New Hominid Species ever able to Supplant HomoSapien?

[Stravo]

We see it most in the X-Men stories with the idea that Homo Superior will supplant humanity as the dominant life form yet I think most future storylines recognize a very bleak outcome for homo superior in that conflict.

Is it essentially impossible as it stands now for a new species or sub species of hominid to be able to supplant humans? With the edge humans have militarily, infrastructure, numberwise, could we ever see a similar situation where Homo Sapien took out Neanderthal or where humanity defeats and enslaves homo superior in X-Men?

Is it even possible for another intelligent species to evolve on our world? Has humanity essentially 'won' the Evolution game on Earth and would take outside intervention (plague, asteroid strike) to even the playing field for another species?

[Ariphaos]

Transhumanism postulates that we will, or should, build the replacement ourselves, either by creating a new sentience or rebuilding the human form, going through a transhuman stage into a presumably immortal, nigh superhuman 'posthuman', sometimes referred to as homo excelsior or homo superior.

[Elheru Aran]

Transhumanism postulates that we will, or should, build the replacement ourselves, either by creating a new sentience or rebuilding the human form, going through a transhuman stage into a presumably immortal, nigh superhuman 'posthuman', sometimes referred to as homo excelsior or homo superior.

This is the most probable course as well IMO; we're not about to evolve any further, bar mutation. Genetic engineering on a large scale may produce a smaller sub-race of slightly more advanced humans with better features (less subscreptibility to getting fat, better health, etc). However, it would take a VERY LONG time for said sub-race to reproduce enough to supplant humanity entirely, so it's not likely to happen anytime soon.

[McC]

Maybe my understanding is flawed, but I feel like the premise of this question demonstrates an inaccurate understanding of evolution. A "replacement species" wouldn't just appear. The entirety of the human race would evolve into that replacement species. There wouldn't be a single defining characteristic that signifies the species as unique -- it's simply the form we'd all have (well, not we, but future hominids). Homo superior attempting to supplant humanity, while making for great drama (I love the X-men books/movies/shows/anything), operates on a completely wrong premise.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

We see it most in the X-Men stories with the idea that Homo Superior will supplant humanity as the dominant life form yet I think most future storylines recognize a very bleak outcome for homo superior in that conflict.

Is it essentially impossible as it stands now for a new species or sub species of hominid to be able to supplant humans? With the edge humans have militarily, infrastructure, numberwise, could we ever see a similar situation where Homo Sapien took out Neanderthal or where humanity defeats and enslaves homo superior in X-Men?

Is it even possible for another intelligent species to evolve on our world? Has humanity essentially 'won' the Evolution game on Earth and would take outside intervention (plague, asteroid strike) to even the playing field for another species?

Of course it's possible. All it requires is some global calamity that creates isolated human populations, where genetic changes can accumulate in such a degree that one of those populations becomes incapable of interbreeding with its neighbors. Then that population just has to conquer everybody else. Otherwise, it will be difficult for a "superior" hominid species to evolve on Earth simply because we're so interconnected. Beneficial genes will rapidly (relatively speaking) percolate into the larger human gene pool, preventing any population from becoming sufficiently isolated for speciation to take place.

Then again, if we colonize other solar systems, those people will be effectively isolated from us (owing to the travel times inherent in a no-FTL universe.) They will produce different species of humans within 100,000 years, and may only supplant us if we in the Solar System completely die out.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Genetic engineering on a large scale may produce a smaller sub-race of slightly more advanced humans with better features (less subscreptibility to getting fat, better health, etc). However, it would take a VERY LONG time for said sub-race to reproduce enough to supplant humanity entirely, so it's not likely to happen anytime soon.

The flaw in that reasoning is it assumes the genetic engineering would only happen once. As I see it, it's much more likely that once a population of "superiors" exists and is seen to really be superior and doesn't go on a world conquest rampage, then more and more people will engineer their children to match ( a sci-fi scenario I've seen occasionally ). The new race could effectively replace the old in a few generations, without having to fire a shot or outbreed us at all.

Of course it's possible. All it requires is some global calamity that creates isolated human populations, where genetic changes can accumulate in such a degree that one of those populations becomes incapable of interbreeding with its neighbors. Then that population just has to conquer everybody else. Otherwise, it will be difficult for a "superior" hominid species to evolve on Earth simply because we're so interconnected. Beneficial genes will rapidly (relatively speaking) percolate into the larger human gene pool, preventing any population from becoming sufficiently isolated for speciation to take place.

