The Next 100 Years of Human Evolution: The Existential Revolution

Published: 14th March 2025

"Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?" — Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Transcendence

Humanity is approaching a threshold—an existential revolution where the very foundations of meaning, purpose, and identity are being uprooted. This revolution is not marked by technological advancements alone, but by the collapse of long-standing illusions that have governed human behaviour for millennia. As religious literalism crumbles under the weight of science, as artificial intelligence challenges our long-held notions of intelligence and human exceptionalism, as climate change reminds us of nature's apathy toward our existence, and as hyper-competitive job markets render traditional aspirations meaningless—humanity is left staring into the void of a reality that does not care. The illusion of status, once the primary motivator for human ambition, begins to dissolve. What emerges is an age where individuals are forced to create their own meaning in a world that offers none.

The Existential Revolution

For most of history, humanity found security in grand narratives. Religion provided divine purpose; work and career became measures of status and self-worth; nationalism offered belonging; and social validation maintained the illusion of significance. But these structures are beginning to fracture under the weight of modernity.

Religion persists because it still provides answers to fundamental questions that science has yet to fully resolve— providing existential certainty. Consciousness. The nature of reality. Why reality exists at all. Whether something exists beyond our observable universe. These are questions that sit at the edges of human understanding, and where science remains uncertain, religion offers definitive—if unverifiable—answers. The empirical method, by its nature, does not deal in absolutes; it refines, revises, and builds upon itself over time. Religion, on the other hand, provides an immediate sense of closure. It fills the existential void in a way that uncertainty cannot. But as scientific understanding expands, the spaces in which religious literalism can thrive begin to shrink. There was a time when Gods were invoked to explain natural disasters, disease, and the movement of celestial bodies. Yet, as science illuminated these once-mysterious phenomena, divine explanations faded into mythology. The same pattern is unfolding today, but on a more existential scale. The mysteries that sustain religious literalism are no longer the mechanics of the weather or the stars—they are the nature of consciousness, the origins of reality itself, and the potential for synthetic life. If science eventually provides answers so undeniable that they become the foundation of human understanding, then religious literalism may become as impactful as believing in Zeus. It will exist, but only as a relic—an artefact of a time when humans sought certainty in the face of the unknown.

For centuries, human intelligence was regarded as the defining trait that set us apart from all other forms of life. It was the foundation of our perceived superiority, our justification for dominion over nature, and the basis of countless religious and philosophical doctrines. We were the only creatures capable of reason, innovation, and abstract thought—until now. Artificial Intelligence has already begun dismantling this belief, but the real existential shift will come with the emergence of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Unlike narrow AI, which specialises in specific tasks, AGI will possess the ability to reason, learn, and adapt across domains at a level that rivals or surpasses human cognition, perhaps even demonstrate emotions that are comparable to humans. Once machines can think, problem-solve, and create beyond human limitations, the long-held assumption of human cognitive supremacy collapses. The implications of this shift extend far beyond automation or economic disruption. It forces us to confront a fundamental question: If intelligence is not uniquely human, then what are we? Historically, when humanity has faced existential crises, we have turned to new frameworks for meaning—religion, art, philosophy, technological advancement. But AGI disrupts all of these. The philosophical pursuit of knowledge, once a uniquely human endeavour, may be carried out more efficiently by machines. The artistic expressions that once defined human creativity may be rivalled or exceeded by AI-generated works. Even scientific progress, the very tool we use to understand reality, may be taken out of our hands. We then ask whether anything that remains is exclusively "ours"? The death of human exceptionalism is not merely about intelligence—it is about identity— and the final, unsettling truth is this: when intelligence is no longer uniquely human, we may have to redefine what it even means to be human.

For the past two decades, social media has operated as a digital utopia—an interconnected world where people could curate their identities, share their lives, and build status in a way that was once unimaginable. It provided an illusion of validation, a way to quantify social worth through likes, shares, and followers. But the illusion is starting to break. People are beginning to see through the performative nature of social media. The perfectly curated lives, the staged authenticity, the endless self-promotion—more and more, people recognise that these online personas are just that: carefully constructed performances. Social validation, once the most potent psychological currency, is losing its grip. What was once an aspirational space has become a hollow projection, a stage where everyone competes for attention, but few find real fulfilment. This disillusionment is compounded by the growing realisation that social media is not a tool for human connection—it is an economic and political system designed to extract as much value from its users as possible. Every interaction, every emotion, every moment of engagement is tracked, analysed, and optimised for corporate or governmental gain. We are not users of these platforms; we are the product. Reduced to mere statistics and behavioural patterns, we are fed into predictive algorithms that determine everything—from what we see to how we think.

But this control extends far beyond social media. The more integrated technology becomes with daily life, the more power shifts toward those who control the algorithms. Governments and corporations use data not just for profit, but for influence. They shape political narratives, manipulate social sentiment, and create behavioural models that allow them to predict and preemptively control populations. Every click, every purchase, every opinion expressed online contributes to a profile that is then used to sell, persuade, or surveil. Security and power are no longer separate; they are one and the same. Surveillance is justified under the guise of protection, but it is ultimately about control. Those with access to the largest pools of data wield the most power—not just over individuals, but over entire societies. The illusion of privacy has eroded, replaced by a new reality where every action is monitored, every preference is known, and every decision is subtly influenced by invisible hands. The result is a paradox—an era where individuals are hyper-visible yet deeply dehumanised. People are seen, tracked, and categorised, yet they are no longer recognised as individuals. They are data points, economic units, votes to be swayed, consumers to be manipulated. The digital world that once promised liberation has become a mechanism for unprecedented control. As people wake up to this reality, many will attempt to disconnect, to reclaim autonomy. But the system is designed to make true disconnection nearly impossible. If identity, economy, and governance are all bound to digital networks, then opting out is no longer a simple choice—it is a radical act. And as the disillusionment deepens, society will face an unavoidable question: In a world where power belongs to those who control information, can true autonomy still exist?