Brain and body mass together are positively correlated with lifespan (Hofman 1993). The duration of neural development is one of the best predictors of brain size, and conception is the best zero-point to mark the start of development, namely, the point at which sperm and egg fuse forming a single-cell organism followed by exponential mitosis (Finlay 2019b). The formation of complex molecules in biology can occur spontaneously, thereby leading to the creation of sophisticated organisms (Liu et al. 2019). Following each documented extinction of species (and there have been at least five since ~ 400 million years ago) there is a rapid degradation of biology, especially of complex life that depends on a resilient food chain dependent on simpler organisms. Following the most recent extinction 65 million years ago (i.e., the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction, Alverez et al. 1979), the dinosaurs (which were large-bodied but small-brained) were obliterated making room for new mammalian species that evolved into animals having the following characteristics: an extended longevity to enable the formation of large bodies accompanied by large brains (e.g., the killer whale, the human, the elephant, the gorilla, and so on) during which time learning to adapt to environmental disruptions was paramount (Hebb 1949). Yet even with the newest complexity, there is no guarantee that if the current species go extinct that the replacement species will possess a comparable level of sophistication, since the evolution of complexity is based on a protracted fitness (Dawkins 1976). We may soon find out if our complexity is sufficient to right all the wrongs that we have inflicted on ourselves and others (Chomsky 2023; Ellsberg 2023; Hansen et al. 1981). Pessimistically, the entomologist Edward O. Wilson has predicted that once we reach a population of ten billion—we are now at eight—expect humankind to turn on itself much like an over-extended ant colony (Wilson 2012). Our children may get to test his prediction, if those at the helm continue to assume that humans operate outside of evolution.
