage the other persons, instead of helping them, since there are powers as the hypnosis that can have a double use; on the other hand other powers, as the healing, are beneficial and other are indifferent. This it is the great challenge in the development of techniques to favor some of these powers.

In conclusion... these are possible alternatives, and of course not resolved, since are potential, of the human evolution.