A View of Many

To start this post I'd like to point out that all statements within it come from research done on Wikipedia. This is in no way an original thought about the history of the universe, but rather a compilation of theories whose authors have worked many hours studying. This post will capitalize on the work of others considering any new attention to the research as the promotion of ideas deserving of a larger audience. As for Wikipedia, Polymath Enterprises, LLC avidly supports their work, and encourages others to do the same, either through contribution, donation, or some other useful practice for the advancement of crowd-sourced knowledge.

"This poast is about longevity and the biological success of genera/species" - JA

THE DINOSAURS WERE AROUND FOR 135 MILLION YEARS!

This is no humblebrag. It's a look at the world we live in, and the predictability of our species based on our Nature as animals on planet Earth.

"It's a sort of an: Animals on Earth behave like this ... , thing." - JA

An epoch is a measurement of time when certain conditions are established on the planet, and when other conditions cease. The last epoch before the current condition of the Earth was called the Pleistocene, and it ended with the last major glacial period... which is basically a time when the Earth was dominated by giant slabs of ice, sliding around all over the place creating mountains and valleys and all the rest of it.

Humans were around then, and there is a theory this was a time of global migration for our species, though most people still believe strictly in the old formalized theories of how our ancestors managed to inhabit every continent on the planet (save one).

The fact is we still don't know everything about how humans managed to advance to the role of the dominant species on the planet (from predator/prey perspective), but we know it was much more complicated a story than the ones we've been told. There is still much much more to study.

At any rate, the end of the Pleistocene marked the beginning of the Holocene. The period is marked by the involvement of humans on a larger scale with respect the dispersal and migration of species in some way altered from their natural arraingement within the order of their evolution. Domestication of plants and animals, the migration of plant and animal species (taken by humans to places they would most likely never have been were it not for our intervention), and cross-pollination/interbreding of species at the hands of inquisitive or "market-driven" human genetic researchers, are all hallmarks of the Holocene Epoch.

As the Earth has developed through time, the complication of the ordering of life at the hands of humans reached further and further into the programming process, until the present Anthropocene period, which formally marks the time when we recognize the extent of human involvement in the condition (and conditioning) of the planet... And that only took our species around 11,000 years!

At present we've built up the power and ability to destroy most of the more complex life forms on the planet in our zest for dominance and the placation of primal fears, including humans. And herein lies the problem we face today, which effects every corner of the globe. Now that we know for an absolute fact that no other large species is likely to harm us through competition for resources, how do we reasonably address the fear mechanisms which have driven our development as a species, and the moral and ethical programming we use today that is built upon that experience?

"I certainly don't know the answers, but I think it's a valid question!" - JA

When taking all this into consideration it's important to see not only the narrative of these events, but the individual involvement within the context. Anthropocene means You after all.

"The choices we make today will become the history within an epoch tomorrow." - JA

The conditioning and ordering of human societies leading up to today has served to construct a barrier between the narrative of the Earth, and the human individuals acting within it. It doesn't serve any useful purpose to blame the social programming that got us to this point as long as we begin to realize our actual place in the world and history, and take responsibility for our ability to affect the conditions for all life on this planet.

The point of starting this post with a quip about dinosaurs is simply to point out that dinosaurs found equilibrium with the planet's other species and resources for 135 million years without cities, or industry, or dinosaur-made global warming (that we know of). And, Humans not only ignore threats to our survival, but are generally potentially causing exactly the kind of planetary instability which could lead to our extinction, after only about 11,000 years of possessing consciousness, will or the desire to shape the World.

"Basically, if We're gonna be saddled with this responsibility, let's at least do it right!" - JA

Owning up to the responsibility we've taken for life on Earth requires a better understanding than the ones currently making money for those interested in the behavior of humans exclusively. Like the story of the North Koreans afraid to touch air-dropped leaflets†, science in general is seen as a danger not by any "powers that be." Rather, it rubs up against our comfort level in the thought of who we are as individuals.

The programming of the average American generally creates an imaginative space within which one may entertain any number of notions about safety and stability, both of the individual, the entire human population, as well as the sum total of life on Earth. Basically, we try not to care... thinking there must be someone with the job of making sure our worst fears are not realized.

In fact, in most cases there are, and they're doing a fine job for what they can manage. However, the notion that we as a people and a species can relax and let the Autopilot carry us through our lives is not only folly and foolish, but downright suspect. Who in their right mind would claim the total responsibility of life on a planet knowing so little as we do about how it operates and what effect our decisions may have?

"It's not that we can't do it... but that we haven't been able to do it yet..." - JA

In summation, the frailty of humans is something I believe we can no longer ignore with respect to our management of populations and the development of the Earth through time. In whatever way you can, our future needs you to be a more aware part of our present... especially in the choices you make as you serve out your existence over a lifetime. Humanity's Autopilot needs some tweaking. It's nothing to freak out about, just put some more useful things in your head besides constant trivial chatter. Based on the volume of information avaible, we should be just fine as long as we start to accept our role in the discussion of reality.

The reality of the Earth is this: Earth will probably be destroyed by the expansion of the Sun in a few billion years. Do you really want to let the Cockroaches beat our species to the end of the World?!?!




† The story in America goes - North Koreans were told that these leaflets, mostly containing hints of reality for Authoritarian Dominated people, were treated with flesh-eating bacteria, and were made to "clean up" the materials using hazmat-type precautions.