MARK TWAIN ON THE HUMAN RACE

What he said
the Ol'Buzzard

THIS AIN’T ANCESTRY.COM

We are an advanced breed of monkey

on a minor planet

of a very average star.

Stephen Hawking

About 6 to 7 million years ago humans and chimpanzees diverged from an earlier primate ancestor, though we still share about 97% of our DNA with our chimp cousins.

Somewhere around 4 million years ago our pre-human ancestors became bipedal, and about 3.5 million years ago Australopithecus Afarensis became distinctly human. 

There were many evolutionary adaptions that developed and died out, but about 1.8 million years ago Homo erectus became identifiable with present day humans.

It was Homo erectus that left the cradle of Africa and spread through Asia and southern Europe. 

Evolutionary adaptations produced Homo Heidelbergensis and then Neanderthal and finally modern humans.   It is estimated that about 2.5% of the DNA of humans outside of Africa is Neanderthal. 

Human evolution is not only obvious from physical appearance and mobility, but also in brain development.

Over the course of human evolution three distinct brains emerged.   The oldest and most primitive is the brain stem and cerebellum (which turns out to be the main structure of the reptilian brain) which controls autonomic body functions.  The next layer of our brain to develop was the hippocampus and hypothalamus which records memories and experiences.  The final layer is the cerebrum that allows language and abstract thought. 

The brain is not static, but constantly rewires itself to adjust to new experiences and demands.  The human brain is even known to repair itself (rewire itself) to bypass effected neurons in stroke victims.

  

Time on an evolutionary scale is vast, and if we survive there is no reason to believe that ‘we’ are the final product of human evolution.  

The future of humans no longer depend on survival skills, size or wit.   We live in a society that services our needs.  We are less active and less imaginative.  We depend more and more on technology.

So what evolutionary changes in the human animal might we expect as people move from a world of personal interaction, required physical activity and survival demands to a virtual reality world of 24/7 TV, computers and cell phones?

Just wondering

the Ol’Buzzard

GOD, GUNS, GRITS, GRAVY, COSMOLOGY AND CHIVAS REGAL

Today my wife bought me a bottle of twelve year old Chivas Regal Scotch Whiskey and I am enjoying my second glass. 

Until you get melancholy and philosophical (and whiskey helps) you miss the point that we are  creatures with limited-intelligent living in a meaningless world; and since we are all alive only through happenstance, if we do value above all things moments of enjoyment we are squandering our chance existence.

We only need to pull our heads away from daily triviality and ponder infinity to realize how unimportant the human race - and you and I are.

Now wrap your mind around this: we are God’s chosen little pissants creatures living on a tiny spec in the Milky Way Galaxy, but it doesn't stop there - our Milky Way Galaxy is only one of millions of other galaxies inside our universe. 

Cosmology is the scientific study of the universe.    The only actual truths known among cosmologist are that our universe is 13.7 billion years old and that when astronomers peer out into the universe they can only see to a distance of 42 billion light years (known as our Cosmic Horizon) as this is how far light can have traveled since the Big Bang.  Almost everything else proposed by cosmologist is speculation. 

The only difference between a science fiction writer and a cosmologist is the sci-fi writer tells a story - since they are both speculating from a known to an unknown. 

Common sense tells us that space does not stop at our Cosmic Horizon and that there must be realms beyond our observable universe; but we have no ability to ever see or know this for a fact. 

The Idea that space has no end is beyond our meager ability to comprehend – some things just are.

Cosmologist have speculated that we are living in a bubble universe, brought about by the Big Bang - and that our bubble is composes of particles like electrons, quarks etc. that are held together by forces like electromagnetism and gravity - and that our bubble continues to expand.

 

Outside of our bubble are other bubbles produced by the same or similar eruption – some having very different types of physics, particles and forces.

 Outside our bubble exist an infinite number of other bubble universes. 

 

In other words: mankind is an insignificant creature and our personal existence is an anomaly: so why, as pseudo-intelligent life forms, are we squandering our brief existence on wars and politics and dividing factions and on the trivial minutia of everyday existence without stopping to enjoy a glass of Chivas Regal Scotch Whiskey?

I’m just asking

the Ol’Buzzard

CAN EMPATHY SAVE THE HUMAN RACE?

It seems I often borrow from the blog Squalto’s Rant – and it is true.

Today I have co-opted the following video that he posted.  

This is the type of video that if you begin watching you must watch to the end.   The premise of the video is that human beings are moving toward empathy for all life on the earth and concern for the earth’s ecology in general.    

This is a consummation much to be desired.   Jeremy Rifkin is representative of a far left liberal thinker with a great ability to connect with his audience.   He leaves you feeling that there is hope for human empathy because of the evolutionary development of the human brain which has been stimulated by the technical advancements is communication. 

Being a cynical old fart I tend to see the down side to this argument.  Human empathy hasn’t changed much since four million years ago when Australopithecus walked across the savanna in Africa, picked up a stick, went over a hill and beat the brains out of his neighbor and fucked his female.  

