The Human Evolution – Past, Present and the Future

Abstract

Just as the title itself suggests, the present article represents a synthesis of the information pertaining to the origins of the modern human being, the history of his becoming, his departure from Africa (the cradle from where he emerged) and his conquest of Earth, his transition from nomadic behaviour and the hunter-gatherer occupation (which spanned most of his existence) to the shepherd-farmer one, as well as the consequences of this so-called revolution on the evolution, of his social relationships and on the gradual progress made in all spheres of his activity over the past 10,000 years. The question is whether or not man evolved after his emergence about 200,000 years ago and migration from Africa. One chapter of this paper is dedicated to this aspect, bringing a series of arguments to attest that man has continued to evolve biologically and that, depending on the specific conditions of environment and life, diseases faced over centuries and millennia etc, he has undergone not only spiritual and cultural ones but also some genetic changes. Some obvious questions arise as to whether the evolution of man as a species has ended or he will still evolve in the future, the perspective of this process in view of the conditions of huge progress in various technologies, medicine, biology and molecular genetics, genetic engineering (intervention tool in its very genetic structure) as well as regarding the fulfilment of perhaps its most daring dream - that of conquering other planets. The last chapter of the paper tries to offer solutions to these challenges.