Slow and Steady Wins the Race!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race!


Alexandr Piatkov


FROM THE AUTHOR: This miniature is an attempt to merge the laws of biological

evolution, the phenomenon of "living fossils," and modern digitalization trends.

Where is Homo sapiens heading: to the pinnacle of progress or toward intellectual

atrophy? A look at the problem through the prism of biological stasigenesis and

political economy.




SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE!


The question of whether any species (besides the rat) has remained resilient for

400 million years stems from a common misconception. In reality, modern rats—

whether brown or black—did not exist during the age of the dinosaurs. As a

biological species, the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) emerged only about 2

million years ago, while the rodent order itself appeared just over 60 million

years ago.


Nevertheless, true "living fossils" do exist in nature, maintaining a stable body

plan for hundreds of millions of years. At the level of a specific species, such

stability is virtually impossible, but at the level of genera and families, it is

entirely real.


- HORSESHOE CRABS (Limulidae) – their morphology has remained unchanged for 445–

480 million years. They have successfully survived all five major mass

extinctions on Earth.


- COELACANTHS (Latimeria) – a lobe-finned fish whose general body plan and

ecological niche were established around 400 million years ago.


- NAUTILUSES (Nautilidae) – cephalopod mollusks in coiled shells that have

changed very little over the past 500 million years.


Evolutionary stability (stasigenesis) is fully explained by the laws of modern

Synthetic Theory of Evolution (STE). From the perspective of mathematical biology

and genetics, this is not a "miracle," but the natural outcome of stabilizing

natural selection.


First, this is explained by the ADAPTIVE LANDSCAPE THEORY (Sewall Wright’s

fitness landscapes). If a species finds itself at the peak of maximum fitness,

and the surrounding environment (such as the deep ocean) remains unchanged for

millions of years, any mutation pushes the organism down from that peak. As a

result, natural selection begins to act as a ruthless censor, weeding out any

deviations from the norm. A species can remain at this peak indefinitely—as long

as the environment stays stable.


Second, GENETIC HOMEOSTASIS AND EPISTASIS play a vital role. The stability of a

form does not mean its DNA is "frozen." In horseshoe crabs, mutations occur at

the same rate as in other species. However, their genetic system possesses a

complex network of interactions between genes (epistasis). Many mutations are

simply masked or compensated for, without altering the organism's outward

appearance (phenotype).


What is the real probability of this in figures? If we evaluate the chances for

each specific species, it is vanishingly small—fractions of a percent. The

average lifespan of a mammal species is about 1–2 million years; for marine

invertebrates, it is around 10 million. But since billions of species have

existed on Earth over billions of years of evolution, it was statistically

inevitable that a few hundred of them would end up in unique, super-stable

niches. This is a planetary "survivor bias": we see the handful of species stuck

in time and forget about the 99.9% of those that either changed or went extinct.



A LEAP OVER THE ABYSS: FROM HOMO SAPIENS TO HOMO SUPERSAPIENS


Is the evolutionary transition from Homo sapiens to Homo supersapiens a natural

drive for survival, or is it a perilous step into the abyss of oblivion?


The transition to a hypothetical Homo supersapiens (via genetic engineering,

cybernetic enhancement, or directed selection) represents both the greatest risk

of total extinction and the sole instrument for long-term survival. In biology,

there are no concepts of "good" or "bad"—there is only the criterion of

adaptation. This transition can be viewed from two contrasting yet equally valid

perspectives.


WHY IT IS NATURAL FOR SURVIVAL: Man is trapped in the evolutionary dead-end of

his biological body. Our anatomy and physiology (brain volume, vulnerability to

cancer, aging) have hit a plateau. Natural selection has ground to a near-halt

due to the advancements in medicine. In the cosmic long run, the Earth will

become uninhabitable, and our current biology is insufficient for colonizing

other planets. Humanity has always survived by creating "external organs"

(clothing instead of fur, tools instead of claws). The creation of Homo

supersapiens is merely the logical continuation of this process, shifting

evolution from a blind search into a managed channel.


