Human evolution is changing gears as cultural systems like technology, medicine, and education increasingly drive our survival and future adaptation faster than genes ever could, according to a hypothesis published in the 2025 BioScience journal by University of Maine researchers Timothy Waring and Zachary Wood.
Cultural Inheritance Versus Genetic Evolution in Modern Humans
For thousands of years, biological traits dictated human survival through natural selection. Today, cultural innovations preempt those genetic changes by altering environmental pressures before mutations can spread naturally. Interventions like cesarean sections and reproductive medicine modify the biological consequences of human variation, meaning cultural inheritance now shapes human futures at a pace genes simply cannot match, as Waring and Wood argue.
This shift did not happen overnight. The adoption of farming, legal institutions, and shared technologies represents a gradual accumulation of cultural solutions. However, Waring and Wood propose that this trend is accelerating. Cultural practices now intervene directly in human reproduction and survival, altering long-term evolutionary trajectories without waiting for biological selection.
Did you know? Cultural traits are not physically replicated like DNA. Instead, they transmit through observable behaviors, active inference, and imitation by learners.
The Superorganism Claim and Human Individuality
The boldest assertion of the Waring and Wood hypothesis is that humans may be evolving toward a cultural “superorganism.” As societies rely more heavily on shared infrastructure, specialized labor, and cooperation among non-relatives, groups begin to function like integrated biological collectives, such as ant or bee colonies.
This transition involves a change in human individuality. Just as independent cells once joined to form multicellular organisms, culturally organized groups might acquire a major evolutionary role. Modern human life is heavily mediated by group-level practices and technology, yet this concept remains one of the most ambitious and debated ideas in contemporary evolutionary biology.
Scientific Critiques of Cultural Evolutionary Transitions
Applying the evolutionary-transitions-in-individuality framework to human societies faces pushback from the scientific community. In October 2025, researcher Nejad Kourki published a peer-reviewed critique challenging whether cultural integration matches biological transitions.
Kourki’s central objection focuses on reproduction. Biological transitions in individuality require the newly formed collective to become an autonomous entity that reproduces and participates in natural selection at the higher level. Because human nations and institutions generally lack group-level biological reproduction, Kourki argues that societies behave in organism-like ways without literally becoming evolutionary individuals.
Waring and Wood attempt to sidestep this critique by proposing that cultural inheritance accumulates adaptive information at the group level even without classic genetic group selection. Even so, the authors emphasize that their future projections remain speculative and that outcomes are not inevitable.
Quantitative Testing and Empirical Research Challenges
Testing these evolutionary hypotheses requires rigorous quantitative methods. During a 2026 fellowship at the Konrad Lorenz Institute, Waring outlined projects designed to build formal models and test the theory against modern and deep-time datasets to find unbiased estimates of transition metrics.
Researchers face a significant hurdle: trends like falling fertility, expanding institutions, and rising medical dependence have multiple potential explanations. Establishing that these trends stem from a single overarching evolutionary transition requires distinct predictions that outperform competing theories. Both Waring and Wood caution against confusing evolutionary language with moral progress, stressing that wealthier or technologically advanced societies are not ethically superior or more "evolved."
Frequently Asked Questions
Are humans still evolving genetically?
Yes, but researchers argue that cultural innovations like medicine and technology now outpace genetic changes by solving adaptive problems much faster than biological mutations can spread.
What is a cultural superorganism?
It is a hypothesis suggesting that human societies are becoming so dependent on shared institutions and cooperation that groups might eventually function as integrated biological collectives, similar to insect colonies.
Why do some scientists disagree with the superorganism theory?
Critics like Nejad Kourki argue that human societies lack autonomous group-level reproduction, which is a requirement for true biological evolutionary transitions in individuality.
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