yes. I do know that the awareness of it all is changing, therefore a impact on our biological self can be occuring. Nothing is stable. in fact we are taller for example then 500 years ago. We are definitly more educated also. maybe the evolution is already occuring since the 1500's.
For any evolution, any species had to first of all think about where it wanted to go (for example be able to climb to get food). so right now I think that its safe to say that a evolution is occuring, since a lot of us is asking the same question?

Evolution might decide that clever humans who have the power to destroy life on earth and all that entails in the term " enlightened evolved humans" might not actually be in the species best interests and turn us back to uneducated monkeys. You never know

I think that Hancock is right if he is talking about cultural or social evolution but he really has no say about whats in the cards for biological evolution, we will evolve to eat chemically altered food and breathe smog if we continue the path we are on for an extended period of time.

That is not to say I don't believe that psychedelics could alter biological evolution maybe even in a positive way. As stated before, evolution has no path so technically the government can't be hindering it, it is a product of circumstance.

As for transcending into a "perfect" world; I don't believe it is possible, I agree that the closest thing to perfect would be the natural world. And still in nature you find disadvantageous mutations and deformities that lead to premature death of an animal or plant.

If everyone in the world was provided for and had enough to eat and drink, the best healthcare, no wars, no crime..etc. the population would rise so quickly that we would be filled to the brink. Then what? It wouldn't be perfect and we would have to inhabit the moon. There will always be unforeseen problems that will arise out of any circumstance.

I like this. If we all got what we thought was the best for us at the time, we would be in big trouble.

The only way i can see evolution having any say in the current mass consciousness of earths population is if evolution or natural selection can do away with human "traits"
If evolution has nothing to do with the way we think or conduct ourselves then its only role in our future is helping us to adapt to whatever surroundings we are presented with.

But what we might see as bad traits e.g greed, selfishness etc might not be what mother nature sees as bad traits. After all these traits seem to have been in the human consciousness since we began and look at how well we as a species have done.

I understand the op's question but if everyone on the planet was to become psychedelically liberated to what purpose would this do the world i wonder. To me a spiritual path is very much a solitary path between yourself and the fabric of consciousness. If evryone was to experience this i know for sure that the world wouldn't change very much because of the very traits i mentioned. Greed, violence, selfishness, lust doesn't get erased from your psyche just because you have been to hyperspace.

If evolution can change these traits for the good of mankind then it's taking too long a time to do it. Even in entheogenic societies these ugly traits would still rear their ugly heads, it's just the way we are.

I think "ascension" or "evolution" into a perfect world is absolutely possible. I've experienced it, and I know that many of you have as well. Sure, I only got there with help from a heavy dose of ayahuasca, and yes, it was only temporary, but the power, beauty, realness, and perfection were undeniable. My world was an ever-improving, perfect realm during that "time", and I feel very sure that I tuned into the heavenly aspects of every piece of the universe, which exists outside of our normal perception, or embedded deep within it.

In an infinite multiverse, which I believe is what we're dealing with, every possibility exists simultaneously. So some levels are already so perfect they'll blow your socks off. You might think that's impossible, since each of our ideas of perfection are different, but we're all so interconnected that all of our perfect places blend together in as many ways as they differ from each other. In my super happy place, I'm basically all-powerful, ever-growing, and I can touch/interact with everybody and everything...And so can everybody else.

So if it's possible for us to temporarily perfect our individual worlds, then I'm sure we can one day learn to collectively harness those same powers and create universes that are so ridiculously amazing that we may as well call them fucking perfect. I hope so, anyway.

And sure, this sounds like more pipe dream mumbo jumbo, but the best things are too big and wild to be seen under a microscope or to be figured out in a rational conversation. The only way to understand it is to experience it, and that's the best way to know it anyway...Maybe?

P.s. Maybe my sources are bunk, and I don't have any to list at the moment, but I'm sure I've read that some research has shown that DNA can be progressively and naturally altered in a single lifetime, thus evolution CAN happen to an individual, and not just to groups of generations. I'd like some expert perspectives to clear that up for me.

What you are describing sounds like the manmade place called heaven. It's an egotistical thought.

In the real world and the hyperspace world good and bad co-exist. You can't have one without the other. Not at least in my experiences of life and hyperspace.

In the end when we die maybe that thought could become an everlasting realization but until then it's just a pipe dream.

On the other hand though i do beleive that there are probably alien races in the universe who live in complete harmony with each other and surely humans can someday reach this too. I'm just not sure if psychedelics will ultimately have anything to do with this or will it be evolution that is the overriding factor in our future?

As individual manifestations of the universe, why shouldn't we play a part in creating heaven? And I go back and forth on the yin & yang balance. Sometimes I think "evil" is totally necessary, and even perfect in a way. And sometimes I believe it is something that can and should be transcended. I'm still on the fence.

EDIT: And I hope psychedelics play a part in our evolution, because I sure love them like crazy.

The thing is everyones idea of evolution is different. One mans evolution is another mans backwards step.

Most people would say that as humans we evolved through science and things like The industrial revolution. These things enabled us to drive and fly and sent robots to other planets. Logically thinking that is an advance, an evolution in mankind. But were any of these people who invented and enabled such events regular users of psychedelics? No they were sober scientists.

While these scientists are doing this you have the flipside of people living in the jungle and using ayahuasca and other psyxhedelics etc these people have been living like that for thousands of years so where is the evolution in that lifestyle? But obviously there are people who think that evolution can happen in the mind and transcend the physical world.

Both these ideas kinda conflict with each other so it basically all boils down to whatever your view of evolution is.

Shamasi wiz, You are absolutely right in saying that one’s DNA can be altered in a lifetime. Many things in life can alter DNA in beneficial or destructive ways. However, it is not always passed on to the next generation. If the genetic anomaly is passed on to the next generation and is destructive, the person will likely die before it can be passed on again, or the person will have a hard time finding a partner who would find that trait desirable enough to have children. Thus the trait will not last.
If the trait is desirable and able to be passed on, the person will have maybe 2 to 3 children on average. However, not all of the children will exhibit that trait. The ones that do show the trait will have about 2 to 3 children. If each generation is on the order of 20 years, in 100 years there likely will be between 31 and 160 people who exhibit that trait. There are 7 billion people on the earth now, so even after 100 years, the percentage of people who exhibit that trait will be very close to zero.
Because genes can be recessive, undesirable traits can last for a long time, but because when they do pop up they are found to be undesirable they do not become dominant.

I like think of evolution as more of a information theory than a biological theory. I like to be optimistic: the ecological Darwinian "survival of the fittest" in human ecology is like "the perpetuation of the good" and the good is the life of the party. We are remembering how to party, and the good is perpetuating. Meanwhile the multifaceted crisis seems imminent and so much is uncertain about our future.
The mystery prevails.

"One giant out of control experiment."

I think Graham is on to something when he says we are a "species with amnesia."

Do you think those rules will apply to the ten extra, "subtle" strands of our DNA that will be activated this December by Mayans, aliens and the electromagnetic pulse beaming out of the galactic center?