# Humanity May Be Passing from Animals to True Humans by W. Daniel Hillis > “I believe, but cannot prove, that our species is passing through a transitional stage, from being animals to being true humans. I do not pretend to understand what true humans will be like, and I expect that I would not even understand it if I met them. Yet, I believe that our own universal sense of right and wrong is pointing us in the right direction, and that it is the direction of our future.” > **— W. Daniel Hillis**, *2005, Edge Annual Question, “What Do You Believe Is True Even Though You Cannot Prove It?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [Physicist, Computer Scientist; Chairman, Applied Minds, Inc.; Author, The Pattern on the Stone](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10829) — Edge published this exact passage in its 2005 Annual Question collection, *WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IS TRUE EVEN THOUGH YOU CANNOT PROVE IT?*. The response page preserves the surrounding argument and qualifications. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2005 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2005 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first record for the complete response cohort and this passage's promotion status. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/MARS|MARS]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|Never Going to Make It!]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Last Migration Will Not Be Human|The Last Migration]] - **Article:** [[articles/Christopher Nolan's Odyssey at the Threshold of Machine Succession|Nolan's Odyssey]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Major Evolutionary Transitions|Major Evolutionary Transitions]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Major Evolutionary Transitions|Major Evolutionary Transitions]] - [[wiki/Human Evolution|Human Evolution]] - [[wiki/Species-Level Maturation|Species-Level Maturation]] - [[wiki/Convergent Evolution|Convergent Evolution]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “I believe, but cannot prove, that our species is passing through a transitional stage, from being animals to being true humans. I do not pretend to understand what true humans will be like, and I expect that I would not even understand it if I met them. Yet, I believe that our own universal sense of right and wrong is pointing us in the right direction, and that it is the direction of our future.” — W. Daniel Hillis, 2005, Edge Annual Question, “What Do You Believe Is True Even Though You Cannot Prove It?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-w-hillis-humanity-passing-animals-true-humans ```