We live in a tribal society and we don’t much concern ourselves for the tribes over the hill.    We seek validation from our family, our church, or racial identity or our local or national identity.  We decide which cult gratifies us the most and that is where we place our allegiance, while decrying other cults that do not stroke our ego.  

Abraham Maslow was an American professor of Psychology who defined the human hierarchy of needs.   People develop from the most basic needs of fulfillment toward the highest level of Actualization.   People can not move into a higher level until they are secure in the levels below them. 

The steps defined are:

PSYCHOLOGICAL: Breathing, food, water, waste, sleep, warmth, freedom from fear and freedom from sickness.

SAFETY: Physical security, family security, psychological security and financial security.

LOVE AND BELONGING: Friendships, family, sexual intimacy, group identity.

SELF-ESTEEM: Self respect, Respect of others. 

SELF-ACTUALIZATION: Able to embrace facts and realities, spontaneous, creative, problem solving, caring for others, morality independent of authority and judge the world objectively.  

Many people throughout the world today (including in the United States) are stuck in the SAFETY level – concerned with basic survival. 

A good majority in this country are striving to BELONG – to seek gratification through a social network.

Very few of society are secured enough to be striving in the ESTEEM level.  

And, an even smaller percentage (which must includes Jeremy Rifkin, - the producer of the video) find themselves secure enough to have reached SELD ACTUALIZATION.  

Only the people in the SELF ACTUALIZATION level have the security and ability to be truly empathetic for the human race specifically and all other living things in general. 

Add to this the high percentage of blatant human ignorance:  The IQ is represented by a Bell Curve. 

The top of the curve is declared to be 100 , with  fifty percent of the people above the curve and fifty percent below the curve.  The up side of the Bell Curve represents from high average to superior  intellect – while the down side of the curve represents from average to below average intelligence. 

The 100 IQ point shifts according to demographics of population growth.  At the present time humans on the down side of the curve are breeding at a faster rate than those on the up side; which constantly skews the intelligence quota of the human race downward. 

SELF ACTUALIZATION is not in the reach of everyone.  Empathy is a pipe dream – though a beautiful one.  But the reality is that the human race is not programmed for the gentleness that empathy would require. 

I will watch the video again: maybe a few more times – for there is much presented that stimulates the thought processes.   But in the end we live in the real world where human egocentricity has not changed much in four million years. 

the Ol’Buzzard 

I AM NOT AMUSED

Excerpt from: TIMELINE, by Michael Crichton.

“Everybody expects to be entertained, and they expect to be entertained all the time.   Business meetings must be snappy, with bullet list and animated graphics, so executives aren’t board.   Malls and stores must be engaging, so they amuse as well as sell us.   Politicians must have pleasing video personalities and tell us only what we want to hear.   Schools must be careful not to bore young minds that expect the speed and complexity of television.   Students must be amused – everyone must be amused, or they will switch: switch brands, switch channels, switch parties, switch loyalties.   This is the intellectual reality of western society at the end of the century… The great fear is not of disease or death, but of boredom.   A sense of time on our hands, a sense of nothing to do.   A sense that we are not amused.”

Crichton not only writes a great story in TIMELINE, but between the lines are truisms that jump out at you if you read carefully.  

Look at today’s Republican Presidential caucuses – very few people are interested in the actual policies, and the future results these policies would have on the nation at large.   People hear only what they want to hear, and they will switch if their candidate is not amusing. 

Regardless of Democrat or Republican; any politician that dares deal with the dry, realistic, real politics of a party, without amusing, is dead in the water.  

Dead in the water: Along with that line of thought – by all means read Crichton’s EATERS OF THE DEAD (later repackaged as THE 13^th. WARRIOR.) 

the Ol'Buzzard

HUMAN INSIGNIFICANCE

Moving from Cosmology in my last blog to the self-exalted divinity of God’s human clones, we might wonder just what place mankind actually holds in the history of the earth.

When I taught school in Alaska, one of the Science projects (Science deserves to be capitalized) I used was to lay out a time line of the earth that began behind the school and ran 100 yards into the bush (spruce forest.)   A path would take observers to the beginning point farthest from the village, and travelers would work their way along the time line back into the village.

Also see:

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/prehistoric-time-line.html

As a math skill the students found 100 yards to be 3600 inches and divided that into 4.5 billion years (the age of the earth) to determine that each inch represented 1.25 million years.   Each group of students were given an era and they had to determine their position on the time line and decorate it with appropriate art work to demonstrate the evolution of the earth during their time period.    Of course a traveler would advance in time finally ending up in the village at present time.

The point I am trying to make with this blog entry is that Lucy (Australopithecus Afarensis) and her relatives first appeared about 4 million years ago, or 3.2 inches from the end of the timeline; and homo sapiens (modern man) appeared about 200,000 years ago: at .16 or 1/6th of an inch from the end of the 100 yard time line.   We have been here a minuscule amount of time.

