Homo Stultus stultus

Anatomically modern humans are referred to as “Homo Sapiens Sapiens”, which means literally, “Human Wise Wise”, a subspecies of “Homo Sapiens”, who is thought to have lived about 200,000 years ago. We are the only surviving hominid. Some have said that the name means, intelligent self-aware human. Yes, we're supposed to be the intelligent ones. Really? Name me one other species who pollutes and poisons its habitat for fun and profit? I know of only one: Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Or should I call it Homo Stultus Stultus?

You can search and search for a species which harms its habitat on the scale that we humans do it and you will search in vain; no other species does that. No other species makes war against his fellows for profit, with the possible exception of ants; but their profit is actual survival, not for money. What's more, ants, as far as we know, are incapable of deep thought or empathy; humans are, which makes them all the more culpable.

We boast about the philosophies and religions which set us apart from the other animals. We boast of our great achievements in the arts and sciences. We boast about being so much superior to the other animals who share this planet, because we are the moral animal; and yet we torture our fellow humans, we let them starve, we exploit or let them be exploited to the point of abject poverty, by a handful of humans, the rich and powerful, who keep the rest of us as economic slaves, referring to us as “consumers”, so that they can live the high life at our expense and at the expense of the poor of this world.

We let our military establishments spend unbelievable sums of money on what we call “defense”, when in really it should be called “offense”. We exploit the poor and we keep them poor so we can exploit them some more. We kill the other animals for sport, sometimes for trophies we can hang on our walls. We kill them unnecessarily, for reasons having nothing to do with survival. We are like a virus, spreading all over the Earth, destroying everything we touch. With the exception of a few among us, who create really beautiful and meaningful things and who genuinely care about their surroundings and their fellow creatures, we are mostly spoilers.

We create gods by the tens of thousands, using them to justify whatever we feel is right. Judaism has its god, Ha'Shem, literally “The Name”. We know him as Yahweh, or Jehovah. Christians have their three gods, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, whom they claim actually add up to one god. Go figure! Islam has one, his name is Allah. These three religions are among the most dangerous and destructive religions on this planet. Their gods are vain and petulant to the point of being psychotic. And let's not forget Hinduism, with it's thousands of gods, all of which are said to be avatars of one god. We can't create so much as a worm, but we create gods by the thousands, who usually have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.

We make up the strangest stories about these gods. We tell the most ghastly stories about them, slaughtering people like there's no tomorrow; men, women, children, babies and animals. But they love us. These gods are said to be compassionate, forgiving, merciful and loving, but one has only to read their scriptures in order to see what a lie that is.

This is another thing about humans: they lie to themselves and others as a matter of course. They make up grandiose stories about their gods, never realising how horrid the behaviour of their gods are, defending these behaviours as though the gods had a right to act like assholes. These gods are forever angry with humans because we're not worshipping them, or sacrificing to them, or obeying their silly and retarded laws. Religious people keep telling us that we have free will, that we can choose to have or not to have a “relationship” with these imaginary friends of their, but if we choose not to, then we are punished after death with eternal torture. So much for free will.

Now, we want to export our brand of living to other planets, other moons, asteroids and whatever else we can claim in the name of business and profit. We've already sent probes to the moon, to Mars and the other planets in our solar system, in a bid to exploit them. Our planet is over-populated; we have to expand. Never mind controlling our populations and respecting the environment; let us instead apply a band-aid treatment and go to the other planets, so we can poison them too.

NASA, believe it or not, is working on a warp drive, which will permit us to effectively travel faster than light. I say “effectively” because oddly we won't even be moving. The principle works on warping space around the ship, so that without even moving we can travel to other stars and planets, faster than if we were able to travel at luminal speeds. It's called the Alcubieri Drive, look it up.

NASA is working on a micro warp bubble as I write this blog. If they're successful, the next step is figuring out how to apply that to a ship without having to expend astronomical amounts of energy, pun intended. If they succeed, we'll be travelling to the stars, happily polluting other planets in the name of the Almighty Dollar, the One True God of humanity.

I don't hold much hope for humanity, because while persons are sometimes smart, people are stupid. We don't deserve to survive for millions of years, as did the dinosaurs. We are a destructive and stupid species who deserve nothing more than to fade into oblivion. I have a friend who says he has faith in humanity, that we will eventually smarten up and put an end to our destructive ways. I don't share that hope. My faith in humanity is as good as non-existent. I think we deserve to fade away, especially when it comes to religion, politics and the way we exploit Nature for sordid gain.

Are there are other civilisations out there in space that are not like we are? Perhaps, but as Stephen Hawking has said, “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach. If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

Hawking doesn't seem to have much faith in humanity, judging by the above quote, and I can't say I blame him. We are a destructive animal, an animal who is, as the old saying goes, “too smart for its own britches”. We think that the Earth is OUR planet, to exploit and do with as we please, but there are others sharing it with us, who needs its resources to survive; we don't really consider them when we set out to make a buck. We have much more than we need top survive. We plunder this planet like so many thieves, plundering a bank or store, without thinking of the consequences, and without listening to those who do think of the consequences, who care about sustaining the habitat we call Earth. I don't hold out any hope that humans will learn. If there's anything we learn from history, it's that we don't learn from history.

grgaud