Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential: A Cosmic Vision of Our Future Evolution

by Ted Chu

In fact, our most overarching human objective seems to have been reduced to the simplistic notion of the maximization of human happiness, which requires little more than that everybody be nice to others and “do no harm.” This feel-good goal is at best egocentric complacency, with the implicit assertion that humankind is an end in itself. It plays safely and pleasantly to the lowest common denominator of human desires. At worst, however, it represents a decadent self-indulgence that flatly flies in the face of what we now know about how the universe evolved, where we came from, our place in evolution, and what our potential is—all of which we will discuss at length. I therefore argue that peace, prosperity, harmony, and human happiness are not ultimate ends in themselves; they become great goals only in the context of how they can serve a larger, cosmic purpose—which I will refer to as the one true Creation. Although I do not pretend to be able to fathom this purpose in its totality, or what the next great leaps in evolution and consciousness will “look like,” our ever-increasing understanding of science and evolution has given us some tantalizing clues. We can say that we are part—or maybe even a focal point—of an amazing cosmic process that started with the Big Bang more than thirteen billion years ago. We can also say that the effort to consciously participate in the unfolding of this grand evolutionary process is the greatest purpose we can find and identify with, and i...