It was a good run. Scientists say we'll never be stronger or taller or live longer than we do today
Yes, it looks like we've peaked (unless we merge with cyborgs)
Faster, stronger, better. Inspiring lyrics that, thanks to Kanye's catchy hooks, have no doubt inspired you to challenge your own personal limits atop the treadmill at your local gym. And they seem to ring true. A belief that pushing ourselves further and further will always yield results is a defining feature of the human spirit. The bar keeps getting raised - and reached. From eyelashes to long-jumps to lifespans, records keep getting broken and we remain obsessed with updating our best. But recent research suggests the finest days of evolutionary achievement could be behind us and we may be at fault, at least in part. Yes, any raised bars from this point forward will remain well beyond our grasp—science says we've peaked.
A new study published in Frontiers of Physiology now presents compelling evidence that the upper limits of human capability have likely been, or are about to be, reached. Based on historical records and trends plotted over generations, the study data is hard to refute, say researchers. It could be worse. We live longer than ever and our athletic achievements still continue to be improved, if only by milliseconds and ounces, for now. Still, researchers claim a plateau is before us and we won't see any more jumps in height, endurance or life expectancy from this point in history. We may be entering a kind of success stagnation.
Professor Jean-François Toussaint from Paris Descartes University says the finding is unprecedented. "Modern societies have allowed our species to reach its limits," particularly with our physical prowess and life spans, he asserts. And we now know it. "We are the first generation to become aware of this." Toussaint is adamant that the impact of the findings are compounded by our current remarkable scientific aptitudes. "Despite further continuous nutritional, medical, and scientific progress," he explains, "these traits no longer increase".
What will happen, suggests the data, is that we'll just have more people catching up to our higher-end maximums. More of us will live to be about 120 or easily manage a full marathon in around 2 hours. If you'd like some concrete benchmarks, consider that the current marathon record (42.195 kilometres, mind you) is a very fast 2 hours, 2 minutes and 57 held by Dennis Kimetto of Kenya, while Violet Brown of Jamaica currently holds the title of oldest living human at 117. A glimpse into our future.
We're to blame. Sort of.
Toussaint explains that part of the performance plateau is due to our own baked-in genetic limitations. Indeed, the study reads: "a new phase of human history may be related to structural and functional limits determined by long term evolutionary constraints." But a considerable amount of weight is also being put on environmental constraints, or what the study refers to as "the interaction between complex systems and their environment". Evolutionary barriers may be holding us back but so too might the environmental damage we've visited on the earth and ourselves. "This will be one of the biggest challenges of this century as the added pressure from anthropogenic activities will be responsible for damaging effects on human health and the environment," asserts Toussaint. Anthropogenic, by the way, is defined as "chiefly of environmental pollution and pollutants originating in human activity". So, everybody get ready to enjoy a hot bowl of "our own fault" soup as we spin our wheels pushing ourselves further in vain.
Consider too that if environmental conditions get worse, there could even be a physical capability clawback for future generations. We could go backwards. "The current declines in human capacities we can see today," says Toussaint, "are a sign that environmental changes, including climate, are already contributing to the increasing constraints we now have to consider."
To be sure, medical discoveries eliminating our most fatal illnesses or conditions could rejig our upper lifespan limits (if cancer and heart disease were to go the way of polio, for example). As could advancements in the fields of nutrition but current data is strongly underlying the limitations of the human body, not it's inexhaustible potential.
Cue robo sapiens
If you're an overachiever consider that all is not lost, so long as we get creative (thankfully, that's another handy human trait). Billionaire inovator, Elon Musk, has been championing a marriage of man and machine for awhile. To his mind, we'll only evolve from now on by becoming cyborgs in a "merger of biological intelligence and machine intelligence". Something he hopes will leverage the disruptive threat of AI he often talks about. If you want in, Musk is already underway with a brain-machine interface initiative called Neuralink that he thinks will keep us from becoming irrelevant life forms. By irrelevant one could assume he means extinct but Musk thinks we're likely to be just about as relevant as "house cats". Unless we upgrade. The injectable "neuroprosthetic" offered by Neuralink could grant us unlimited memory, lightning access to reams of information, night vision (yes) and the ability to transmit complex ideas telepathically. Although it sounds like science fiction it could also allow us to artificially side-step a whole host of degenerative brain diseases, too. Or at least just keep our jobs. Alternatively, you know, meow.
Until that happens, a re-write to Kanye's anthemic pep-track Faster. Stronger. Better. may be in order. Although admittedly, "This is as good as it gets" might prove less rousing for a workout no matter how much auto-tune you lace it with.
Marc Beaulieu is a writer, producer and host of the live Q&A show guyQ LIVE @AskMen.