Jun 6, 2017 03:59 AM
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2017/06/can-sup...-among-us/
EXCERPT: After millions of years of evolution, our species has, like an aging rock band, settled into a comfortable, familiar groove: Your classic bipedal, theory-of-mind-having Homo sapien. Then, there is another class of human. This class of human has spectacular powers, such as mind control or the ability to manipulate electromagnetic waves, and exists mostly in big-budget global superhero franchises, like X-Men (or in mid-budget Ben Stiller-starring cult classics from 1999, like Mystery Men).
These characters aren’t generally celebrated for their realism—but are they really so implausible? Is it so hard to believe that, in some late-career burst of creativity, human beings might finally get it together and start evolving some wings, or night vision, or whatever?
For the latest instalment of Giz Asks, we asked evolutionary biologists, academics, and futurists if it is at all possible that people with superhuman abilities are living amongst us, or one day will, and which of these abilities are the most scientifically plausible. They let us know that while mutant-humans probably aren’t evolving alongside us, there are certain scenarios (a move to Mars, say, or wide-scale climate-related devastation) which might about humans with radically different genetics in the distant future. Or, via genetic modification, in the next few months....
MORE: http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2017/06/can-sup...-among-us/
EXCERPT: After millions of years of evolution, our species has, like an aging rock band, settled into a comfortable, familiar groove: Your classic bipedal, theory-of-mind-having Homo sapien. Then, there is another class of human. This class of human has spectacular powers, such as mind control or the ability to manipulate electromagnetic waves, and exists mostly in big-budget global superhero franchises, like X-Men (or in mid-budget Ben Stiller-starring cult classics from 1999, like Mystery Men).
These characters aren’t generally celebrated for their realism—but are they really so implausible? Is it so hard to believe that, in some late-career burst of creativity, human beings might finally get it together and start evolving some wings, or night vision, or whatever?
For the latest instalment of Giz Asks, we asked evolutionary biologists, academics, and futurists if it is at all possible that people with superhuman abilities are living amongst us, or one day will, and which of these abilities are the most scientifically plausible. They let us know that while mutant-humans probably aren’t evolving alongside us, there are certain scenarios (a move to Mars, say, or wide-scale climate-related devastation) which might about humans with radically different genetics in the distant future. Or, via genetic modification, in the next few months....
MORE: http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2017/06/can-sup...-among-us/