The Evolution of Convenience

Are humans headed for extinction? When we stop evolving both physically and psychologically, where will we be? It is always assumed that evolution is a good thing. A process that is designed to create the best of the best. Survival of the fittest and all of that. Even if we don’t believe in the entirety of Darwin’s theory, most people are apt to believe that individual species have evolved in some way—finches in the wild develop better beaks for eating insects that have changed over millennia, or creatures develop into animals that fit and function better in a changing environment.

What about us? What are we headed for? It seems that our focus for the past 2,000 years or so (or longer) has been to become lazier and lazier. We are compelled to adopt a position of convenience—convenience primarily through technology. Life becomes easier and easier, and even our bodies become less and less capable of dealing with physical challenges, fatter, less muscle, the proliferation of diabetes and heart disease. We physically function less and less efficiently.