Devolutionary thoughts
About 20% of the world lives on less than $1 a day and about 50% live on less than $2 a day. The gross domestic product of the poorest 48 nations is less than the wealth of the worlds 3 richest people.These are the types of stats that many of us have seen before and yes it is staggering to see how imbalanced the world is but the more I think about it the more I wonder what implications this has in the grand scheme of things.
From an evolutionary stand-point we (the western world) are doomed if a major catastrophe should happen to us (be this major weather events, or full on climate change due to global warming, or severe depletion of natural resources and/or fuel/energy sources etc etc.)
We live with unprecedented creature comforts and if you look at how our world has changed in the past 100 years (and again how much it has changed in just the last 10 years) you can imagine the vast differences there will be in in just a few generations down the line. If by some major disaster (as stated above) everything we know was turned on its head and we were forced to revert to basic survival how many of us would be able to make it? I can't imagine myself doing too well.
By contrast if you have made it to adult-hood in an area where it is not uncommon for children to die before their 5th birthday there is a good chance that you are among the strongest in the gene pool. And with that process (sadly) repeating itself for many many years the ones who have made it are surely destined to share genes with future generations. More so than the 400 pounder in Houston sitting on the couch eating Doritos watching the Jerry Springer show.
In terms of natural selection the strong survive. In our culture everyone (with very few exceptions) survives. But this is only because we have figured out a way to stave off the forces of nature and other elements for the time being. I don't however think this is a permanent fix. In the end nature (the planet) will always win. In general we don't give the planet enough credit and are seemingly more worried about the environment than our place in the environment. Sure we should be respectful of the planet but it is arrogant of us to think that anything we do will really affect this earth (in the long run, which is in fact a very very very long run. The earth is about 4.55 billion years old we aren't even a footnote). Have you ever seen a parking lot that has been forgotten about for say 5 years? Its faded, warped, worn out and there are all sorts of plants growing through the cracks. That's what nature can do in 5 years. If we were wiped off this planet the world would make short work of all the crap we left behind.
I guess my point is that while we are moving at light speeds (technologically) we are most likely devolving in terms of basic survival skills. Come the next ice age I don't think anyone will be looking for a php programmer (no offence to any php programmers just the first example that came to mind).
This makes me think back to when we had that blackout (August 2003) which lasted a day or two. What if all the electricity went out and the powers that be said "That's it! The powers gone! and its never coming back! Sorry there's no more and there never will be! We ran out! We didn't want to worry you by telling you earlier!"
Seriously if that happened where do you think you and everyone you knew would be now (two and a half years later in the dead of winter). I can bet you where the guy who lives on less than a dollar a day would be (the exact same spot regardless).
Labels: random
6:32 PM posted byMy father works for the power company that was responsible for that blackout. The way that company is run, I wouldn't be surprised if we DO lose our energy forever!! (no joke!!)
Great post.
9:32 AM posted by
Wow, this is a great post. I've oftened wondered about this exact situation myself. And since it's something that my family and I have kind of tossed around before, I think we'd probably be OK. We know enough basic survival skills, and would probably have enough ingenuity to make it. (I say probably, because you never know how bad it could get).
You've brought up some great questions. Like, where is our American obsession with "everything right here, right now" really taking us?
Damn, I'm gonna be thinking about this all day.
8:30 AM posted by
An interesting thought, but a little clouded reasoning.
A) Medecine protecting the genepool from 'natural selection'... it is, you're right... but it'll take a few tens thousand years before we see a real change, evolution is slow like that.
B) Westerners are more ill-prepared for a catastrophic event than the poorer portion of the world. No, not really. Sure, there might be more panic, and yes, that 400 pound man is probably dead unless he lucks into some wealth. But in terms of true 'catastrophy' the wealth of western nations will still protect them. And to whatever extent it doesn't, it'll screw over the developing countries of the world more.
You notice how we stoped calling them 'undeveloped' or 'underdeveloped' and call them 'developing' now? That isn't PC newspeak, that's an accurate assesment, Capitalism has occupied every corner of the world. There are virtually no people who 'live off the land'*. That man that lives off 1 dollar a day? He still gets his meagre sustinance from the market. Should a catastrophe event happen that disrupts the ability for mass food production, or mass transportation happen... he's not going to be able to go out into the woods and hunt himself down something to eat. He may be more used to being hungry, he may be more patient about his roof leaking, but he is biologically no better equiped to live his life than any of us... actually somewhat worse than most thanks to our privilaged lifestyle.
If something moderatly catastrophic happened, like the unexpected end of oil production, the west would be hurt, our economy might collapse, our average family income could go from the tens of thousands to the hundreds... with the collapse of our economy, the developing nations would collapse as well, and the 1 dollar a day individual would slide down to 10 cents a day, and die in even vaster numbers than they are already dying. So it goes. The west is atleast equiped with some alternatives and safe guards against such catastrophes. Sure we would bitch and moan about it, but fuck, we would live on, and in much better style than anyone else.
Should something totally catastrophic happen, a meteor hits and we are plunged into a flash ice age, something we do not have technology to deal with, looses will be massive everywhere. This hasn't happened yet, but I mean, think back ten, twenty thousand years ago, the situation would have been similar... biologically, we are meant to be living in 8 to 9 person per square kilometer settings. It's through advanced agricultural technology that we can cram 100 people per square km in some places, 1000 people per square km in other places. Should that technology ever be removed, we're going to go back to those 8 person per square kilometer levels, or worse if the new situation dictates.
Interesting side note, many western nations have much more room, and thus would probably fair better (in terms of population losses) than most developing nations in the event of all technology ceasing to function.
11:39 AM posted by
I was wondering how the powers that be would be able to let you know that the power wasn't ever coming back on again. Door-to-door foot messengers?! Smoke signals?
» Post a Comment