There have always been those who never passed up a chance to do the wrong thing. Most of us, as children, probably did nearly every wrong thing possible. But if we are still alive it is because we didn't do everything wrong.
Given a brain much more capable than most animals means we have more power to destroy than most animals. In some animals it is difficult to do too many bad things because their brains cannot hold the slightest idea about them. No fish has ever lit a match to a stick of dynamite, and no fish knows the slightest thing about either matches or dynamite. However, a pack of pirrahnas can strip bones very quickly, reducing a victim to nearly the same state of disintegration.
This does not mean that we are somehow superior to all animals, only that we are able to conceive and implement the tools of our own destruction. Ants are probably far more successful as an organism, and it is much more likely that ants will be around in a million years and much less likely that humans will. But ants do not seem a brilliant equal to us in terms of accomplishment. Ants probably do make up a much greater biomass, but only human footprints are found on the moon.
Then there is the level of civilization. Ants are probably an extreme version of a totalitarian society, but all ant evolution exists in the interactions between thousands of specialized simpletons rather than the general efforts of relatively few complex individuals. It is difficult to judge just whether one ant colony is able to view another ant colony as an entity even vaguely similar to how one human views another human. Humans are able to empathize with another human, however, and it is doubtful than any ant or ant colony feels anything of the sort.
Every time I read the news it is about the horrible deeds of deranged humans that seem to lack this feeling of empathy. Those people act much like reptiles or fish except that they can operate higher brain functions.
Sometimes there are only horrible deeds of nature on the news, such as diseases, storms or other disasters. But every disaster is an idea for another purposeful act of terror. It gives those demented, angry zealots another weapon.
Many accidents happen, of course, and most are random -- the mistakes of men are like violent acts of nature. Meteors can impact the Earth any moment, which is a disaster, but a missle is another, less random impacter.
But a group of people, driven by organized hatred and inventiveness, could spread many fires over a wide area, cut vital services of energy or consumables, cause disruptions in economies and spread pollution and diseases. There seems to be as many examples of improvisable weapons as there are technologies, so that as technology increases then so does terrorism.
Whenever people in the past have obtained a new technology which has any use as a weapon, then it is usually first used as a weapon. We made atomic bombs before we made any atomic power stations, even though both were being designed simultaneously. Much like teeth serving as both tool and weapon in a shark, technology is usually utilized in equal amounts by good and evil.
There is a good reason, though, that no personal nuclear power devices exist, so there are no nuclear cars or home electricity generators. No one in their right mind could trust us with such things. It is bad enough to have dental X-ray equipment in the hands of door-to-door salespersons.
Given a brain much more capable than most animals means we have more power to destroy than most animals. In some animals it is difficult to do too many bad things because their brains cannot hold the slightest idea about them. No fish has ever lit a match to a stick of dynamite, and no fish knows the slightest thing about either matches or dynamite. However, a pack of pirrahnas can strip bones very quickly, reducing a victim to nearly the same state of disintegration.
This does not mean that we are somehow superior to all animals, only that we are able to conceive and implement the tools of our own destruction. Ants are probably far more successful as an organism, and it is much more likely that ants will be around in a million years and much less likely that humans will. But ants do not seem a brilliant equal to us in terms of accomplishment. Ants probably do make up a much greater biomass, but only human footprints are found on the moon.
Then there is the level of civilization. Ants are probably an extreme version of a totalitarian society, but all ant evolution exists in the interactions between thousands of specialized simpletons rather than the general efforts of relatively few complex individuals. It is difficult to judge just whether one ant colony is able to view another ant colony as an entity even vaguely similar to how one human views another human. Humans are able to empathize with another human, however, and it is doubtful than any ant or ant colony feels anything of the sort.
Every time I read the news it is about the horrible deeds of deranged humans that seem to lack this feeling of empathy. Those people act much like reptiles or fish except that they can operate higher brain functions.
Sometimes there are only horrible deeds of nature on the news, such as diseases, storms or other disasters. But every disaster is an idea for another purposeful act of terror. It gives those demented, angry zealots another weapon.
Many accidents happen, of course, and most are random -- the mistakes of men are like violent acts of nature. Meteors can impact the Earth any moment, which is a disaster, but a missle is another, less random impacter.
But a group of people, driven by organized hatred and inventiveness, could spread many fires over a wide area, cut vital services of energy or consumables, cause disruptions in economies and spread pollution and diseases. There seems to be as many examples of improvisable weapons as there are technologies, so that as technology increases then so does terrorism.
Whenever people in the past have obtained a new technology which has any use as a weapon, then it is usually first used as a weapon. We made atomic bombs before we made any atomic power stations, even though both were being designed simultaneously. Much like teeth serving as both tool and weapon in a shark, technology is usually utilized in equal amounts by good and evil.
There is a good reason, though, that no personal nuclear power devices exist, so there are no nuclear cars or home electricity generators. No one in their right mind could trust us with such things. It is bad enough to have dental X-ray equipment in the hands of door-to-door salespersons.
No comments:
Post a Comment