“Give a monkey control of its environment, and it will fill the world with bananas. (Moffatt, 1985)” This insightful quote is from an episode of my wife’s favourite TV series, namely Doctor Who. However, I feel this phrase really sums up humanity’s problem with their own environment.
It was likely an inspirational moment when a primordial specimen of our species first discovered the power of tools. One is reminded of the dramatic scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, when an ape learns to kill prey using a dense blunt object (Kubrick, 1968). It must have been a moment burned into the memory of the inhabitants of that time.
Or maybe it was just something they did without appreciating where it would lead them.
We have virtually always used tools. It is just what humans do. In ancient Sumer, potentially the first writings were created in the form of wedge shaped marks on stone clay tablets, a technique known as Cuneiform. They drained the marshes for agriculture, developed trade. They invented industry, and brought us weaving, leather work, metalwork, masonry, and pottery (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2019).
At the time, neighbouring groups that had not benefited from this insurgence of civilisational development must have looked on with envy. Many ancient civilisations including the Sumerians, Egyptians and Aztecs built large stone structures like ziggurats, pyramids, and temples utilising the stone deposits in their area and undoubtedly using tools to carve, transport and fix the building blocks in place. A little chemistry enabled the development of alloys, beverages such as beer or wine, and early medicines.
It is possible that the ancient archetype of the wizard, with stout cloak, pointed hat and staff, derives from the traditional attire of nomadic metallurgists who, besides being skilled in the telling of folklore, held the secret of which rocks, when heated with carbon, would yield the magic that was molten metal. Elements of this idea can be found in studies of Viking iron working (Hall, 1995).
Fast-forward and look around you. Even compared with the early 20th century, we have steamed ahead with colossal factories, computerised systems, the cloud, and even electric vehicles. We have produced our own synthetic single-celled life form, basic artificial intelligence, we can grow some organs in a laboratory although this is still experimental.
All of our entertainment, knowledge and history can be stored as binary code on hard drives and accessed without need of physical form. The modern person can store thousands of audio tracks, films and TV shows on a pocket device, namely a cell phone.
We have interactive maps for any location we visit which always show our position and can calculate a route to get from any place to any other place. We also have cameras, microphones, speakers and most importantly of all, a screen in our pockets. Most deficiencies can be treated with supplements to a degree and many previously incurable diseases and disorders can be prevented by vaccines, treated with drugs or repaired with surgery.
There is of course the ancient Japanese phenomenon of Wabi-sabi that everything is ephemeral, imperfect and that is only natural (nobleharbor.com, 2005). For myself, my view of our accomplishments has been humbled by the realisation from my own experiences that surgeons are not gods, there are healing problems and other forms of failure in that park. One is never perfectly content with their lot in life, and Sir Isaac Newton’s Second Law of Thermodynamics tells us that no process is ever totally efficient (Lumen Learning, 2020).
It is also true of politics. It is impossible to please everyone at once, as viewpoints and life experiences different from person to person. We cannot all be part of the benefiting group and so an infinite tug of war ensues, leading to periods dominated by one system, followed by periods of an opposing one.
The direction of the wind may change, but our human nature is very stubborn. We always want ourselves to be winning, and for those we dislike, to lose. We are, no matter how compassionate or selfless, Living beings, and therefore, our basal survival instincts make us selfish on at least some level. We are not at all perfect, but it would be equally erroneous to suggest that we are an indisputably awful race. For all of the blood we have shed, there were people we helped, protected and expressed love toward. For every bullet fired there were trees and flowers planted.
Humans are creatures of balance as much as every other part of the universe, despite our unerring desire to be polar. We are a mixed bag, and our effect on our environment is just one example of this.
More or less since the beginning of the industrial revolution, there has been a correlating rise in global temperature (Weart, 2003, p. 183). Of course, in the past there were mutterings of this by early proponents of climate change, such as Charles Keeling and earlier pioneers like Svante Arrhenius. They warned us of the impending crisis of global warming but were not heeded (Weart, 2003, pp. 6–36).
I do not wish to be pessimistic, as I would like more than anything to feel optimistic about humanity’s future endeavours. Unfortunately, our impatience and stubbornness have manoeuvred us inexorably into the current environmental crisis. Paradoxically, for a species so fond of improving the world by devising and implementing new concepts, we seem to be incredibly bad at recognising when we have taken an idea far enough, and need yet a newer concept.
As a child, it was my dream that one day we would be like the advanced, sophisticated people on spaceships that appeared in Sci-Fi TV shows. I read news on the latest computer technology with a voracious appetite for a perceived improvement of our abilities. I dreamed of colonies on Mars, life-like holographic environments, light-speed travel to the far reaches of the galaxy, and the ability to record and store everything for eternity so that we would have something to look back on. While this desire is shared by many, our overuse of fossil fuels, clusters of large factories and constant use of polluting transportation methods have damaged our environment and are leading to greater temperatures across the globe.
As a teenager I wanted powerful computers, almost just for sake of having them. It was much like the desire for a powerful sports car for some people. Today, I have compromised and I just want efficiency.
In pursuit of solutions to previous problems, humanity has created its new problems, and as we are poor at sufficiently moderating our activities, we face the potential loss of everything we have worked for in the past century.
There is at least one optimistic piece of wisdom to take away from this assessment, at least we are consistent. The world continues to turn and so will the wheel of fate.
References
Encyclopædia Britannica. (2019, 12 13). https://www.britannica.com/place/Sumer. Retrieved 08 12, 2020, from Encyclopædia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/place/Sumer
Hall, M. E. (1995). Viking Age Ironworking: The Evidence from Old Norse Literature. Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers(78), pp. 197–203.
Kubrick, S. (Director). (1968). 2001: A Space Odyssey [Motion Picture].
Lumen Learning. (2020, 08 13). The Second Law of Thermodynamics | Boundless Physics. Retrieved 08 13, 2020, from Lumen Learning — Simple Book Production: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-physics/chapter/the-second-law-of-thermodynamics/
Moffatt, P. (Director). (1985). Doctor Who: The Two Doctors [Motion Picture].
nobleharbor.com. (2005). What Is Wab-Sabi? Retrieved 08 13, 2020, from nobleharbor.com: https://nobleharbor.com/tea/chado/WhatIsWabi-Sabi.htm
Weart, S. (2003). The Discovery of Global Warming. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
