Where does man go from here?

[lightisright]

I see that this debate could go on forever because of its vastness and the inability of its arguers to prove to any whether or not something is true.

Now the original question was "Where does man go from here?"

In order to answer that question we need to know a few things.

1st- Where did we come from?
2nd-Why are we here?

and then

3rd Where are we going?

We could try to answer these questions scientifically, which I encourage everyone to do. It is an important part in understanding.

There is really only one to know truth and it is the process of faith.

What is faith?

Faith: Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true. Faith is an action word. Faith without doing is dead.

Much like turning on a light switch for the first time in your life. Let's say a person has never seen a light switch and does not know what it does. Now they are presented with one and told that if flipped light would come.

Some people under such circumstances would not believe and would not flip the switch. Others who needed the light would hope that it was true and would act on their desire and then gain knowledge that it is true.

This process is repeated in everything we do.

Now I am going to testify of something which I know to be true because I have acted by faith. I know that there is a God. I know that this God has a body of flesh and bones. I know that His Son lived on this earth. I know that He is Jesus Christ. I know that He still lives and guides us through a modern day prophet. I know this is the truth.

You may agree with me, you may not. I also know by the same process that when I flip light switch I will get light, almost always. I also know that sometimes when flipping the light it won't work. Both of these are true.

Now let's get back to our first question we need answered.

1st Where did we come from?

Answer: We lived with God as spirit sons and daughters. We literally are His children, and He loves us. God has a plan for each of His children. God's whole purpose-His work and His glory-is to enable each of us to enjoy all His blessings. In order for us to enjoy God's blessing we need to be perfect.

Obviously we are not perfect and we make mistakes. Jesus Christ is central to God's plan. Through His Atonement the law of justice is fulfilled which allows forgiveness and cleansing. Even though we are imperfect we can be made perfect if we follow the laws which God has given us. We must have Faith in Jesus Christ, Repent, be baptized, received the Holy Ghost and Endure to the End.

Now this is a lot to take in.

We are here on this earth to fulfill the commandments of God by following our Savior Jesus Christ so that we can return to God. This is exaltation.

God has called and chosen prophets throughout the time that man has been on the earth. There is a modern day prophet. There is only one prophet who leads the children of God. He receives direct revelation from God. He speaks with God and leads His children to the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Where are we going after this life? That depends on us. If we have Faith in Jesus Christ (And the word Faith means a lot) we will be forgiven of our imperfections so that we can be exalted.

The purpose of God is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

I ask you to have a particle of faith in what I have born as a testimony of truth. I ask you to get on your knees and pray to your and my Heavenly Father and ask if what I say is true. He will answer you if you ask with a sincere heart, desiring to know the truth.

God's kingdom is upon the earth and it is run by the Savior himself who works in many ways, one being through His modern day prophot; Thomas S. Monson. He is the prophet of God's kingdom on the earth. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was restored when God himself and Jesus Christ appeared to a 14 year old boy in 1820. His name was Joseph Smith.

I know this to be true because I have had a desire to know truth and I have read the Book of Mormon which was written by ancient prophets on the American Continent. The reason that it has come forth in these time is for the gathering of Israel.

I invite you to have a particle of faith and to obtain a copy of the Book of Mormon. Read it with a sincere heart, and ask in faith whether or not it is true.

I know these things to be true because I have used the same process that is used to obtain any piece of knowledge.

God has revealed the truth to me by His spirit. I have felt that it is true.

That is the truth and what you do from here on out with it is your choice.

You can either be like the man who wouldn't switch on the light or you can be like the man who switched on the light and knew.

