Human Evolution and the Genius of Arthur C. Clarke

A few days ago when I was going throught my whole levels of consiousness kick, I had an epiphany about the stages of sentient evolution and mankind. Only now I realize that this was just me fully understanding the implications of Arthur C. Clarke's work, but before I get too deep, let me explain.From the inception of life up to a certain point, an organism evolves to adapt to its environment. The physical form changes to one best suitable for the situation it is in. In the case of Humanity, we went through the ape stages becoming physically strong, developing depth perception, and creating a social order. At some point, the opposable thumb was developed. This was the first major leap for our species, we could now effectively use tools and manipulate our environment. Still our bodies evolved to a point where we could maximize our newfound abilities (ie bipedal configuration) until at last, we came to the dawn of the history of civilization.This represented a new plateau for humankind. No longer did we physically change to better suit our environment; we began to change our environment to better suit our needs and wants. At this point, we ceased (for the most part) to develop physically as we became better and better at manipulating the environment. We evolved in an orthogonal direction to our previous physical path, now our evolution was a mental one, a cognitive evolution.We're currently in the middle of our cognitive evolution; progression to where one day we will achieve an ultimate, unifying theory on the operation of life, the universe, everything (to reference Douglas Adams). At some point, it is feasible, as Clarke forsaw, for humanity to no longer require the naturally evolved body. We would create new bodies for ourselves, ones that better suited our new cognitive abilities. We would sever all ties to the natural world, no longer living in it, but living on another plane of existence completely. A plane of artificial existence from which total manipulation of the natural world is possible. Eventually we would even slough of these artificial bodies, perhaps becoming pure thought: actuality.In Clarke this is the ultimate meaning of the monolith. The oldest races in the Universe went through these stages, using the monoliths as bodies until they no longer needed them, and then using them as tools: sef-perpetuating probes that could spread throughout the Universe. This is an oustandingly brilliant idea. Obviously a pure consciousness would not be able to interact with the natural Universe directly, so it would use these monoliths with which it could interface directly to enact its will on the Universe. Essentially, a race of pure thought could thread its influence into the very workings of the Universe itself. And that's where I tie back into my other ideas on evolution. Could it not be possible that an older consciousness is tied into the very strings of the Universe. We are all apart of it, all influenced by it, and yet all influencing it at the same time. This may be a bit of a stretch, but it does raise compelling questions.How long do these stages of evolution take? Are we on the right path? Is there even and ultimate cognitive truth? Obviously I have no idea, but I guess it gives us all something to look forward to.Disclaimer: I have not fully read all of Clarke. I only know what I have gleaned from the movies, 3001 (of which I've read around half), and articles and the like in reference to this material.