This blog post explores how Homo sapiens might evolve amid the advancement of cyborg technology and whether a future where cyborgs dominate humans could arrive.
As of 2025, humanity stands as the dominant species ruling Earth. However, modern humans—our species classified biologically as Homo sapiens—show significant physical disadvantages compared to other mammals. We lack the sharp claws and fangs found in predators, and our physique and muscle mass fall far short. Even a medium-sized dog would be extremely difficult for a human to overpower with bare hands. From the perspective of natural selection in evolutionary theory, such humans should be in a position where survival on Earth is extremely difficult. Yet Homo sapiens not only currently dominates the planet but is also striving to evolve further through cyborg engineering. Why did humanity come to dominate the Earth?
The answer can be found in Professor Yuval Harari’s book ‘Sapiens’. In his book, Professor Harari assesses Homo sapiens as the first species to break the law of natural selection and replace it with the law of intelligent design. According to Professor Harari, the reason no species before Homo sapiens chose the law of intelligent design in billions of years of life’s history was that they lacked the intelligence to design anything else. Neanderthals, a species competing with Homo sapiens, could only hunt birds selected by nature. However, sapiens realized how to create entirely new lineages that did not exist in nature according to their needs. This became an example of humans, not gods, intelligently designing and creating new beings.
Furthermore, the catalyst for Neanderthal extinction is seen not only in their intellectual design defeat by Homo sapiens, but also in their evolutionary path. They evolved toward larger physiques and greater muscle mass, advantageous for hunting and foraging compared to Homo sapiens. This, however, led to greater energy expenditure. During the Ice Age, they could not hunt or forage effectively, and this increased energy demand ultimately caused their extinction. Thus, Homo sapiens prevailed in both these competitive arenas, ultimately becoming the dominant species of humanity.
This system of natural selection, which has operated over the past 4 billion years, now faces a completely different kind of challenge: intelligent design. This approach to intelligent design broadly divides into three categories: biotechnology, cyborg engineering, and inorganic engineering. As explained earlier, I intend to focus specifically on cyborg engineering. ‘Sapiens’ views cyborgs as beings partially composed of both biological and non-biological elements. For example, it refers to a person with a bionic prosthetic limb. ‘Sapiens’ asserts that the true potential of future technology lies in transforming Homo sapiens itself. However, it simultaneously warns that such cyborg engineering will result in inorganic attributes that cannot be separated from the body, altering abilities, desires, personality, and identity.
If we create cyborgs based on Homo sapiens, and these cyborgs neither reproduce nor have gender, can directly share thoughts with other beings, and possess concentration and memory capacities thousands of times greater than humans—could we truly call such beings Homo sapiens? If such an entity were to emerge, what would become of us? This would enter the realm of speculation beyond anyone’s prediction. Just as we define the point before the Big Bang—where none of the currently known natural laws existed—as a singularity, the concepts beyond a new singularity would likewise shatter all known natural laws. However, if such cyborgs become beings entirely different from Homo sapiens, and if Homo sapiens were to become extinct because of them, then Homo sapiens would be eliminated by the very intelligent design that enabled their own evolution.
In Aldous Huxley’s novel ‘Brave New World’, humanity manages its own species’ birth and death, and the entire process exists on predetermined rails. The new humans cannot possess intense emotions and can only function within management and control. Such humans would not be called Homo sapiens. In this novel, the Homo sapiens we know appear as barbaric primitive tribes. They are the ones eliminated in competition with the new humans.
Thus, Homo sapiens overcame the laws of natural selection through intelligent design and, having prevailed in competition with Neanderthals, rose to become the dominant species on Earth. However, just as Neanderthals attempted to evolve in a direction favorable to themselves within the laws of natural selection but were eliminated by environmental changes, the intellectual design that Homo sapiens has wielded as a weapon to overcome natural selection and ascend as Earth’s rulers could become a double-edged sword. It might bring about the end of Homo sapiens itself, due to the existence of cyborgs. Like in ‘Brave New World,’ they might be pushed aside in competition with a new humanity, a new species. Homo sapiens became Earth’s rulers through the laws of intellectual design, but conversely, they might face extinction through the cyborgs created by that very intellectual design.
Advances in science and technology can profoundly alter the future of Homo sapiens. Current artificial intelligence and robotics are rapidly transforming our lives, and these changes extend far beyond mere daily routines. These technologies are opening new possibilities in education, healthcare, and the military. For instance, in healthcare, the introduction of AI enables more accurate diagnoses and personalized treatments. In the military, the adoption of autonomous weapon systems is altering the nature of warfare. These changes are fundamentally restructuring the world as we know it, and this will profoundly impact the very way Homo sapiens exists.
Homo sapiens came to dominate the Earth through their intelligence and technology, but now we must consider the possibility that these technologies could, in turn, dominate us. The moment artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, we must find ways to coexist with it. This transcends mere technical issues, presenting philosophical and ethical questions. New questions about human identity and the purpose of existence will arise, and we must find answers.
Humanity has always faced new challenges and grown by overcoming them. But this challenge is different. Alongside technological progress, we must deeply contemplate the essence of humanity and, through this, build a better future. Whether Homo sapiens can remain Earth’s rulers or must cede that position to a new entity rests in all our hands.