I bear this witness to everyone and anyone who reads this,

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

[Runewolf1973]

I doubt humans will evolve physically any further, perhaps mentally though. What about sharks? Apparently they haven't evolved very much at all since they first appeared how many millions of years ago? But sharks evolved specifically for one purpose...to be the ultimate killing machines. They reached that goal, now they don't really need to evolve further. I wonder if humans have reached a point where any physical evolution is not really necessary. For the fact that whatever conditions humans might face now, they don't evolve their own physical bodies to adapt, they just build machines and equipment to adapt for them, perhaps human evolution is somewhat at a standstill. I think that if humans did not have technology to support then, then they would have to adapt physically. Put a human in a harsh environment for a long period of time, they may adapt physically to the environment eventually. Put someone else in that same environment with all the conveniences they need to live comfortably as is, they probably will not adapt.

 

[Humanistheart]

Assuming that life began as a single celled organism and evolved from there to include an enormous variety of life forms, man presumably being the most intellectually advanced of them all, where will man be in say 5 billion more years? Will he continue to evolve? And if so, into what? To what extent does your belief system suppose that homo sapiens can continue to change, hopefully for the better?

Well, why I don't have a belief system as such, I am a little concerned with man's future evolution. People who would not otherwise live in the past now live to reproduce with the help of technology, medications, etc. Also, often times the most educated only have one or two children while those with less education and social resources to take care of offspring typically have 4+ children. We've artificially changed our evolution. On the other hand, social evolution is slowly lessening racism, sexism, and in some ways xenophobia, so that's a plus. At any rate, I'm more concerned with the species who's very existence has been endangered by man's rampant reproduction. How many species have we driven extinct now?

 

[Runewolf1973]

Well, why I don't have a belief system as such, I am a little concerned with man's future evolution. People who would not otherwise live in the past now live to reproduce with the help of technology, medications, etc. Also, often times the most educated only have one or two children while those with less education and social resources to take care of offspring typically have 4+ children. We've artificially changed our evolution. On the other hand, social evolution is slowly lessening racism, sexism, and in some ways xenophobia, so that's a plus. At any rate, I'm more concerned with the species who's very existence has been endangered by man's rampant reproduction. How many species have we driven extinct now?

Yes, that is a good point. I agree.

 

[Humanistheart]

Put someone else in that same environment with all the conveniences they need to live comfortably as is, they probably will not adapt.

I agree with most of what you said, expect that last bit there. I think people would adapt to that ideal enviornment, slowly eliminating diversity needed to survive in a less ideal place. Look at the species of mosquitoe that evolved in just 100 years in the london subway. Ideal conditions of stagnant water, lack of predators, and a stable food source allowed this to happen. But these mosquetoes could not survive as a species just outside the subway, as it ancestor species can and still does. They're adapted to the specifics of the ideal enviornment now. But I agree that once they reach the peak of survival capacity, their evolution, like the shark, will stagnate.

 

[Runewolf1973]

I agree with most of what you said, expect that last bit there. I think people would adapt to that ideal enviornment, slowly eliminating diversity needed to survive in a less ideal place. Look at the species of mosquitoe that evolved in just 100 years in the london subway. Ideal conditions of stagnant water, lack of predators, and a stable food source allowed this to happen. But these mosquetoes could not survive as a species just outside the subway, as it ancestor species can and still does. They're adapted to the specifics of the ideal enviornment now. But I agree that once they reach the peak of survival capacity, their evolution, like the shark, will stagnate.

Yes, that makes sense as well. Perhaps what I was trying to say just came out the wrong way. I agree with you though.

 

[Humanistheart]

What about Neaderthals? ?

The neaderthals, I always find this a said story. From archeological evidence uncovered over the past century, we know that they buried their dead, with objects. Other than humans, I believe they're the only other creatrues to have done this. And from what we can tell of their cranial capacity they had larger brains than we do (although size is not a direct correlate of intelligence). They shared the fox2 gene with us, meaning they had advanced lingual abilities. They were obviously a sentient species. Imagine how different the world would be today if they'd been the species to survive, rather than humans, or if we both survived. They only fully died out about 30,000 yrs ago too, rather recently in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Humanistheart]

I see that this debate could go on forever because of its vastness and the inability of its arguers to prove to any whether or not something is true.

Now the original question was "Where does man go from here?"

.

