# Humans Are Not the Terminal Branch of Evolution by Martin Rees > "Darwin himself realised that "No living species will preserve its unaltered likeness into a distant futurity". We now know that "futurity" extends far further, and alterations can occur far faster — than Darwin envisioned. And we know that the cosmos, through which life could spread, is far more extensive and varied than he envisaged. So humans are surely not the terminal branch of an evolutionary tree, but a species that emerged early in cosmic history, with special promise for diverse evolution. But this is not to diminish their status. We humans are entitled to feel uniquely important as the first known species with the power to mould its evolutionary legacy." > **— Martin Rees**, *2011, Edge Annual Question, “What Scientific Concept Would Improve Everybody's Cognitive Toolkit?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [Deep Time And The Far Future](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11889) — Edge published this passage in its 2011 Annual Question collection, *What Scientific Concept Would Improve Everybody's Cognitive Toolkit?*. The full response preserves the qualifications and argument surrounding this exact extract. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2011 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2011 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first archive record for the complete yearly response cohort. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/MARS|MARS]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|Valley Roots]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Last Migration Will Not Be Human|The Last Migration]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Deep Time|Deep Time]] - [[wiki/Deep-Time Continuity Analysis|Deep-Time Continuity Analysis]] - [[wiki/Substrate-Independent Evolution|Substrate-Independent Evolution]] - [[wiki/Posthumanism|Posthumanism]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "Darwin himself realised that "No living species will preserve its unaltered likeness into a distant futurity". We now know that "futurity" extends far further, and alterations can occur far faster — than Darwin envisioned. And we know that the cosmos, through which life could spread, is far more extensive and varied than he envisaged. So humans are surely not the terminal branch of an evolutionary tree, but a species that emerged early in cosmic history, with special promise for diverse evolution. But this is not to diminish their status. We humans are entitled to feel uniquely important as the first known species with the power to mould its evolutionary legacy." — Martin Rees, 2011, Edge Annual Question, “What Scientific Concept Would Improve Everybody's Cognitive Toolkit?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-martin-rees-humans-not-terminal-branch ```