Nobody has ever accused me of profundity but
now and then I am bemused by the inane superficiality of our modern lives and
inevitably this train of thought raises difficult questions, viz:
-
How
did humanity evolve, and what sort of creatures are we?
-
Can
we improve on the current model?
-
What
is the purpose of our existence anyway?
Let us shakily and inexpertly address these unanswerable riddles.
Our Neanderthal
brother
Darwin tells us that our ancestor was: A hairy
quadruped, furnished with a tail and pointed ears, probably arboreal in its
habits. Our affinity to the chimpanzee is close as our DNA is a 98.4% match to
that of the chimp. Over the aeons of archaeological time our species of homo
sapiens evolved, with many diversions, from the great ape hominids to the
anatomically modern hominims, eliminating the Neanderthals some 100,000 years
ago after some intermingling. The human brain was now 3 times the size of a chimp’s.
Originally in Africa, our human ancestors spread themselves widely to Asia,
Europe and Australia. Sociably, they lived in settlements with their extended
family (tribe), hunting and gathering together over many centuries. Eventually
something akin to a civilisation developed in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and
later in Egypt. Homo Sapiens had at last arrived - though he could
easily disappoint!
Modern
Man, with all his failings
Yes, I chose a picture of a scruffy booze-befuddled American, when I
could have selected an image of Goethe, Leonardo, Newton, Balzac or some other
worthy. But ask yourself who is more typical? The great majority of Earth’s
population live very limited lives, exploited peasants in Asia, helpless cannon-fodder
in Russia, toiling wage-slaves in Europe, compulsive consumers in America, prey
to all the temptations and abuses of a money-obsessed society. Only a minority
on any continent receive the benefits of a decent education, adequate income, a
healthy environment and a satisfying lifestyle. Women and children globally
still fare much worse than men, to our shame.
Of course, there has been huge progress since our Troglodyte phase.
Progress in terms of infrastructure, city life, technology, control of disease,
respect for community, self-awareness has been immense, but inequalities are
stubbornly persistent and the “toiling masses” live poorly. Man has many
animalistic traits – the search for dominance, ruthlessness in many situations,
hatred of rivals, all of which create conflict. There are gentler animalistic
instincts we retain – like the Atlantic salmon, we are drawn to our birth-place
in our later years, or like that dog in Ulster who trekked home, after escaping
from a kind rescuer, we have a longing for adventurous travel but often end up
not far from home.
Can science and technology improve our lot? No doubt we could live a
little longer, but to what purpose? Our youth and maturity are already too
short and creating more twilight years is self-defeating (not to say
bankrupting!). I imagine we have the technology politely to make sterile large
sections of the population, which would quickly give us more room and less
mouths to feed, but raises a multitude of ethical and economic dilemmas. Applying
straight-forward logic to these loaded questions is perilous. Already the
co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, has advocated a pause in the development of
high-capability Artificial Intelligence (AI).
AI guru Steve Wozniak
There is a dystopian fear that sophisticated AI robots could outwit
their human creators and execute their own programmes of action. Science
fiction drama could become alarming fact. These fears may be exaggerated, but
humanity needs carefully to control any huge leap in technological
capabilities.
More fundamentally, what’s the name of the game anyway? Stripped of
illusion, Western man is born of his mother, grows up in a family of varying
closeness, often starts earning his living in his teens, gets married,
procreates, reaches maturity at 50, ages quite quickly and dies of various
ailments when he is about 80. He decays and turns into dust, the plaything of
the winds. Only a few live a remarkable life, and even fewer a heroic one. In
my undergraduate days in the early 1960s, I embraced Humanism, morality without
religion, influenced by Margaret Knight, Bertrand Russell, Jacob Bronowski and
other savants. It seemed sensible but was admittedly a trifle bleak, as our
existence seemed to serve no obvious purpose nor solve any mystery.
I deplored “revealed religion” as its pretensions and claims were
contradicted by historical method, comparative religion, psychology and even by
archaeology and it had produced some very rum characters like Torquemada, St
Thomas More, Bloody Mary, John Knox, Ignatius Loyola and Pius IX. And yet…
A few days ago, we British witnessed the Coronation of King Charles III.
Carrying his sceptres and wearing his crown, richly cloaked, his image is
medieval, wholly at odds with the modern world. There was much hocus-pocus with
anointing oils, ancient regalia and pledging homage. But most would agree that
the ceremony, with its music, was something beautiful, uplifting and
comforting, speaking to some primeval instincts within us.
King Charles III
When I turn up my toes (or, more euphemistically, am “gathered in”) and
if I hear a celestial choir of angels; I will be well pleased, and not totally
surprised!
SMD
9.5.23
Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2023
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