Evolution doesn't imply cultural improvement, or intellectual gains. It could just as easily mean loss all of that and returning to the wild. Evolution isn't for us to choose, it is something nature forces upon us.
True, but unless there's an overwhelming catastrophe that sends Man back to the Stone Age, I think natural evolution is over for us; any evolutionary changes that happen in the future will be induced.
That isn't evolution though. That's just choosing to make some changes and do things differently. It's still for natural selection to decide whether those induced changes are good or bad; whether they are successful, sustainable, efficient, and robust.
I tend to concur. Apparently we haven't really evolved as a species in the last 30,000 years or so, precisely because we've been extremely successful. The position can be summarized as "We change the world; it does not change us".
We have been in a period of prosperity throughout that time, which I'll argue is not prompting much in the way of evolution. The disabled, the weak and the infirm have generally been cared for and have perpetuated. Resources are abundant enough for that to happen.
In the causal chain I outlined above, when resources like food and fuel become limited, then individuals will be forced to make some grim decisions about who gets what.
Those who can will take what they need, and those who cannot will be destitute. You don't get to choose which of those groups you fall into. You can only try your best. That is what will drive evolution in times of privation.
I'll concede that there will be alliances, whether it's on the family or national level. Alliances are the optimal strategy in competitive games, even though the proportions of winners:losers remains the same.
Evolution can also occur with higher level structures through the survival and break-up of alliances. And the prosperity of an alliance depends entirely on the individuals who make it up.
There's a strong factor of what the alliance's identity is. If it is simply an alliance of patriotism, then it will be an alliance of mediocrity. It will have a share of weak and vulnerable people to support, which may reduce it's ability to survive in direct competition with a more elitist alliance.
