
Lucky us! Our strange species is at a turning point in our bizarre history.
We are animals. 300,000 years ago (current thinking) a new species emerged in Africa. Homo sapiens. Naked apes. At least on our planet
Where the fuck are you aliens?
Some of us introspected.
I exist! I observe my self thinking.
I observe other naked apes thinking. Thoughts like mine, but not exactly the same.
Theory of mind.
It is now called.
Put the situation in your mind as clearly as you can.
You are living in small tribes, not bigger than 150 people.
Dunbar’s Number— we now call it — the number of people a human can hold in their mind. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number
Our animal companions: lions, leopards, jackals, hyenas, wild dogs, crocodiles, giant eagles. Not living in cages in a zoo. Hunting us for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Elephants, wild boars, water buffalo, hippopotamuses. Not predators for the most part, but capable of killing us in a few seconds if we perturb them.
Of course, the most dangerous animal of all?
Other humans. Because we are cunning. because we are so good at lying.
Other animals use deception. A lion, not a cuddly, purring pussy cat, lies in wait for hours waiting for its moment to pounce and kill its prey in a few seconds. Consider a lion’s claws. Consider a lion’s fangs.
Consider early humans’ angst and dilemma. You walk along a trail, a lion eats a companion. Perhaps your mate. Perhaps your child. Perhaps both for bad measure. With your new power of mind, you think.
I could get killed this way. Or by a lightning strike Or by a fever after I escape a lion strike with nothing more than a scratch.
Which gets infected.
What’s an infection? What’s an antibiotic?
You have just started to think. You have just started to talk. What do you think?
A guy or gal can get killed this way. If the lion doesn’t get me, or the lightning doesn’t get me, or the cat scratch fever doesn’t get me, I will get old. Kind of rare 300,000 years ago, but it probably happened once in a while.
Eventually our primitive mind goes
TILT!!!!!
Something as wonderful as me can’t cease to exist.
Seeds sprout. Perennials sprout again. Hibernating animals wake and go hunting.
QUICK!!! INVENT GOD. REINCARNATION!!! SALVATION!!!!
You think?
Not very well.
Who wants to argue with a lion, a Great White Shark, a Grizzly Bear. a Bengal Tiger? Who wants to wrestle with a charging elephant?
One on one, very few of us. In packs, tribes, carrying machine guns, flying nuclear weapons, crafting plagues, putting satellites in orbit, about to land on barren lifeless Mars.
Who are the most dangerous animals now?

July 7, 2017 as I write this.
Who is endangered now?
We can despair. I am depressed. That’s kind of my style.
Or we can say
We can save our species. We are not very lovable. It’s the only species we have.
It’s show time. Evolve or go extinct.
How lucky can we get?
