What could be in store for humans?

It's hard to stay away from making some predictions of our future. To begin with, let me try to get an overview of the state of the art, as far as predictions go. What I have found is, all of those can be grouped into certain general categories, each impressive in its own right. Where, the main thrust is to examine whether evolution is, dead, living, dead and living electronically, dead and living elsewhere, or immaterial since climate change is going to affect everything. A new one can add one more dimension to it, as I propose in the following paragraphs.

“Because we have evolved, it may be natural to imagine we will continue to do so, but I think that's wrong," anthropologists like Ian Tattersall of New York's American Museum of Natural History mentions. We could very well be the pinnacle of life, and remain so, for a long time to come.

Some scientists see plenty of evidence that human evolution is far from over. For instance, a study published last month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggested that women of the future could become shorter and stouter. A team led by Yale University evolutionary biologist Stephen Stearns found that, due to ovulatory characteristics, shorter, slightly plumper women tends to have more children than their peers. These physical traits are passed on to their offspring, suggesting natural selection in humans is alive and well.

A philosophy known as transhumanism sees humans taking charge of their evolution and transcending their biological limitations via technology. In essence, the old-fashioned evolution of On the Origin of Species may be beside the point: The future may belong to unnatural selection, Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford being one of the pioneers of this thought.

In the far distant future, habitable planets beyond our solar system could be colonized by Earth migrants. That would usher in fresh environments, unseen challenges, and new lifestyles, which could provide the conditions for new human species to evolve.

What the future brings for the Earth humans in regard to climate will be catastrophe and environmental destruction.

Ours is a dynamic world. Predictions about our future should necessarily reflect the dynamics of human society, an important constituent of future. What input can be more obvious for such a study, than the present trends in the growth of our population?

If we are to examine the world population data, where the rate of increase in population of various nations for the last few decades is scrutinized, one thing comes to light. Societies, which are still tied to the traditional concepts of male superiority of the Middle Ages as far as the organization of the society is concerned, and are not very particular about male female equality, show considerable population growth. Interestingly, it can be clearly seen that more traditional the society (more inequality), more alarming the growth.

Whereas, those societies in which modern, scientific thinking with gender equality prevail, population growth shows remarkable moderation in its rate. More equal the societies, more negative the growth.

That gives rise to an important point to ponder. Today, among the different cultures or societies of the world, the repressive views, especially those pertaining to male female equality and suppression of female sexuality, do face, wide, effective opposition only because the moderates are in a decent, reckon-able number. Won’t in future, with the differential rate of population growth when moderates become a minority, the regressive majority will find themselves empowered enough to take whatever steps necessary to cement the existing gender inequalities, if not furthering them? Can’t this be considered as the future in store for mankind, which essentially is anything but predictable?

Even in the present world, the affinity human beings show to align themselves with the irrational, even in advanced nations like the USA, makes me wonder, that is nothing but the signs of tomorrow.

To put it briefly, and also bluntly - very hard times are ahead for the species as a whole, and more so, for the female sex.