Modern man is classified by anthropologists as Homo sapiens. This species, which now rules unchallenged over the planet Earth, evolved from animals such as the pre-human Australopithecus. More recently this evolutionary lineage has included primitive relatives such as Homo erectus and cavemen ancestors such as Neanderthal man. Until now the evolution of man has followed indeterminant paths through the natural wild as selected by DNA on its journey through time. The new sequence of humans will be based on the artificial insemination of digital and genetic information into the womb of the DNA beast.

Human are defined in terms of both physical and cultural anthropology. In this context, the evolution of human society is at least as important as the evolution of the physical species itself. A key factor in the growth of the human kingdom on Earth has been our society’s advancements in science and technology.

The evolutionary nature of human artifacts are represented by the bone tools of australopithecus which mimic the function of the human hand and recent advances in biotechnologies and informatics. Digital technologies are unique in that they are extensions of the human brain and in the case of the world wide web, individuals are extensions of a much bigger knowledge structure. DNA technologies extend beyond Marshall McLuhan’s seminal ideas such that media can be applied to internally transform the human species. In this instance, genetic technology is not just an extension of man but technology and man increasingly become one and the same.

The evolutionary paths of man and his technology converge in the new sequence of man. The evolutionary paths of human technology and culture also converge in this portrait of the new sequence of man. Thus, man, technology and culture cannot, in all truth, be scientifically deconstructed, isolated and analyzed independent of the reality associated with these different dimensions of human existence and reality.

by Jock Langford, Environnement Canada - Ottawa - Jan. 1998