I read a book recently, and no matter how I come at it, I cannot disagree with the conclusion of the authors even though they wrote it 23 years ago about explorations 25 to 30 years ago, and the were paleoanthropologists.
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Homo Sapiens Sapiens has set in motion technologies the consequences of which are out of control and getting worse. These technologies are in the hands of a primitive part of Sapiens, a part which is not interested in any larger community but in it’s own small clans.
It’s the part of humanity which allowed it to survive the other hominids and competing species. It is greedy, territorial, uninterested in the next troop, village or herd, except to kill and take their “stuff”. That is now coupled with increasing piles and heaps of technology, which gleans for the present and leaves it’s droppings for the future. Mankind has always done that, and it made sense. As an example, the early space explorations fouled inner space without regard for the future. Now it’s a bit crowded up there, but no one cared early on.
That’s not a moral issue, it’s the way we evolved in order to survive. HOWEVER,
We are now past the tipping point, where the greed and acquisitiveness, the selfishness of others, so necessary for early development, has left a dynamic legacy. Not only can we not control what we are doing now, we are increasing the fouling and will not stop until we can’t do it any more. That will be extinction.
At that time, Homo Sapiens Sapiens will have survived on this planet a shorter time period than any other known Homo. We will be the biggest failures, at least among our peer Homos.
The same arrogance which lives for the present profit, breeds for the present pleasure and ignores the future consequences sometimes thinks of moving to another planet. As if the one for which 4 billion years of evolution prepared us to inhabit could either be modified to fit us and/or wouldn’t be subject to the same ruinous exploitation.
Nope, folks, it’s all over for H S S but the shouting. Doesn’t matter who wins any election, doesn’t matter if there are breakthroughs in growing corn, eating grass, converting CO2 to AU, H S S has managed to start a boulder rolling downhill that cannot be stopped.
And all the wishful thinking won’t change it. The fact is that God gave Man dominion and Man wasted it, just as most of the folks in the Christian Bible did.
Life is lived forward, but understood backward. Look back, see the trends, and project them out a ways. Look at your own lives and project that forward. The obvious comparisons are with family – are you still rescuing your kids, are you all still needy, or have you evolved a mutually respectful adulthood, friendly, devoted, and in love. Either way, it will continue. No matter what.
Now tell me that compared to any other Homo species Homo Sapiens Sapiens was successful. Technologically adept, true, but so what? It couldn’t save itself. It couldn’t curb it’s own appetites, like sheep it grazed down to the roots and beyond. Calling itself “Sapiens” is one glaring example man’s foolishness.
Dead man walking.