Unless you are a devout creationist, you understand and accept the basic concepts of evolution, that nature produces biological change over time.
What most of us don't notice is that evolution is an underlying mechanical aspect of our universe which appears to behave like fractals, creating order from the chaotic nature of entropy..
Clueless, we examine who we are, and the environment we exist within. We may invent a thing or two and die, then our offspring will repeat this formula, thus we create future society, civilization and technology.
For millions of years, we have been motivated to participate in an evolution that leaves our history behind, and a future in front. The motivations that have driven us to act have not changed, as they do the same work today as they have done in the past.
Evolution in a basic sense should be a study of these motivators, for they are what produce the outward visible activity of evolution. The "will to life", or the "will to power" were German philosophical approaches, but I think a chemical or biological approach is best. A study of the model of large and small scale reality that is derived from our motivation would best describe the reasons for our evolution through history to date. It may tell us the true intent of the process, why we are here, or from a theological aspect what is the intent of God.
Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees.
You may accept that a baby evolves into adulthood, that in a million years we have evolved into what we are today, and that who you were 10 years ago is different than who you are today. But, why? What is the point? There is a more complex reason than the motivation between your legs involved here.
Things change, we envision a future and recall a past. We believe our actions have an effect on tomorrow. Yet there is good evidence that our actions are deterministic , and are motivated by the very nature of the universe. A fully deterministic physical reality would indicate that free will is an illusion. That today and all the events of the past were as certain to be as anything we could think to be certain.
The first example of life on this planet was 3.2 billion years ago. The first sexual reproduction was 900 million years ago. Dinosaurs were about 200 million years ago. We humans show up about 3.7 million years ago. About 2 million years ago we developed tools. 100 thousand years ago we migrate from Africa and populate the world.
10 to 13 thousand years ago organized civilizations begin.
From that point, biological evolution is no longer the underlying change that is evident. Biological evolution gives way to a new paradigm of change, a cultural and scientific evolution. Especially in the past 300 years where change has been so dramatic.
There was once a term "renaissance man" that would describe someone well versed in all subjects. Someone who could write, play music, build a house, hunt, and sport. A person that knew and could do about 90% of the accepted knowledge at the time. Today, it is virtually impossible to know anywhere close to a majority percentile of all there is to know. We are creating a society of greater and greater specialization, where the functioning persons require doctorates to do their specialized task, yet at the same time having less of a global understanding of the world they live in. Cogs dedicated to a task, driven by the promise of shiny homes and cars, yet rarely questioning, what is the ultimate task we are all so dedicated to?
If you understand the principal of a universal "Turring" machine you will notice that this recent expansion of information acts like a Turing machine in reverse. We are creating a maze of knowledge and economic complexity that we will individually never decipher. (see CHAOS)
The subject of a technological singularity is no longer an abstract concept. The possibility that we may create intelligence that would be able to understand 90% of all knowing, points to the computer becoming the last Renaissance man. We need to place some attention to this possibility, and what it could imply to our existence.
A stranger concept in this evolution from past to the future, is that we may be only slavish witnesses to this event. That the physics of evolution will dictate that we have no free will, nor the ability to participate in the future which our labor and history created. Maybe you will agree that this is a very strange problem.
Jared Diamond PBS germs guns and steel
Singularity... Artificial Intelligence ?
Suggested : When Humans Transcend Biology: Ray Kurzweil: Books ... Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology