Let’s assume that humanoid lifeforms, as a species and planetary civilization, are at the edge of an evolutionary test. Assume that we are approaching a threshold for which there is no known precedent. Traditional theoretical models accept certain specific inarguable conditions: (1) linear progression and systemic development of cultures, organizational complexity, and genetics are the precursor to our current existence status; and (2) no development or intervention by “external” means ever occurred. I would argue that neither of these conditions is necessarily true. In fact, an increasing body of evidence suggests alternative possibilities that directly defy the more traditionally “accepted” development and evolutionary models.

First, note that around the world and across myriad boundaries of race and cultures, people in all walks of life are currently responding to a profound sense of urgency. Our current existence is exposing us to increasing levels of complexity. We are becoming immersed in an environment where everything that affects our perceived existence is interconnected at all times. This interconnectiveness is accelerating in real time. We are experiencing an “existence velocity” never before encountered in human history!

Second, note the future projections from a myriad of ancient cultures around the world. Well over 60 different cultures on five continents – regardless of the unique nature of their linguistics, narrative methods, and styles of expression – constructed monuments using fantastic feats of engineering. They chronicled and depicted, in great detail, spectacular and significant events to be encountered in current or near current time. They inscribed highly sophisticated astronomical calculations detailing these events, often with technical skill that cannot be explained or duplicated to this very day. These inscriptions, foretelling events for the first third of the 21st century per the Julian calendar, show remarkable consistency. The question is, why?

Today we are at that edge of time specifically cited by this diverse collection of cultures. What we find are features of a current world that could not possibly be comprehended by the ancient cultures. Our future “existence” is currently being driven by synthetic biology, artificial lifeforms and intelligences, applied nanotechnology, cybernetic enhancements to the mind and body, and many other areas of already applied science that are redefining such basic concepts as "what is life, thought, or even consciousness itself?"

I believe that the evolution of living systems tends to be a trauma-induced process. When the periodicity and amplitude of the trauma cycle does not exceed the system’s capacity to respond, the system evolves to a more robust form.

Furthermore, like a fractal, this system dynamic tends to operate at all scales of interaction both large and small. For humans as a societal mechanism, this system dynamic affects the evolution of the individual, the family, the clan or tribe, on to entire civilizations. On a macro scale it extends to planets, and further extends to cosmological evolution.