Human evolution understood within the Anthropocene conceptual framework
Abstract
Human societies have clearly altered Earth’s land, oceans and atmosphere, and re-ordered life across the planet, marking a new interval in Earth’s dynamic history referred to as the Anthropocene. To understand the fundamental causes of the Anthropocene we need to understand how humans have evolved biologically, socially, culturally, and technologically. The structure for this framing is the conceptual framework that divides human history into five main societies: Hunter-gathering Agriculturalism, Mercantile Capitalism, Industrial Capitalism, and Consumer Capitalism. Within this framework major changes over the last 2 million years in biological evolution, energy production and technology are mapped out and discussed. It is also essential that the study of human evolution should be incorporated within the new conceptual framework of the Anthropocene. We suggest that today nothing in the science of human evolution makes sense except in the light of the Anthropocene. Incorporating human evolution within the Anthropocene provides a deeper understanding of how an African hominin with no natural weapons or defences came to transform an entire planet. It also provides a framework to examine potential impact of new technology in genetics, health and AI on the future evolution of human biology, cognition, and social structures.