Humanity, Balance and Reconciliation

Philosophy Forums Society, Government, and Economics
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Where to begin? Well I guess I should briefly introduce myself. My name is Damian, mid 30s, originally from England UK but moved to Holland in my early 20s. I’m lucky enough to have been reasonably educated, have a full time job, live in my own place, have experienced love and also be culturally and spiritually aware. It is perhaps a combination of all these factors, that over the last 2-3 years have been making it harder and harder for me to accept my place in this world.

Trying to keep it as simple as possible, my beliefs are that of equality and balance. I recently came across the Gaia hypothesis which is as good as any to explain our interconnection with the world we live in and our surroundings. I believe there is an energy which runs through all things and of which we are all part of: ‘Mother Earth’ for want of a better expression. I don’t hold myself above anyone or anything else. We each choose to conduct ourselves differently; but whether it’s my neighbour across the street, the tree on the side walk or a spider on the living room wall, we all play our part within a much greater whole… or at least “we” used to.

Humanity is technologically evolving at a much greater pace than ever before. We have technology that can send data around the planet in a heartbeat, send us to the deepest depths of the ocean (even other planets), prolong our lives, protect us from illness and also prevent death. On the other side, we also have technology that can destroy, that can maim and kill, along with technological comforts that distract us, occupy us and keep us entertained.

We (humanity) have become so focused on ourselves, that we place ourselves at the top of the food chain; we believe ourselves to be the superior species of this planet and protect that superiority at the expense of others. We have lost perspective. We take and take and take. Sometimes we give back; whether it is our own bodies back to ground that can sustain existing or fertilise new life, or whether it is planting a new tree to offset that nice coffee table and bookcase in the living room, but on the whole we take more than we give. With all our knowledge and advancements, we still can’t live in balance. Perhaps the most saddening part of it all is that the majority of people don’t want to. Some may care, for example they may donate to wildlife charities, recycle their paper etc. but even those people are still trapped by a society that ultimately takes more than it gives.

I am, along with many others (including people reading this), a consumer. I’m sat in my place, at my table, the heating on, a cup of tea by my side, typing on my laptop. My understandings and beliefs contradict my very lifestyle. In many ways I am my own worst enemy. I find it harder and harder to reconcile my presence and activities in a world I know I am slowly helping to destroy.

I put this forward as a philosophical discussion, to avoid arguments and emotions brought by religious beliefs, but I am curious to hear from people with similar thoughts/feelings toward this.

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What happend to Darvinism?

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Darwinism if I understand correctly follows biological evolution; hence my referral to technological evolution and balance. Our technological advancements are evolving faster than our biology can keep up. If we were evolving in a balanced environment, we should be able to breath the polluted air we create without repercussion, we would have a natural defence against radiation, we shouldn’t have to worry about a man-made flu virus escaping the lab and potentially killing millions etc.

The human species is quite unique in that we actually have the capability of influencing (and to a limited extent determining) our own environment and future. Why do we choose to destroy it over (relative) short term gains?

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The answer is simple enough. Individuals, groups and societies strive for their own benefit. The people with all the power live in more luxury, live longer and have access to the best resources, using the best technology.
There is and never was any mechanism in evolution that gives a balance. Balance, like evolution itself is not a cause of change but a consequence of it. If you put some bacteria into a petri dish, their population will explode and then crash when the food runs out. ANy surviving bacteria will live off the dead ones until there is nothing more than a toxic slime inhabited by one or two extremophiles that wait in dormancy until the situation changes and more food appears.
Whilst there exists the sorts of ideology in the world that mimic the needs and attitude of infected yeast then we will alwasy be rushing towards that crash.
What we “chose” is a pathway that is to each his own advantage. And the political Right, Capitalism, and the technologies of power that support them are chosen by individuals in the belief that they will gain the most from that way.
Financial crashes are just a foretaste of more profound destruction in the future.

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Perhaps I give humans too much credit. I reasoned that a sentient body capable of concious decision making, would (or should) make choices that increase the probability of its very survival. I wouldn’t want to directly compare us with bacteria in a Petri dish, but on reflection I do recognise the similarities.

Shakespeare almost had it right with, “The world’s mine oyster”. Ho hum… what a waste of perfectly good biology.

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I think that at the start of the 20thC many people, intellectuals, philosophers, sociologists were of the opinion that is was entirely necessary and very important that humans stopped behaving like bacteria, and fostered the idea that social engineering and political policy could bring a better world for the human species. THis was to be achieved by democratic decision making that spared a thought for the good of the whole and not just to the advantage of the few. Sadly that required an ideological basis and a selflessness of the powerful. The elites have let us down by making policies that favour their own aggrandisement and their own riches, to the detriment of the whole and the population at large.
100 years on there are more people in poverty, more suffering and more dying of the diseases of poverty and oppression.
Most of us who have the privileged of typing inane drivel into the Internet in the hope that someone will listen to us, are all 'trickle down" beneficiaries of that system whilst the resources of the earth decline and the majority of the people continue to live in abject poverty.

Whilst we continue to foster the idiotic idea that laisezz-faire capitalism and the greed motive is what we have to thank for the technological and economic miracle, we will remain like bacteria and their fate will visited upon ourselves.