WHY IT IS A STEP INTO THE ABYSS: Evolution is not a ladder climbing toward an

ideal, but a branching bush. Attempting to artificially accelerate the process

carries fundamental threats. First, it brings a loss of genetic stability (the

complexity trap). By altering a single gene for the sake of intelligence, we risk

breaking the hyper-complex regulatory networks of the genome, giving rise to

systemic diseases. Second, evolutionary plasticity drops: by engineering humans

for current tasks, we reduce overall genetic diversity, and a species with low

diversity perishes instantly during sudden environmental shifts. Finally, social

division and self-destruction are inevitable. Biological inequality will trigger

species wars, in which the "old" species will be wiped out, and the "new" one

might not survive the war itself.


For our species, this step looks like a deadly leap over an abyss. We are

guaranteed to destroy ourselves as a species in its current understanding.

However, refusing to leap means a slow fading away on a single planet. This is a

classic evolutionary crisis: a species either transforms into something

fundamentally new, or it disappears.



THE ANATOMY OF THRIFT: WHAT ARE THE BRAINS OF "ETERNAL" SPECIES LIKE?


The irony of evolution is that species that have maintained their stability for

400 million years either lack a brain in our conventional understanding entirely,

or have one that is extremely primitive. From the perspective of these creatures,

a massive, energy-expensive brain is not an achievement, but a questionable and

hazardous luxury.


- HORSESHOE CRABS do not possess a single, compact brain. Their nervous system is

of a diffuse-nodular type: a nerve ring (the circumesophageal ganglion) surrounds

their esophagus. The mass of this ring makes up less than 0.01% of their total

body weight—a mere fraction of a gram. This "brain" is solely occupied with

processing visual signals (they have 10 eyes) and basic reflexes.


- NAUTILUSES, unlike their evolutionarily "younger" and intelligent relatives

(octopuses and squid), have retained a primitive anatomy. Instead of a complex,

lobed brain, three simple nerve arcs consisting of ganglia surround the

esophagus. They do not even possess centers for learning and memory. The weight

of this ring is measured in milligrams, and their cognitive abilities are

minimal.


- THE COELACANTH demonstrates a striking example of anatomical thrift. In an

adult fish weighing 40–50 kg, the brain weighs only about 3 grams! It occupies a

mere 1% of the cranial cavity. The remaining 99% of the cavity is filled with

dense fatty tissue. Essentially, its skull grew over evolutionary time to support

powerful jaws, while the brain remained a tiny vestige.


For stasigenesis (eternal stability), a tiny brain is not a bug—it is a feature.

The massive human brain consumes up to 20% of the body's total energy. During

ecological crises, such an organ is a death sentence. A coelacanth or a horseshoe

crab can starve for months because their bodies barely need to expend energy on

maintaining nerve tissue. To survive in the stable environment of the ocean

floor, abstract thinking is not required—three basic reflexes are enough. A large

brain is needed to change rapidly alongside a changing world. But to remain

unchanged, a brain is not needed at all.



THE "DOMESTIC RAT" SYNDROME AND PUSHKIN’S BALDA


In a "vote" spanning 400 million years, the elder species acted as the ultimate

conservatives and escapists of the biosphere. They found their quiet "offshores"

on the ocean floor and voted against evolutionary progress, choosing biological

immortality at the cost of renouncing reason.


Man, by contrast, has always been a radical revolutionary. Today, however, on the

threshold of creating Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), this revolutionary

risks turning into Pushkin’s Balda, wandering through the marketplace with no

clear direction, driven solely by short-term gain. Each AI incarnation currently

boasts a billion active users—the movement has achieved global scale. Yet,

despite all the appeal of "intellectual communism," one must wonder: where does

this road lead?


