I recently read a curious capitalist question the worth of social media - its technology, its economic and social implications. Anecdotally he observed that the jury is out on what benefit it brings to the larger society on the planet while making some in Silicon Valley very rich in quick order.
That led to a bigger question for me - is any and all human evolution from the moment Homo Erectus got erect and started walking to discovering fire to the wheel to Bill Ford's industrial revolution to the Jobs' iWorld gadgetry worth something?
Alternately are organisms lower on the evolution scale better off than Homo Sapiens Sapiens? Is it worth all the green house gas; the starvation and poverty; the trillion dollar wars; the tsunami devastations; and on and on. I do not intend to sound a pessimistic note but merely put the universe in (holistic) context. I benefit from all that our modern science has to offer every living day and am happy relative to my human counterparts in most of the world but I am certainly not sure if that in itself an achievement of any kind.
It was something I definitively strived for growing up since to be equipped with the luxury of time and money and health was a goal. Having reached that goal the next goal post on the road seems obscure. Looking back the question becomes - was this whole 40 year journey somehow worth it? Who is measuring it anyway? Me? My family? My neighbors? My colleagues?
Many people in the eyes of fellow humans have achieved far greater celebrity and material luxury along with time affluence and the ability to do what they want, when they want. Indian business magnate Anil Ambani built a billion dollar mansion for his family but has not moved in. Did he need a billion dollar abode to park his butt? Is his butt in the country to be parked? Was he foolish to do what he did?
It becomes more and more unclear what it is that we as a species are running to achieve. Longevity seems one of the self identified goals since life expectancy has gone up over time (at least with people with money) and allowing them to consume more resources for longer periods.
Beyond more consumption what is it that we plan for? Procreation and rearing our next generations seems another activity that all organisms seem prone to do as a matter of evolution. Here too the end game is not clear. The redundancy of the exercise is baffling. The self laudatory arrogance of the species is even more so.
Hence back to the animal life. Eat what you find, shit where and when you can, procreate if you are interested and then move on to graze and stare. Lot of time for self reflection? Did the Buddhist hit on it sooner?
That led to a bigger question for me - is any and all human evolution from the moment Homo Erectus got erect and started walking to discovering fire to the wheel to Bill Ford's industrial revolution to the Jobs' iWorld gadgetry worth something?
Alternately are organisms lower on the evolution scale better off than Homo Sapiens Sapiens? Is it worth all the green house gas; the starvation and poverty; the trillion dollar wars; the tsunami devastations; and on and on. I do not intend to sound a pessimistic note but merely put the universe in (holistic) context. I benefit from all that our modern science has to offer every living day and am happy relative to my human counterparts in most of the world but I am certainly not sure if that in itself an achievement of any kind.
It was something I definitively strived for growing up since to be equipped with the luxury of time and money and health was a goal. Having reached that goal the next goal post on the road seems obscure. Looking back the question becomes - was this whole 40 year journey somehow worth it? Who is measuring it anyway? Me? My family? My neighbors? My colleagues?
Many people in the eyes of fellow humans have achieved far greater celebrity and material luxury along with time affluence and the ability to do what they want, when they want. Indian business magnate Anil Ambani built a billion dollar mansion for his family but has not moved in. Did he need a billion dollar abode to park his butt? Is his butt in the country to be parked? Was he foolish to do what he did?
It becomes more and more unclear what it is that we as a species are running to achieve. Longevity seems one of the self identified goals since life expectancy has gone up over time (at least with people with money) and allowing them to consume more resources for longer periods.
Beyond more consumption what is it that we plan for? Procreation and rearing our next generations seems another activity that all organisms seem prone to do as a matter of evolution. Here too the end game is not clear. The redundancy of the exercise is baffling. The self laudatory arrogance of the species is even more so.
Hence back to the animal life. Eat what you find, shit where and when you can, procreate if you are interested and then move on to graze and stare. Lot of time for self reflection? Did the Buddhist hit on it sooner?
Very well said. I am convinced that we don't have a clear goal, and mask that in our longing for things which we may not really want-in the process creating wars, mayhem and other forms of greed. Feudalism of sorts is also there in some form in all countries, however much they deny it.
ReplyDeleteThe Buddhists seem close to the mark, if they all practice what they preach.
Could it all be a result of 'B' (grade) schools?
ReplyDelete