I've quoted from the futurist and thinker Barbera Marx Hubbard before: so I will again!

"Nature always creates new bodies for new frontiers; witness the sequence of bodies from fish to amphibians to mammals to humans, and now to universal humans. We are at the threshold of genuine newness. The only difference between us and other creatures who experienced a radical change is that we are entering the process consciously."

Barbara Marx Hubbard, Conscious Evolution

For a short interview with her - check out this page of 'What is Enlightenment?'