h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

(Excerpted from private journals)

I am writing these words on the date of January the 5th, 2000. The world's millenial celebrations have ceased, and humanity has returned to its toils and troubles. There does seem to be an air of optimism in media reports... the dreaded Y2k bug has left us relatively unscathed, the economy continues to trundle along, and we are otherwise once again occupied with the day to day drudgery of existence, world without end. I have seen several stories thus far in the media attempting to grapple with the 'momentous' event of the passing of a millenium... searching for meaning in the hapening of it, and usually failing to find any.

If you are a picky individual, you might have noticed that we haven't
entered into the new millenium just yet... we have one more year to go. And while I am not one to place undue importance on such an arbitrary thing as the rolling over of an imaginary number, I do think that this century which we are now closing out, the 20th century, is worth observing and reflecting on because of what it has meant for our species and culture historically.

I think the greatest falicy of the societies and cultures now occupying this planet is the 'world without end' fallicy... the idea that life as it is now is life as it has always been, and always will be. Probably the tendency towards this mode of thinking is to some degree a part of us genetically... for the untold millenia we have existed as a species, it seems to have been a given that life for one's descendants would be similar to the life lead by oneself, and by one's forebears.

We have reached a place in history where this is no longer a valid
assumption. This century passing has not only been remarkable, but unique in human history. NO HUMAN HAS EVER LIVED AS WE DO NOW.
This century saw the development of airplanes, automobiles, computers,
satellites, spacecraft, radio, television, to name a few odds and ends. Our cosmology progressed from Newtonian mechanics to Einsteinian relavitity, to quantum theory, to fractal topography, and beyond. Mass industrialization went rampant, and the bloodiest wars were fought this century. Communication technologies and the Western market economy are creating a global stage where the needs of individual communities become subsumed by the needs of the whole. And the stakes of course are much higher... whether by nuclear fire or by environmental impact, WE NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HUMAN HISTORY HAVE THE CAPACITY TO SELF DESTRUCT, and who can then blame various religious fundamentalists for seeing in this century the near fulfillment of ancient apocalyptic texts? Our choices now carry the gravest of consequences... many species of animal go extinct each day as a result of our activities on the planet... is it so difficult to assume that one day humans might take their turn on that growing list?

There is no way of guessing what will come next.. for there is no precedent by which we might determine the future. We have, as it were, reached a turning point in the history of our species... and only a deliberate choice will see us through it reliably.

It is absoloutely fundamental that we awaken, each one of us as individuals, to this larger reality... we can no longer afford to go through our lives blissfully unaware of the big picture, or deliberately ignoring it. I think many people are unwilling to assume personal responsability for what is being done in their name... they feel too small and insignificant to have any impact on anything of global significance. This, of course, is the source of the problem...
a paralyzing apathy or a deep rooted conviction of inadequacy. People
may profess to be concerned about overpopulation but would never translate that into a personal choice to avoid having children, and certainly would not support a political decision to somehow limit population growth forcefully. A person who may profess concern for the environment is nonetheless often unwilling to recognize it should be a key issue in the politics of the nation that is doing the most damage to the planet.

Paradigm shifts are a fundamental issue here... it is very very difficult for someone to change or abandon their preconceived notions about reality and how it operates... how well I know this! So we cling to antequated notions of morality, legality, spirituality, our islands of refuge in a changing world... not realizing that by doing so we doom ourselves to be annihilated by those very forces of change. Even the most intelligent of us fall easily into this trap, huddling, as it were, in stick lean-tos as shelter against a coming hurricane. Intelligence does not allow one to slip out of established paradigms. Rather, intelligence defines how well one is able to operate within a given paradigm. Wisdom is the pertinent trait that allows one to see outside a paradigm and eventually loose the bonds of an idealogical prison.

So, the human species needs to wisen up, and fast. I think that the point in history at which we find ourselves now... this 'jumping off point' as it were... represents some sort of evolutionary apotheosis for us all. A revolution must come, a message must be heard everywhere that will mean something to everyone that hears it. This revoloutionary message is unlikely to be an idea or doctrine of any sort... ideas are by their nature relative constructs which invite dissent and opposition. Moreover, the message cannot be by any means intellectually obscure, unfathomable by someone lacking in education or wit... rather the message must be straightforward and appeal to people's wisdom. Lastly, we must recognize that people are by their nature selfish to varying degrees... the message must offer something to the one who hears it.

I will leave the reader to ponder what such a message might be for a while. What I have just described of course is what our major religions purport to offer us... again, I leave it to the reader to ascertain how much success these efforts have had. Religion is something I have spent a good deal of time pondering, and I will offer some reflections on it later on... for the time being I think it is sufficient to point out that if any religion offered complete and universally sufficient answers to our deepest questions, then that religion would now be the dominant force in all human affairs.

So, I will ask the reader to humour me while I explore some points in
more detail, offering no credentials or apologies to excuse the blasphemies and heresies presented forthwith... I would ask rather that you ask yourself this as you read on; WILL HUMANITY SURVIVE? HOW WILL WE DO IT?

Many thanks for your thought-provoking contribution. You will find it on the benches at...

http://www.H2G2.com/A237881?section=This+Century+Passing

Thanks again.

JTG