Friday 1 April 2011

The Arrogance of Mankind.

Its often amused me, the fact that mankind can be so arrogant.

I've said before the Climate Change Lobby are arrogant for presupposing that they can control the climate by making changes to our lifestyles.

The conservation lobby are arrogant to suggest that man can preserve the planet in aspic.

The planet is an ever-changing, living organism and we are forever arrogant to presume that we have enough capability to stop that change. Why would we want to anyway, as mankind, the planet, even the universe around us is an ever-changing wonder?

Without change, there can be no progress, without change, there would be no universe, without change, there would be no stars, without change, those stars would not have converted Hydrogen and Helium into the building blocks from which we are made,  without change, we would not have evolved into the arrogant species we have become.

Every one of us, by their mere existence, has caused significant changes in the universe. Before we even get onto the subject of our interactions with the world, we have changed the existence of the very molecules and atoms that make up our bodies. Without our existence, those atoms may have become something entirely different, not even human.  From the instant our mother and father created us, the destiny of the universal resources that our body is made from was changed forever.

We cannot stop change. We must embrace it instead. Change is good, change brings progress and evolution and used wisely can bring enlightenment. But change happens and we have to acknowledge the fact. Even if we did nothing and stood still, time and the universe would change around us, as we hurtle through space.

As an example I was sat in my car this evening and a light mist was in the air. That mist fell onto the windscreen. By my very presence, the destiny of those water molecules was changed: had I not been there they would have carried on through the air untroubled. Was my presence malign or benign? Who can say, because by being there, at that moment in time and space, things were irrevocably changed. There is no going back and finding out what would happen had I not been there.

The main thing in life is to understand that by being here, you have made a fundamental change to the universe and because that change has happened, it cannot be undone. Make your brief existence in the universe a positive factor. Cause as little damage as you can. But never, ever be arrogant enough to think you can stop the process of change.

1 comment:

  1. The arrogance of man is not limited to climate change. The mear assumption that our effects have meaning in the world is by it self an egotistcal assumption.

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