Are Humans Evolving Alongside Their Devices? [Effect Of Neuroplasticity]

The term "Evolution" is not a new term, except to the uninitiated. Since we've had a prior knowledge of the concept of evolution, we would not be dwelling much on it again, but we will be looking at the complimentary evolution of humans in sympathy to their devices. Let us fasten our seat belts, as we take a journey from the past; through the present; to the future.

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The earliest ancestors of man experienced natural evolutionary trend, which was majorly based on the concept of of natural selection and survival of the best fitted.

But as years passed, the process of evolution began to experience external factors that mutilated the natural trend of evolution. This caused our immediate past ancestors to evolve by exchanging culture and technology.

These changes caused our brains to adapt to the technologically-induced evolution, thus creating a new link between neurons. This form of adaptation is caused by Neuroplasticity.

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Concept of Neuroplasticity

This is otherwise called brain plasticity. This describes the alterations that occur in a person's brain which alters the entire life course of the person. And because the brain is easily adaptable, it tends to be influenced much by external factors.

Let us take this example:

Over the last century, it has been noticed that the human memory has not improved much in relation to other evolutionary trends. Here's the reason for this: The presence of computational and memory storage devices has taken away the need for humans to retain so much information. So our memory does not seem to be evolving at the same rate with other parts.

Evolution, technology, and neuroplasticity

We have been made to believe the fact that evolution is a slow process, and could take millions of years. Well, to some extent, this is true, but the presence of technological advancements could transform us in a very crazy way.

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There are some changes that have started happening to our species in this era. For example: The ability of selective hearing has been more enhanced than ever. As the world becomes louder, we are evolving to gaining the ability to tune-out or filter out noise; thus helping us to be more focused on the sounds that are important to us.

I once read a very scary documentary about crazy future evolution of humans with relation to technology. I'd love to share it here:

The touch screen technology could eventually cause humans to evolve tentacles, since they would be more viable than using the fingers and knuckles for touch devices. "Source" [Paraphrased by me]

But more noticeable, is the fact that the presence of technology has made humankind to become less dependent and less reliant on our own strength and muscles. That is why humankind could evolve into weaker specie.

Another important point I would also raise is the fact that our future generation could get so evolved that a part of the body can actually replace another part that is less functional.

I would use the story of Ben Underwood as an example to buttress this point: 

Ben Underwood was diagnosed with cancer of the retina at the age of 2, and by age 3, his two eyes were surgically removed. In order to adapt, he evolved a super echolocation ability. With this ability, he could sense sounds in his environment, and use the echoes to find his way; just like bats and dolphins.

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His echolocation got so enhanced that he could do daredevil acts; like mountain climbing, biking, and other stuffs, just by making a clicking sound with his tongue, and measuring the distance of the acoustic reverberation (he could literally see with his ears).

This is what evolution could pass on to humankind in the future.

Now, the rate of evolution has seen to be on the increase more than ever before. And this also makes us to develop more sophisticated technology, which also affects our own rate of evolution, and the trend continues in that order.

But the question is:

Is there a limit to how humankind can evolve? I guess future will provide an answer to this question.

Thanks for reading

References for further reading: Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4