Life has existed on Earth for 3.5G years. During that time, eight basic changes in cybernetics have occurred in the organization of life, where a higher level of kyberos seen as perception-representation-action loops are layered on top of the previous system. Four of these changes are expressed by humanity, and two of those are contemporary to the Now. Using the language of invention and teleology, these are:
(1) The basic archea cell
(2) The merger of bacterial cells into the eucharotic cell - e.g, mitochondria, etc
(3) Multicellular organisms.
(4) Nervous systems - where a temporary representation is created to organize behavior on the time scale of the life of the individual; it is lost to entropy when the individual dies.
These 1st four system levels progress by neo-Darwinian evolution, modified by symbiogeneis.
(5) Symbolic speech and language - now the representations in (4) above can be transmitted from one nervous system to another - memes come into existence, along with narrative intelligence. Memes progress by Lamarkian evolution.
(6) The exteriorization of memes in written form - the oldest known such are 30K year old calendars.
(7) The making of Turing complete meme engines, that have their own perception-representation-action loop - computers.
(8) The use of computers (and other instrumentalities) to connect the agency of narrative intelligence - memes - to DNA - thus connecting the highest level of Lamarkian evolution to intervene into the neo-Darwinian and symbiogentic processes - the biggest cybernetic change in the history of life on earth.
Humanity: Half the Changes in Gaia's Kyberos