Antonio, thank you for this thoughtful essay. The forces for domination and oligarchy are eternal. Those who hold such violent ideologies inevitably rise to the top. There are a few exceptions who always pay with their lives. This is the first age where we can clearly see the system for what it is, and the best and the brightest have been calling it out, the core being humanity's behavioral problem long before Big Oil covered up the effects of their product, or Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring. Equally unsettling, even if we were able to replace the fools who brought us here, the replacements would likely be or devolve to similar. I believe there are other creatures on this Earth that are equally intelligent that we fail to understand — whales, dolphins, octopus, and elephants among them. Perhaps the worst evolutionary development was hands which have enabled us to create our own destruction, created by unbridled cruelty. My guess is that most primate species would eventually fall into this trap.
There's a lot here! I hope to expand on some of these soon.
For now, I'd suggest two things:
Our concepts of the Eternal tend to really only extend back through the history of civilizations that have shared the current fantasies of power. There are hints that this was not always the case.
I share your belief that intelligence, high intelligence, exists in many various forms of life. I'd add Corvids and Parrots to that list! Some have large brains, some small; but if brains are more a form of receiver than a "computer," then size is not a controlling factor.
Yes, the ability to manipulate has been a trap. There's also an appetite for "rules" and "order." When humans partnered with dogs, fallen Wolves; we seemed to have picked up a lot of their habits that, coupled with hands, have been…, let's say, problematic.
Antonio, thank you for this thoughtful essay. The forces for domination and oligarchy are eternal. Those who hold such violent ideologies inevitably rise to the top. There are a few exceptions who always pay with their lives. This is the first age where we can clearly see the system for what it is, and the best and the brightest have been calling it out, the core being humanity's behavioral problem long before Big Oil covered up the effects of their product, or Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring. Equally unsettling, even if we were able to replace the fools who brought us here, the replacements would likely be or devolve to similar. I believe there are other creatures on this Earth that are equally intelligent that we fail to understand — whales, dolphins, octopus, and elephants among them. Perhaps the worst evolutionary development was hands which have enabled us to create our own destruction, created by unbridled cruelty. My guess is that most primate species would eventually fall into this trap.
There's a lot here! I hope to expand on some of these soon.
For now, I'd suggest two things:
Our concepts of the Eternal tend to really only extend back through the history of civilizations that have shared the current fantasies of power. There are hints that this was not always the case.
I share your belief that intelligence, high intelligence, exists in many various forms of life. I'd add Corvids and Parrots to that list! Some have large brains, some small; but if brains are more a form of receiver than a "computer," then size is not a controlling factor.
Yes, the ability to manipulate has been a trap. There's also an appetite for "rules" and "order." When humans partnered with dogs, fallen Wolves; we seemed to have picked up a lot of their habits that, coupled with hands, have been…, let's say, problematic.
Thanks for reading, commenting, and sharing!