Individual choices among nearly all other species are also purely reactive, made in the 'fight or flight' moments, or in response to some other physical stimuli: sights, sounds, smells, etc. Our species evolved to possess higher cognitive function and that trait has proven ultimately to make us too smart for our britches, as it were.
It would appear that the slow and steady march of evolution on earth has led inexorably to a self-limiting outcome. It seems we'll be hitting the reset button within the next 50 to 100 years, if present trends continue unchanged. In the 4.5 billion years of earth history, one wonders how many times the reset button has already been pushed? Maybe by ancient asteroid and/or early climate change? Some astronomers think "our" sun has another 5 billion years to shine before it goes dark, so it's likely the same button will be pushed over and over, too many times to count.
Is it inevitable the same evolutionary outcome will happen each time? The rules of natural selection, as they're commonly understood, would point toward this recurring, "tragic" conclusion. The apparent point of species competition is not to maintain balance, but it is to simply prevail among all perceived adversaries and in so doing, hope to ensure one's own survival for another day. (In fact, there is not even a sense of competition at all, as we consider it. There's no game to be played in the struggle to avoid being eaten.) The individuals who successfully adapt and mutate to possess better traits for outcompeting others will get the reward of mating ('way better than any consolation prize!), perhaps pass along those clever genes and log the mutation in the historical record. Excellent game plan, except for the two minute drill, as it were.
If the rules are followed to the end of the game, the dominant species will be the one that develops cranial capacity to house a smarter brain. That's the same brain that figures it will be good to invent nuclear weapons and will later think it's ok to ignore environmental clues that we've seriously screwed up the biosphere.
This planet seems to be designed for bloodsport, like a giant colosseum for gladiator contests. Humans get to come out on top this time around, but it looks like the curtain will come down soon on our show and the spilled popcorn, peanut shells and litter will be swept up in time for the start of the next show. (I have a hunch that squirrels will be the dominant species next time - they have mastered the birdfeeder in this incarnation and in the next go-'round watch for them to crack the cold fusion puzzle.)
Are all planets with developing life like this one? Are there any out there where the model for interspecies relationships isn't based on eating whatever you can run down and catch in your claws? Wouldn't it be nice to actually inhabit a place like the Rousseau painting entitled, Peaceable Kingdom? It depicts a paradise-like, calm coexistence among creatures in repose with small children in their midst. None seems interested in tearing the flesh off the bones of the others - how refreshing - 'must be all vegans.
Back on the ranch, it has been noted that humans are the dominant herd. It seems we are now witness to a development that could be called 'species fragmentation'. Others might call it "class warfare". The same, scorched-earth approach we used on the other species - where, if you're not cheating you'e not trying hard enough - we are now using on each other in an intraspecies grudge match! There's a real Smack DownTM going on like that in Wisconsin! Winning at all costs is the battle cry and if that means bringing down the whole place and everyone in it, well, dammit - it beats losing!...(?.or isn't it just the same?..only worse?)
"It is possible to be provincial in time as well as in place; and the unfortunate truth is that all but a handful of people are narrowly provincial in time." (taken from excerpts from Confessions of a Philosopher, 1997 by Bryan Magee, as excerpted by the author of www.basicincome.com/bp/index.html - 'really worth checking out.)
It might be that we're just in a prolonged economic downturn, or we might be witnessing hints of the behavior some believe will be necessary to survive in the end-game scenario alluded to above. Are the Republicans now foreshadowing the traits of those who will be scrapping over the last of the spoils? They're certainly reminiscent of that one brat in the sandbox who simply would not share his toys. That's the same child who so shocked others nearby that they each vowed then and there to either be just like him (Republican) or to never be like him (Democrat).
"In every age of transition men are never so firmly bound to one way of life as when they are about to abandon it."
Bernard Levin
(copied from the source at the link below)
It could be that we are seeing the 'darkness before the dawn' in our herdthink behavior. We might actually start electing people from the political center so that fruitful compromise might lead to actual beneficial legislation, and..... I might have the winning lottery ticket waiting for me at the convenience store.
Maybe we should all give Buddhism further consideration - but with this twist:
beyond embracing the pain which is human experience, we should think about embracing the pain which is right-at-the-end of human experience.
This notion leads us, at last, to the subject of a posting in the near future - excarnation. What are the choices for a species looking to make a graceful exit - or perhaps, at least that specie's members who belong to a large and rapidly-aging generation where the needs for their extended care will soon far outdistance the resources to meet those needs? (Writing for a fainthearted audience would be no fun.)
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