The Role of Immortality in Human Evolution

In my opinion, human evolution no longer applies to our physical bodies, but rather pertains to our ability to think. Our amazing and complex mind is the barrier between humanity and the wild. In regard to physical evolution, mental evolution is a far more rapid process. By in large part to our ability to reason and create original thought, an evolutionary change can happen relatively instantaneously. Homo sapiens originated roughly 200,000 years ago. For 99.9% of the history of humankind humans enslaved other humans, unjustly subjugated half the population, and were confined to the ground. In the last mere 0.1% alone, slavery across the world has been abolished and abhorred, women have achieved the right to vote, and men have walked on the moon. Our capacity to learn, discover, and create has increased exponentially since our inception. Intellectual evolution continues to further us from our animalistic ancestors towards the greater good of all mankind. Human’s are not perfect, and will never be, but our significant strides in the right direction lend reason to think eventually all social injustice will be eradicated. 

All social injustices were originally societal norms, which through intellectual evolution were deemed unjust and eliminated or amended. The concept of cultural relativism claims that all moral standards are true in relation to a given culture. Therefore, in a culture that condones slavery, owning a slave is morally correct. Thus, an individual in such a society who condemns slavery would be considered immoral. In addition, a Middle-Eastern woman who believes she should be given the same rights as men is immoral. If blindly following societal customs is moral, immorality is the constant between all great civil rights leaders and activists. Immorality is the catalyst behind the evolution of the human thought process. In a culture where the Earth was believed to be flat, challenging such an established belief, according to cultural relativism, is morally wrong. This raises the question, is abiding by a culture’s moral standards ethical? That is a question that may never be truly answered because not all societal rules are on the same ethical playing field. I believe it is the ethical responsibility of each individual to question the moral standards of their society. Not all parts of society need to be changed to achieve a more harmonious future, but instinctively following a custom of a certain culture is the antithesis of social evolution. Those who are in power and create the rules that govern the masses must be constantly questioned and challenged to keep them accountable.  A fundamental pattern of humanity is people in power exploiting those who are not. Social evolution aims to eliminate such a pattern by subjugating those in power to the will of the people, rather than the other way around. The system will never be perfect, perfection is a myth, but will constantly inch closer to the right direction.