Cognitive evolution is a complex system of ideas, still
nascent and elusive in its form. “
Accelerating change”, however, is a simple,
firmly established concept. If we first loosely define cognition as a ‘way of
thinking’, and evolution as ‘change’, then is it possible that we can discover
and quantify the difference in ways-of-thinking
over time?
From a
bicameral perspective, it took humans hundreds of
years to transition into the intramentality that we now consider the essential
ingredient in what it means to be human (^1). Is our cognition still in the
process of changing and is that rate of change increasing? And if so, is there
a point at which that rate of change surpasses the distance between generations,
a quantity that has held relatively steady for the duration of our species?
Juan Enriquez, genomics-science writer, cites 29 “humanoid
upgrades” in the human species to date, and goes on:
“The first place where you would expect to see enormous
evolutionary pressure today, both because of its inputs, which are becoming
massive, and because of the plasticity of the organ, is in the brain. … Are we
seeing rapid brain evolution?” (Enriquez proceeds to question the seemingly
rapid advance of autism…) (^2)
The speed of biological/DNA evolution was one bit per year,
whereas the speed of technological/human-generated, technologically-mediated
information is at 400exobytes per year (^3). Any possible permutation of a
theory of coevolution cannot neglect to account for this difference in the "most
evolvable human organ".
And finally, in an article about the filtering of
pornography on family computers:
"Many [parents] want to take responsibility, but all
too often they do not how know how because they find the technology too
difficult to use or their children are more technically advanced then they
are." (^4)
Every last institution on Earth is designed to work within
the steady rhythm of human generations. Our schools aren’t working, and our
leadership isn’t either, nor the media. It is possible that we can just now
glimpse the puzzling glimmer of the effects of generational cognitive disparity
on society. And it is perhaps not such a bad idea to strain our vision just a
little bit harder, before this thing smacks us in the face.