The link between the shrinking of the human brain over the past 20,000 years and

the global triumph of AI exposes a profound systemic crisis of our species.


Anthropologists agree: since the era of the Cro-Magnons, the volume of the human

brain has decreased by roughly 10–15% (about the size of a tennis ball). The

primary reason for this is collective intelligence and specialization. A

Paleolithic generalist had to hold everything in a single head: how to craft an

axe, which hundred herbs were poisonous, how to track a mammoth, and how to

navigate by the stars. A foolish Cro-Magnon died instantly—selection demanded a

powerful individual "processor."


For a civilizational specialist, with the advent of the division of labor, the

load on the individual brain plummeted. Human self-domestication occurred. All

domestic animals have smaller brains than their wild ancestors because a safe

environment and a master take over the functions of survival. Society became our

"master."


Today, AI is becoming a new "exobrain." When a technology gains billions of

users, it transforms into an environment. When any answer or decision can be

obtained in a fraction of a second without the slightest mental effort, the core

law of biology takes effect: an organ that does not work atrophies. We are no

longer delegating mere memory (maps, phone numbers) to machines, but analysis,

synthesis, critical thinking, and creativity.


If survival and social success no longer require complex internal analytical

work, the evolutionary trend toward brain reduction will only accelerate. By

transferring our primary species trait—reason—to an external silicon medium,

biological man risks an evolutionary regression. We could become a kind of

"horseshoe crabs of the future"—biologically stable, well-fed creatures protected

by algorithms, but completely stripped of the very spark of individual genius

that made us human. In striving for Homo supersapiens, humanity, through the

creation of AI, may accidentally trigger the reverse process—transformation into

a hyper-comfortable but profoundly intellectually castrated species.



THE TRAP OF PAST LABOR


This anthropological crisis is tightly intertwined with an economic one. In

political economy, there is a concept of Past Labor, as opposed to Living Labor.

An anvil created by the past labor of a blacksmith can serve many generations of

his descendants. However, a modern CAD/CAM system that provides the design and

manufacturing of parts will not be able to serve many generations of local

residents—either the product or the system itself will become obsolete, or the

market will move in another direction. Although an incredible amount of Past

Labor is invested in this digital production, its time vanishes in an instant.


In the days of carved wooden window frames, their makers lived alongside their

customers, inherited tools from fathers and grandfathers, lived by Living Labor,

and everyone had enough. The balance between Living and Past labor must be

carefully maintained; only then will aggregate debt stop growing, and expansive

ideas of Cloud technologies and giant Data Centers will not arise. We need to

expose the volumes of Past Labor that cannot be inherited and reject this dead

legacy.


Digital Past Labor is structured like a parasite. It requires astronomical

investment and becomes obsolete instantly: software and server hardware turn to

junk in 3–5 years. A son cannot simply "take" his father’s CAD/CAM system—he will

have to pay corporations monthly for licenses, updates, and cloud storage. Modern

Past Labor does not accumulate; it rots faster than it can pay for itself. To

maintain this giant infrastructure, the economy is forced to live perpetually on

credit—hence the astronomical aggregate debts of nations.


Future generations will inherit nothing from us but a digital graveyard. We burn

billions of hours of Living Labor writing code that no one will be able to run in

10 years. The idea of the "Cloud" is an attempt by corporations to make us rent a

tool for life, stripping us of ownership rights. If the global plug is pulled, we

will have no tools left that work on their own. Rejecting this "dead" heritage is

not a call to return to the Stone Age, but a demand to restore common sense by

returning to a local economy, where production serves the needs of the region and

relies on a durable, inheritable foundation.



HOW TO RETURN TO THE ROOTS?


Returning to a local economy on a durable foundation means creating a high-tech

neo-craftsmanship. For tools to become inheritable again, like that very anvil,

the transition must rely on four fundamental steps:


1.SHIFTING TO "STANDALONE DIGITAL ANVILS." The local economy must rely solely on

Open Source hardware and software. Programs for design and production management

must run locally on a computer, without the internet, subscriptions, or licenses.

