ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2023
Major evolutionary transitions in individuality between humans and AI.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evolvable AI: Threats of a new major transition in evolution.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Could humans and AI become a new evolutionary individual?Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- The success of artificial selection for collective composition hinges on initial and target values.eLife · 2025Article
- Individuality Through Ecology: Rethinking the Evolution of Complex Life From an Externalist Perspective.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Fundamental constraints to the logic of living systems.Interface focus · 2024Review
- Evolution and sustainability: gathering the strands for an Anthropocene synthesis.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Review
- Characteristic processes of human evolution caused the Anthropocene and may obstruct its global solutions.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Review
- Human socio-cultural evolution in light of evolutionary transitions: introduction to the theme issue.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Human societal development: is it an evolutionary transition in individuality?Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Review
- Conditions that favour cumulative cultural evolution.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Can sociality facilitate learning of complex tasks? Lessons from bees and flowers.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Major evolutionary transitions in individuality between humans and AI.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
That humans might undergo future evolutionary transitions in individuality (ETIs) seems fanciful. However, drawing upon recent thinking concerning the origins of properties that underpin ETIs, I argue that certain ETIs are imminently realizable. Central to my argument is recognition that heritable variance in fitness at higher levels of organization can be externally imposed (scaffolded) by specific ecological structures and cultural practices. While ETIs to eusociality seem highly improbable, ETIs involving symbioses between humans and artificial intelligence (AI) can be readily envisaged. A necessary requirement is that fitness-affecting interactions between humans and AI devices are inherited by offspring. The Mendelian nature of human reproduction ensures that offspring resemble parents. Reproduction of AI devices requires nothing more than transference of algorithms from parental AI devices to devices that are assigned to offspring. This simple copying, combined with societal structures that require humans to carry AI devices, ensures heritable variance in fitness at the level of both interacting partners. Selection at the collective level will drive alignment of replicative fates and increase co-dependency, thus alleviating need for continual imposition of externally imposed scaffolds. I conclude by drawing attention to the immediacy of such transitions and express concern over possibilities for malevolent manipulation. This article is part of the theme issue 'Human socio-cultural evolution in light of evolutionary transitions'.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.