Why might intelligence not be the endpoint of evolution at all?

We humans tend to view ourselves as the end product of evolution. After billions of years, a species eventually emerged that understands nature, builds machines, and even contemplates the origin of the universe.

But is that justified?

After all, evolution has no ultimate goal. There is no plan stating that humans are the highest attainable. Nor does evolution stop as soon as a species becomes intelligent. It simply continues.

In fact, intelligence can be merely an intermediate step.

Four billion years ago, life consisted exclusively of simple single-celled organisms. Could they have predicted that trees, whales, or humans would ever exist? Of course not. Their world was simply too limited for that.

Perhaps we find ourselves in exactly the same position.

We think that an IQ of 100 or even 200 is impressive. But what does that mean on a cosmic scale? Suppose that somewhere in the universe there exists a civilization that has been evolving a million years longer than we have. Their way of thinking could be just as incomprehensible to us as mathematics is to an ant.

And perhaps intelligence itself is not even the next step.

Perhaps consciousness will evolve further. Or a collective intelligence will emerge in which billions of minds collaborate. Perhaps biological beings, together with artificial intelligence, will grow into something we cannot even imagine yet.

We often look at AI and wonder if it will become smarter than humans. Perhaps that is the wrong question. The real question is whether intelligence will ever make way for something we cannot yet name.

That would also explain why we have not yet encountered extraterrestrial civilizations. Perhaps we are searching for beings that resemble us, while truly highly developed civilizations have taken on a form that we do not even recognize.

Just as an ant will never understand what a university is, so we may not yet understand what the next step in evolution truly entails.

Maybe we are not the end point.

Maybe we are just the beginning.

I wrote this article with the help of chatGPT,

that helped me further develop my ideas

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