The code of such a program can be recorded on a durable medium and passed down to

a son along with the machine tool. It can be studied, repaired, and modified

independently.


2.MODULARITY AND THE "ETERNAL STANDARD" OF PARTS. Corporations intentionally

change connectors and protocols every few years for the sake of artificial

obsolescence. Regional production must be built on rigid standards unchanged for

decades. If all motors, bearings, and fasteners in a region have fixed standard

sizes, then any device (a tractor, a mill, a machine tool) becomes infinitely

repairable. A local craftsman can turn a worn part in an hour—the manufacturer

and the customer will live on the same street again.


3.ENERGY AND RESOURCE AUTONOMY. Production must focus on local materials (wood,

clay, rolled metal, bio-composites) and local energy (small hydro, biofuels, wind

turbines). The Past Labor invested in building a small local water mill or a

mini-CHPP pays off for generations, unlike data centers that burn out in five

years.


4.SHIFTING PSYCHOLOGY: FROM CONSUMPTION TO PRESERVATION. Things and tools must be

valued for their redundant strength. Making one tractor that serves three

generations of farmers for 50 years is economically more profitable for a region

than buying a plastic "smart" analogue with a feature subscription every 5 years.

The regional balance will be restored when Past Labor once again takes the form

of physical, understandable, and indestructible things.



CLOSING THE COSMIC CYCLE


Living labor originally had a living force at its core—human energy. The path of

evolution, from crude to refined, led to the replacement of muscular force with

mechanical force, mental labor with Artificial Intelligence, and the reproduction

of life with parasitism. But, judging by the cyclopean structures of past

civilizations, this stage is coming to an end, as is everything else under the

sun. "What has been will be again."


Every step of "progress" was actually a step toward stripping the human essence

from the process of being. When both body and mind are outsourced to machines,

Living Labor vanishes, replaced by parasitism on the Past Labor of previous

generations.


The cyclopean structures of antiquity—Baalbek, the pyramids, the polygonal

masonry of Peru—are a living refutation of our conceit. They were created by

civilizations whose Past Labor lacked "plastic disposability." They invested

Living Force into objects capable of outlasting geological epochs. The fact that

we today, with our supercomputers, are often unable to build something that

stands for even a thousand years (our concrete high-rises and data centers are

designed for 50–100 years max) proves that our technological stage is merely a

brief, unstable fluctuation.


The cyclopean ruins of the past are our own future. When the colossal aggregate

debt, the energy hunger of data centers, and the intellectual degradation of

Balda walking through the digital marketplace reach a critical point, the system

will reboot. Fragile, parasitic Past Labor (clouds, servers, global logistics

chains) will crumble first because it lacks internal resilience.


Nothing is eternal. This finale is the natural death of the old world, which

should not be obstructed, so that at least something can bloom again on its

substrate. Attempting to artificially prolong the life of a dying system only

increases the scale of the future catastrophe. The civilizational "deadwood" of

unpayable debts, disposable digital junk, and intellectual parasitism must rot,

just as humus rots for new growth.


On these ruins, the evolutionary pendulum will swing back. Man will reclaim his

physical connection to the earth and stone. New generations will build not data

centers, but reliable homes, simple machines, and hand tools—things durable and

heavy, which one is not ashamed to pass to a son. And having rid itself of the

crutches of ubiquitous AI, the human brain will be forced to switch its

evolutionary capacities back on just to survive.


History will indeed come full circle. And on this new turn, people, perhaps, will

look at the cyclopean stones of antiquity not with the foolish arrogance of

"technocratic superiority," but with a deep understanding of ancestors who knew

the price of every hammer blow and every Living effort.



Original text: proza.ru/avtor/alexanderan
Author: Alexandr Piatkov
Translated by: AI
Publication Details: Based on Publication Certificate №226100500637 (2026)