Preservation of Humankind – Sustainable Development?

Abstract

The article explores a model of sustainable development oriented toward ensuring the long-term survival of humankind. The author proceeds from the premise that for Homo sapiens, the conscious goal should be species survival, analogous to the innate objective embedded in all other biological species. This goal is achieved through the fundamental instincts of self-preservation and procreation; however, the emergence of human reason has altered the functioning of this mechanism. In contrast to these fundamental drives, other instincts are merely instrumental or secondary. Yet, it is toward the fuller and more efficient satisfaction of these secondary instincts that humanity has directed its reason, allowing the means to eclipse the ultimate goal. As a result, human civilization has begun to degrade the natural environment, its own population’s health, and historically formed mechanisms of social stability. Within a framework of sustainable development, these negative processes must cease. The question of transitioning to sustainable development is examined through the prism of Big History, which postulates that humanity is on the threshold of a singularity. The paper reviews major potential trajectories following this singularity transition: the posthuman era, the artificial intelligence era, the era of a unified universal cosmic intelligence, and the era of ethical reason. The first three scenarios are deemed dangerous or scientifically unfounded, as they involve an attempt to detach humanity from its biological milieu, which contradicts the goal of human preservation. The fourth scenario, which corresponds to the concept of sustainable development, involves the transformation of human reason through its integration with ethics. This approach requires adherence to a genetic imperative (a prohibition on altering the normal human genome without exhaustive proof of safety) and a cognitive-psychological imperative (a prohibition on altering the normal human psyche). The conclusion asserts that this sustainable development scenario is the only acceptable pathway and thus should guide human evolution in the post-singularity era.