There's nothing to support your claims, but more importantly this seems to be a rather civil thread so far. I would not call it debate so much as discussion.

 

[blackout]

arnt we out of the natural selection process , we no longer need to adapt we can adapt our own environment to suit us ,maybe we have reached the end of the line evolution wise.

or maybe we have halted even greater kinds of evolution...
or anyway... thwarted them in the process.

 

[Katzpur]

So far, nobody has really taken this thread where I thought it would go. I think that's because nobody has been willing to think more than a few thousand years in the future. When I started the OP, I was thinking of more like billions of years in the future.

 

[Storm]

So far, nobody has really taken this thread where I thought it would go. I think that's because nobody has been willing to think more than a few thousand years in the future. When I started the OP, I was thinking of more like billions of years in the future.

Billions of years in the future, there will be nothing we recognize as human.

 

[Katzpur]

Billions of years in the future, there will be nothing we recognize as human.

Will humans have ceased to exist (i.e. become extinct) or will they have evolved into something else?

 

[Storm]

Will humans have ceased to exist (i.e. become extinct) or will they have evolved into something else?

Either way.

 

[Nepenthe]

Will humans have ceased to exist (i.e. become extinct) or will they have evolved into something else?

Billions of years? My guess would be we'll be nothing even remotely recognizable as human. Maybe DNA strands threaded through a computer the size of a galaxy? Human consciousness as a cosmic intelligence nanotechnologically programmed into the hydrogen of the universe?

At billions of years in the future it's all sci-fi speculation.

 

[Katzpur]

Billions of years? My guess would be we'll be nothing even remotely recognizable as human. Maybe DNA strands threaded through a computer the size of a galaxy? Human consciousness as a cosmic intelligence nanotechnologically programmed into the hydrogen of the universe?

At billions of years in the future it's all sci-fi speculation.

Why couldn't we still look essentially human-like? Since we're talking billions of years and you don't think we would look remotely human, how much longer could we as a race exist and still look recognizable as humans? And what might we be like in terms of non-visible qualities such as intelligence?

 

[Nepenthe]

Why couldn't we still look essentially human-like? Since we're talking billions of years and you don't think we would look remotely human, how much longer could we as a race exist and still look recognizable as humans? And what might we be like in terms of non-visible qualities such as intelligence?

I think it all depends on how much we'll be able to manipulate our genome and/or if nanotech' becomes anything other than a neat idea. If we are able to control our genetics to such a radical degree we could look like just about anything we want or be born with preprogrammed skills and intelligence, the options are countless. I don't doubt trends would start to lean away from the whole basic human body shape after a few million years of this. And if nanotechnology becomes a reality, then the idea of looking human would be irrelevant in a few million years. The ability to control atoms would make anything possible.

It was only roughly 2.5 million years ago that we split away from australopithecies; 10 million years would see a radically different animal, 100 million even more different, and a billion unrecognizable imo. Several billion...






Just think how much variation in something as simple as fashion and makeup styles; in a world where we could control what we look like the there is in different cul

 

[Tiapan]

We will develop a third set of teeth.

 

[Humanistheart]

Why couldn't we still look essentially human-like? Since we're talking billions of years and you don't think we would look remotely human, how much longer could we as a race exist and still look recognizable as humans? And what might we be like in terms of non-visible qualities such as intelligence?

I think this is an excellent question. If we do get to the point where we are not recognizable as humans, we'd most likely be a different species, meaning that our future descendants could not successfully breed with us, in which case the human race would, for all intensice purposes, be extinct. But who's to say we will take that evolutionary turn? If we're talking billions of billions of years, the only way we'd even survive is if we'd mastered space travel, as the earth will eventually be unlivable as the sub expands and burns out, and that's only if we don't kill ourselves off first.
Maybe will evolve past the need for physical bodies, becoming a type of assended beings. Daubtful sure, but who knows?

 

[Nepenthe]

We will develop a third set of teeth.

Vagina dentata?

 

[Vile Atheist]

Where does man go from here?

Wherever woman tells him.