[ExI] Societal evolution

[Stuart LaForge]

On 2024-04-24 07:20, Nuala Thomson via extropy-chat wrote:

> We all know every 10 years technology makes a leap.
> I theorise society does the same, and I would like confirmation or
> contradiction.
> I believe so solely on what I've learnt of this area of my country and
> what has happened in my lifetime. Then I've put the technological
> advancements alongside it, the safety upgrades in the workplace
> alongside it, the societal expectations alongside it, the fashion
> choices alongside it.
> I am of the thought that society evolves at the same rate as
> technology, alongside it.

I tend to agree with you, Nuala. Technology is affecting human evolution 
both biologically and societally.  As a teacher, I can see how 
technology is starting to shape our society especially with regard to 
our youth. Adolescents these days are much more reclusive and socially 
awkward than in my youth, with texting, posting to Instagram, and 
playing Fortnite largely replacing hanging out and going to the mall as 
the kid's notion of socializing.

Kids these days seem to be much more socially awkward than they used to 
be. Even when kids meet up in real space, much of their social 
interaction involves showing one another videos and other social media 
on their phones. Many kids lack the ability to verbally tell one another 
coherent stories, jokes, or otherwise entertain one another without 
technology being involved. Because smart phones are designed to attract 
and keep the attention of their users through triggering dopamine 
release, thereby addicting their users to constant stimulation and 
instant gratification, kids find it difficult to set and achieve 
meaningful goals especially those that take sustained effort over longer 
periods of time.

I would go so far as to hypothesize that smart phones are causally 
contributing to the near epidemic rise of both Autism and ADHD in 
school-age children. Certainly more than any vaccines.

Another way that technology is shaping culture and society is through 
the dating and mating habits of young adults. Dating sites and apps like 
Tinder have completely changed how romantic partners find each other. 
For one thing it has globalized the gene pool and thereby enabled women 
to become extraordinarily specific and picky about their mate choice 
since they literally have the whole of the Internet to choose from. This 
allows a relatively small percentage of males that are perceived by 
women as being high-value to monopolize the dating pool in ways that 
were not possible 30 years ago.

While social or cultural evolution is much faster than biological 
evolution because memes can change and spread quicker than genes, I can 
see how technology is starting to shape the biology of our species also. 
One example would be how vision-correction technology like spectacles 
and contact lenses has likely caused the average uncorrected visual 
acuity of our species to decline compared to our ancestors.

In any case, I believe you could find numerous other examples of how 
technology has caused society to evolve.

Stuart LaForge