Cavemen vs. Space Invaders

Joshua Bender
Aug 26, 2017 · 1 min read
Nicer to navigate, not to be fought.

We like to believe we are better behaved than cavemen. While we may have reduced our odor, we still carry more bacteria than our own cells. Cavemen cooperated with each other. Interaction was important enough to physically evolve for easier speech, fostering language. We now have all the power of the written word, and we assume our behavior is more civilized as we advance materially. We have more stuff, but that does not help our insight. Necessity is the mother of invention, and our lack of necessity allows us to forget the priorities we had and behave carelessly. We presume that our poor behavior is “advanced” compared to our imagined ancestral “savages” who may have been our betters.

Space Invaders
Our subjective concept of early “primitive” behavior is warped in the same way as our concept of bad advanced behavior. The more advanced the understanding, the further away it will be from such cognitive degeneration as hate. It would require enlightened thoughtfulness to advance understanding to that of interstellar possibilities. Viciousness doesn’t seem valuable to evolved thinking. Most likely, we’re not nice enough for them to land.

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Recognizing hatred as the bane of humanity, Non-Borderline Personality Disorder, and coincidentally the literally first sin.

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