Human Evolution & the Anthropocene

What the deep past tells us about how humans might face the future

The Smithsonian’s article on the Anthropocene covers various milestones in human evolution, including the human species’ emergence into a new geological era.

There’s a nice summary of the debate over when to date the beginning of the Anthropocene:

Some argue that the Anthropocene began with the advent of agriculture, because certain agriculture-related activities such as rice paddy irrigation and deforestation may have led to sharp rises in concentrations of CO2 and methane as early as 8,000 years ago. Many believe that it was not until the Industrial Revolution that our exploitation of fossil fuels and monumental increases of energy use and population started to push us far enough to “show a discernible human influence beyond natural [Holocene] variability." A third proposed start date is the Great Acceleration, or the beginning of the nuclear age in the mid-1940s. In this period, not only did our testing and use of atomic weaponry leave a distinctive radioactive signature in the sediments of Earth, but almost all human activities from water use to fertilizer consumption to globalization saw a dramatic intensification. (my emphasis)

And as expected, specific trends of human impact include increasing land use, water use, climate change, melting ice caps, loss of forests and biodiversity.

Less visible and smaller-scale changes also play a significant part.

While climate change is one of the most visible parts of the Anthropocene, it does not paint the whole picture of our influence. Everything from damming rivers to paving roads to illuminating public spaces has changed the physical makeup of the planet in some aspect, creating a world that has truly been shaped by humans.

In short, we’ve vastly increased the degree of control we have over the earth’s natural processes and over local environments, including agriculture, our living spaces, diseases, transport, and travel, including into space.

Perhaps most significantly, we’ve established a vastly expanded ability to communicate with one another globally.

Three-quarters of the world’s population has cell phone access, and as of 2020, an estimate of more than 60% of individuals globally had access to the Internet, allowing people to communicate and access knowledge that was once much more restricted. These innovations in transportation and communication have given us the means to connect with our fellow human beings, learn about new cultures, and maintain relationships all around the globe.

Not only can we connect with each other, the same technologies allow us to access knowledge that used to be “restricted,” and to learn at previously unheard of rates and scales.

Overall, it is the astonishing adaptability of humans as a species over a much longer evolutionary past — over millions of years — that sets the true stage for how we might cope with our more recent planet-wide impacts.

Examining the Anthropocene through the lens of our [deeper] evolutionary history shows us that the themes of resilience and adaptability are critical to the history of our species in the past and in the Anthropocene. These distinctive traits of our lineage have created a human species that is defined by its ability to alter its behavior and environment as a mode of survival. These themes are critical to understanding how the Anthropocene has come to be, and how we will survive into the future.

The human species is defined on this view “by its ability to alter its behavior and environment” as a very mode of survival. This claim is indeed critical to understanding:

• how the Anthropocene has come to be,

• and how we will survive into the future.

Having finally become fully self-aware of our planetary impact, IF we can combine this awareness with our unique species’ skill — our uniquely creative human problem-solving ability — there emerges genuine hope that innovative solutions can be found to the problems caused by such rapid change.

We can’t reverse the clock. There’s no single clear idyllic past we could go back to in any case. What remains is the stubborn question of “how to move forward in this altered world we’ve created?”

Apocalyptic rhetoric, something we’re increasingly burning out on (at least I am), may help “especially those in positions of power” to appreciate just how much impact our species is having. But taking a more critical perspective, becoming more collaborative, communal, or productively purposeful, may ultimately prove more fruitful.

The article concludes with a series of questions to contemplate. The agenda these questions set an unusually thoughtful and reflective tone compared to most other calls for taking responsible action in the Anthropocene. By and large the questions aren’t scientific or technological ones (at least not “technological” in the way we usually think of that). Rather, they’re deeply humanistic and involve problems of politics, economics, culture, philosophy, and even (by implication) theology.

Questions for Contemplation

• Whose responsibility is it to make important decisions?

• How do we shape a global social project?

• How do we accommodate cultural diversity while making changes at a global level?

• How do we make long term changes (toward a sustainable future) appealing, feasible, and accessible for individuals, countries, etc., on a short-term scale?

• What do we want the future to look like?

• What do we want life on this planet to be like?

• What can we do as individuals, countries, and organizations to create a future with purposeful intentions?

• How can we act as individuals to get the ball rolling?

• Which issues are the most critical to address first?

• How do we begin?

Contemplating these questions will help us begin to determine the future of the Anthropocene. The themes of self-determination, community, and action will all be parts of the human-driven innovation for the future of the planet. As we look to the future, we will see not only the planet change, but we may even see changes in ourselves as a species. We invite you to contemplate:

What will it mean to be human in the future of the Anthropocene?

Full references, further reading, and related articles in the Smithsonian series on human evolution are available at the source link. Recommended.