It's quite possible that the alterations would prevent the engineered from breeding naturally with the naturals, thereby rendering them into a second gene pool at the outset. For that matter, if multiple genetic engineering projects exist, they might very well produce multiple genetically incompatible post-humans.

[mr friendly guy]

Maybe my understanding is flawed, but I feel like the premise of this question demonstrates an inaccurate understanding of evolution. A "replacement species" wouldn't just appear. The entirety of the human race would evolve into that replacement species.

Why should the entirety of the human race evolve to be that "replacement species" Stravo was talking about. Given concepts of population isolation splitting a population in two (ie say a group of snails become isolated from the main group and over time evolve to be a different species from the original group which also survives), I can't see why theoretically it cannot happen to humans. This would require the isolated human population to evolve to this "replacement species" and be able to survive better than current humans.

[18-Till-I-Die]

Stravo, are you talking about like what would happen if there were real Mutants?

Like people who can fly, read minds, control the weather, dead lift Abrams tanks and the like?

Yeah if they just suddenly appeared, and like in X-men they looked just like us except for a few, then yeah they'd probably infiltrate and take over with their powers before we know what hit us.

[Surlethe]

Yeah if they just suddenly appeared, and like in X-men they looked just like us except for a few, then yeah they'd probably infiltrate and take over with their powers before we know what hit us.

Stravo's question deals with the scientific concept of speciation, and the concept of "mutants", as put forth in X-Men, is utterly ridiculous. If such mutants actually existed, there's very little reason for the mutations to quickly spread through the gene pool, given how much they look like us.

[18-Till-I-Die]

Well he mentioned X-Men and said Homo Superior, which is the scientific name for Mutancy in the X-Men universe, so i just assumed me meant what if superhumans suddenly appeared, somehow, in a generation or two. As in, how would mankind react to the introduction of a race of men who can bench a Chevy and take full clips from a .45 without dying and such.

I dont pretend to know about speciation or anything, i misunderstood the question.

[mr friendly guy]

Well he mentioned X-Men and said Homo Superior, which is the scientific name for Mutancy in the X-Men universe, so i just assumed me meant what if superhumans suddenly appeared, somehow, in a generation or two. As in, how would mankind react to the introduction of a race of men who can bench a Chevy and take full clips from a .45 without dying and such.

I dont pretend to know about speciation or anything, i misunderstood the question.

No, Stravo was asking can another Hominid species evolve to be more dominant than us, Homo Sapiens. Since the so called Homo Superior in the X-men comics reproduce quite well with normal humans, (note Xavier and Magneto having children with normal humans), they aren't a different species. This would be an example of anagenesis (changes within a species) as opposed to speciation. Note that this anagenesis occurs by saltutations (massive changes over 1 generation) which is contrary to how evolutionary changes behave in real life.

Speciation is essentially the phase in evolution when one species becomes another. So if say in X-men comics there was a new species called Homo Supreme, which could reproduce among other Homo Supremes but not among Homo Sapiens, Homo Supreme would be a new species.

[Patrick Degan]

The problem with mutation is that it perpetuates only if said mutation proves an evolutionary benefit and allows interbreeding with normal members of the same species. If homo superior can't breed offspring with homo sapiens, there's a good chance they won't be able to do it with each other either. In which case the mutants die out within one generation. If they can create children among themselves but not with normal humans, you're talking about a distinct lack of genetic diversity a.k.a. the inbreeding problem, which leads to all sorts of fatal defects down the line. Assuming they're not simply exterminated, of course.

[Ariphaos]

This is the most probable course as well IMO; we're not about to evolve any further, bar mutation. Genetic engineering on a large scale may produce a smaller sub-race of slightly more advanced humans with better features (less subscreptibility to getting fat, better health, etc). However, it would take a VERY LONG time for said sub-race to reproduce enough to supplant humanity entirely, so it's not likely to happen anytime soon.

Well actually, my own sci-fi setting posits the creation of a viral strain that overwrites the necessary genes. While not contagious, it does become insanely cheap, and eventually replaces most 'humans', though it isn't a full-scale posthuman yet.

[wolveraptor]

saltutations

That's saltations, I believe.[/nitpick]

I don't feel that the subversion of our dominance by another hominid will be through wars or fighting. We will, in all likelyhood, genetically engineer our children to be like the "superior" species. What could occur, however, are different classes of genetically engineered hominids that are not inherently superior to each other, but are designed to function in a specific habitat of the future. There could be racial integration problems in this case.