We can declare
ourselves an intelligent species only because there is no other species to
dispute us.
Exceptional savants produce art and music and
architecture that we consider evidence of higher-level thinking skills. Our scientists
have taken us into new frontiers, and we are living in a world of advanced technology, as compared to only fifty tears ago.
But then we
can tune into a Trump rally, or see white supremacist marching with
tiki-torches, or the glazed look of people attending televangelist mega-churches
and we must conclude that, on the whole, we are a pretty mediocre species and
prone to the highest level of gullibility.
Without any proof
or logical analyses, people choose to believe in gods and angles and devils and
heaven and hell and ghost and vampires and werewolves and fairies and sprites and witches and shapeshifters and alien abductions ….
There are
those who have historically taken advantage of our gullibility. P.T. Barnum said ‘There’s a sucker born every
minute.’ He also said, you can never
make a mistake by underestimating the intelligence of the human race.
The human
race is not special. We are here only by
the dice-roll of evolution. What we
believe doesn’t matter, because we don’t matter. Had our mother gotten up to pee and delayed
our father’s ejaculation by a few minutes, a different sperm would have
fertilized her egg and someone else would be here – or if she had finished with
a blow job…
So, enjoy
yourself. Believe what you want to
believe. But the intelligence of the
human race can be summed up in one simple statement:
the Ol’Buzzard
We can swing from the heights to the depths pretty quickly, it's true.
ReplyDeleteIt's a flawed species, invasive and self-destructive. But the planet will survive the scourge.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot zombies. I believe in zombies.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't "Here---Hold my beer" be in quotations?
ReplyDeleteAt my late age I've just come to learn of the philosophy "Humanism" - even the Pope is requiring it be taught in Catholic business schools. It focuses on ethics and morality and makes so much more sense that the magical thinking practiced by those glazed-eyed Christians & Evangelicals. I believe its practice could create a better human race.
ReplyDelete