April 3, 2020
SOME CHEERFUL THOUGHTS
If I was preoccupied with the continued existence of myself and with the possible cessation of my sensual, familial and social enjoyments, then I could easily get seriously depressed by current events.
Fortunately, aside from distractions and diversions such as reading and writing (and eating), I have two consoling beliefs which allow me to look beyond the immediate predicament of my esteemed self and the rest of the human race.
First, I do not consider the continuation of homo sapiens (or, a fortiori, myself) to be a supreme good. I could be content with a world in which chimpanzees were the "rulers" with no technology other than long sticks - and bananas, nuts and honey were the ultimate gourmet treats. Or perhaps, a humanity "toned down" in the manner imagined by Stanislaw Lem in his "Return From The Stars" might be desirable. (Aggression is removed from the brain in that scenario - I will deal with the possibility of permanent alteration of human character in a future ramble.)
Second, those who admire the variety and evolution of life as a whole, more than the civilizations and "uncivilizations" created by humans, can console themselves that, whatever happens to homo sapiens, the splendor of life will continue (although there may be no one to watch it on television.) That line of thinking is reinforced by a recent article in Quanta which deals with extinction of species.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/pincelli-hull-explains-how-an-asteroid-killed-the-dinosaurs-20200325/
Perhaps there is even a third level on which the absent human consciousness can appreciate the beauty of an inanimate universe. That line of thinking is beyond me at the moment, except to somehow connect it with the poetry of Robinson Jeffers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Jeffers
With respect to the second consolation, this Quanta article concerning the paleontologist Pincelli Hull apparently brings some precision to the timing of the extinction of the dinosaurs, based on her work in studying ancient plankton fossils in core samples brought up from the bottom of the ocean. This article and her concluding remarks shown below, are particularly interesting. She still has an irrational attachment to homo sapiens but, to her credit, does see the bigger picture.
And on long timescales, the cheerful note is that, as Stephen Jay Gould said, not once since life evolved has it ever gone completely extinct. Life as a whole is pretty tough. But the species that are dominant before a mass extinction, effectively, are almost never the dominant ones afterward. And so that’s extremely sobering. If you’re grumpy at humanity, then you can think, well, somebody else is going to get a chance. I’m fairly hopeful that life goes on, and when life goes on, it does really interesting and creative stuff. So that’s good. But as a human, I care about us, so that’s depressing.
I don't quite understand why scientists would care about their own species more than those to which they devote their lives. For example, in another possible world Professor Hull's maximum caring emotions would be directed towards plankton. Is there some sort of innate species-wide feeling of special attachment built into members of a species? I don't think the behavior of other species indicates this. Yes, there is family caring and maybe some herd caring - but caring for the entire species? I'm guessing not. But that is a subject for another ramble.
Stated differently, if we simply considered ourselves as "living things," might we not be as concerned as we are with the continuation of our individual selves or those most similar to us? How far could such an attitude go in reconciling us to the activity of other living things - even when it is not to our advantage? Does anybody want to try this out as a life philosophy? Or has it already been tried and found wanting? I have to look into Jainism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism/ Yet another ramble looms.
END
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