The Bifurcation Cometh
Forget Democracy NOW! or Earth First! Now! or MAGA NOW!
What we have now is a failure to grasp our modern human condition of dissolution. Our sort of mind, our form of civilization, is dissipating. It’s an entropy thing — “things fall apart; the center cannot hold.” Perhaps it is time for a recoming.
before the coming of the rocking cradle in a manger.
It slouched, it was born. Another 20 centuries pass.
Time for a rougher beast.
The Dodo bird’s center held until men with clubs cameth. The Galapagos Island’s ecosystem held until the coming of men with goats (and pigs, cattle, cats, dogs…). The 48 species of megafauna on Madagascar were doing pretty well, considering, until the expansionist form of human came to the island (and then there were none apart from humans and livestock).
Our modern human first parting of way was 55k — 75k years ago when our modern anthropocentrism (r-culture) arose within the context of 6 million years of hominin nature centrism (K-culture). Normal humans (hominins) did not hunt prey species to extinction nor gather plant foods to local extinction (or global). We modern humans are different.
Unlike in New Zealand, normal humans had spread as K-strategists do, and did to Madagascar. They lived on the island for 1500 years before the expansionist form of human came to eliminate them and 48 other species of megafauna in 1400 years. The difference between the two forms of human is the difference between a normal pancreatic cell and a metastatic pancreatic cell (sorry to offend modern humans by sounding anti-human — but normal humans/hominins were different before we exterminated/assimilated them — my wife’s family has gene for red hair, which likely is from H.s. neanderthalensis, as she fully admits, who may not have chosen to give it to us).
The original expansionist culture had the same tool kit and biophysical economy (nomadic forager) as the K-culture Africans (two subspecies of Homo sapiens). It took them 20k years to competitively expand throughout the range of their subspecies (Homo sapiens sapiens) due to some competitive advantage (e.g. patrifocal, aggressive, able to form larger groups, ability to tell stories that justified their form of culture) leading to evermore successful conquest cultures. When they expanded out of Africa about 55k years ago, their competitive advantage over prey animals and resident K-culture hominins grew more rapacious, allowing for rapid expansion throughout Eurasia (in addition to other megafauna, they “displaced” any Homo sapiens and Homo erectus who may have existed, and four other human subspecies (1 in west Africa and 3 in Eurasia) and those going south soon took Australia and Tasmania, while those going north took the Americas.
So, as we moderns are not remotely normal animals (and proud of it), we now have evidence (archaeogentic) that all of us (with exception of San, Hadza, Pygmy, Sandawe) have a last common ancestor who lived in Africa 75k-76k years ago. Given that our expansionist culture is antithetical to hominin K-culture, the mutation that gave rise to us moderns was likely cultural in part (perhaps in addition to a genetic mutation). To go against 6 million years of K-culture norms likely took more than a genetic mutation, and could have been entirely a cultural (memetic) mutation.
We moderns are characterized by our dependence on technology and ideology (belief in belief). Normal humans tell stories. Perhaps only modern humans believe them. Having the technology to conquer other groups of humans may not be enough. To conquer, take, and displace (and feel justified), it takes a capacity to believe in belief (ideological certitude).
If the rough beast arose 75k years ago, and its planetary succession is climaxing this century (sloughing towards Gaza to be born?), any bifurcation back to what works long term (K-culture) would involve a cultural mutation, a selection for an inability to believe in belief, to value certitude.
And what would select for such a mutation, not a new mutation but a recoming back, a return to what we moderns have forgotten? It needs to be the recognition that a bifurcation cometh.
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Only those with foresight intelligence, selected against for 75k years, can understand their predicament as ants on a log, and get off if they can.
There are not two futures, but two cultural stories about the future (two cultures). One is the dominate (>99%) r-culture of Anthropocene enthusiasts. The other is the all but extinct and mangled K-culture such as some modern humans may possess elements of. The Great Expansion began as a Man the Hunter culture, transitioned to a settled agrarian form, and with wood and whale oil — with fossil fuels added — to us.
What is coming is (potentially) a second bifurcation of our form of civilization. If there is no successful bifurcation, humans, not just modern humans, will go extinct.
There should, by now, be at least a hundred teams working feverishly on a hundred plans to bifurcate successfully. There was a team that auto-organized in the 1970s-1990s that included William Catton Jr. (but not one doomer), of which only Jack Alpert remains. The failure, so far, of their design for a viable form of civilization is not necessarily due to the design, but to the lack of modern humans who can consider that the problematique is not to save modern techno-industrialized domesticants if doing so involved asking them to do anything they choose not to do.
Bifurcate NOW!
All Modern humans must first unite on the only common ground they can—the recognition that we are all Modern (as distinct from Russian, Chinese, Bantu…) humans. Full stop.
“…there are a few prophetic voices. Now prophetic voices are not simply, ‘the end is near’. That kind of an image doesn’t understand biblical prophecy, and it’s likely the case that most of the cartoonists who wrote that stuff don’t read the Bible, which is perfectly normal today. But old testament prophets were people who had a deep passion for the future and authenticity of Israel [humans]. What they were saying is, Israel [Modern humans] you are now living in a way that leads to death, that the fruits of your labors will be death for you, and your children and your grandchildren, but so therefore become conscious of that, become reflexive and change [thereby be changed], and move on to a new path, and there are people singing that song….” — Ruben Nelson
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For involuntary change, join the Or-not MHEM. The belief that you are a free agent, with free will to choose your future (or get modern humans to choose their future), is error floating on a sea of ignorance in a thick fog of illusion.
[Note: MHEM membership excludes politicians and the recently (<1 year) politically active, including environmentalists. Otherwise, with the exception of the San, Hadza, and Pygmy, all other humans are Modern humans, and acknowledging that such is who and what you are is the requirement for being MHEM. MHEM includes members who celebrate Modern human life and favor the extinction of all life that humans do not value (aka “Hypers”). Hyper MHEM supporters may prefer to join Hyper MHEM. A minority faction views the condition of being a Modern human the way AA members view the condition of being an alcoholic — i.e. non-viable. The author is obviously one of the “Or-nots” after breakfast (but a Hyper before) who seek to “just say no” to the Anthropocene.]
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We modern humans are an extinction movement (the Anthropocene mass extinction) and some view this as proof of our superiority to mere animals. To join MHEM, you don’t have to be for or against being a modern human. You have to admit that you are one.
MHEM’s Goal
Get all humans who are modern humans to acknowledge their condition.
No struggle between “for” and “against” is implied. Views of whether modernity is good or bad, vary.
1. The majority view is that modern humans can keep on keeping on getting better and better forever.
2. Some note that matter-energy flows (mass-joules) to support life as a modern humans would live it is limited to what hydroelectric dams in three regions can provide to three megacities providing 96,000 kWh/person/year.
3. Some agree that up to 50 million hyper techno-industrial humans could keep on keeping on within three megacities if all agree to a social contract that realizes a design for a viable civilization, but they seek instead a simpler way as set out by the United Federation of Watersheds (of Earth).