Woman kind (for she came first) and her spawn have been on the earth almost an insignificant time when compared with the history of the earth – and because of our self destructive nature our kind will probably be a short lived species



I get a kick when I hear people talk about the end of the world, or Armageddon; for the earth is not going to end as imagined by human reality: we very likely will destroy ourselves and some of the other life forms, but the earth will heal itself and continue to evolve after we are gone.

Of course, at some point in the distant future our solar system will expire according to cosmic law.

But we the people, in our shallowness, create gods in our own likeness, image and liking; and believe that the earth and the heavens and the cosmos are here as a tribute to immortal us and some immortal supreme entity from which we are cloned.

What a self-deluded, self-important, trivial species we are.

The reality is that we are here with some limited reasoning faculty, for a brief time, due to a chance turn on the evolutionary time line; and as such, we should try to appreciate and live fully each day of our allotted time.





This leaky, tumbledown grass hut

left and opening for the moon

and I gazed at it.

All the while it was mirrored

In a deardrop fallen on my sleeve.

Saigyo

ZEN comes as a reminder that if we do not perceive the mystery and beauty of our present life, our present hour, we shall not perceive the worth of any life, of any hour.

-IS is HOLY-

NIHILISM

BUDDHIST TEACHING:

All Things Are Impermanent.

What the hell is going on?

Cost of living going up.
Income fixed
Unexpected bills.
Growing old.
Aches and pains.

As if that's not bad enough:

We jumped from Ben Laden shot in the eye to Weiner’s wiener.

Where is the sanity – is there any left – or was there ever any.

Does any of this fucking matter?

I started out this blog asking: Is the hokey pokey really what it’s all about.



My Kentucky great grandmother was a Presbyterian and believed in predestination - everything that happened was god’s plan: a real head-in-the-sand way of looking at things; but at least she wouldn’t have to question the lunacy of existence: she saw war, politics and social conditions as god’s will; deaths, famine, hardships as god’s test.

I can’t buy it: the world is happenstance – Chaos theory rules.

Our universe came into existence in its present incarnation some 15 billion years ago by some chance explosion we explain as the Big Bang Theory.

Our universe is composed of some hundreds of billion galaxies one of which is our Milky Way, which contains some 400 billion stars, one of which is our sun. Here on earth we have matter, life and laws of nature that may be totally different from other universes.

String theory proposes multiple parallel universes: the same universe presented in different space times and perhaps forms.

Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity (and like evolution it is not a theory but substantially proven) built on the constancy of the speed of light proves time is a variable and not a constant – predicting the ability to time travel forward (but not backwards) in time.

Einstein's theory (again proven) of General relativity deals with the ability of a mass's gravity to bend light resulting in a curvature of space time. This theory allows us to accurately predict the navigation results of space shots and allowed us to develop accurate Global Positioning Systems to within a few feet.

So there we are: one of a billion billion solar systems in galaxies where time and space bend and are variable, with a probability of multiple parallel universes – and on a random planet containing an animal life form that believes itself intelligent, immortal and the reason for all existence; and is obsessed with Anthony Weiner’s wiener.

Is the hokey pokey really what it’s all about?

It has to be.

TO BEGIN WITH THE BEGINNING, LET'S BEGIN WITH THE BEGINNING: MAN

MANKIND (THE CORRUPT PISSANT.)

Man: past, present and future.

Who the hell are we that we hold ourselves in such high regard that we invent gods like us?

Man (in some form) has been on this earth for only four to five million years. That may seem like a long time, but in comparison with the universe’s five billion years (plus or minus) it amounts to a snowflake in a snowstorm. (The tendency here was to use some analogy referring to a fart – but I have already done that.)



Our species, with its egocentric intellect and piercing insight, has divided all life on this planet into two categories: human and non-human. WE (the human race) have decided that human life is important, and not-human life exists to serve OUR needs and pleasures. Non-human life we divided into animal and vegetable. Few people, in their conscious moments, actually consider themselves an animal; but, when we follow out the chain of evolution it’s obvious that man is only another branch of the animal kingdom. However, we hold our self-importance in view of our superior intellect.



Human intelligence: Now don’t get me started. If we display human intelligence on a bell curve the norm (middle) would fall somewhere within low mediocrity: people barely able to operate within the bottom three rungs of Maslow’s Hierarchy



• Physiological needs: food, water, elimination, warmth, rest, avoidance of pain, sexual release.

• Safety needs: protection from the environment through clothing and housing, security from crime and financial hardship.

• Love and belonging needs: desire for affection, and acceptance into a group.



If we look at the back end of the curve we find a tremendous percent of the population that is borderline retarded. These people tend to breed borderline retarded children, and at this time their birthrates are higher than the general population, which steadily skews the norm downward.



On the front end of the curve we find people capable of operating at a level to supply their need for self esteem and for aesthetic gratification (Maslow’s fourth and sixth). Finally, there are only the smallest percent of humans capable of cognitive understanding and self-actualization, and most of this last group can operate only within some limited autistic field. . (I know Maslow’s hierarchy was not designed to demonstrate intelligence, but the level where people exist is a good indication of their mental capability.)



Where are my statistics? I don’t have any. But if you want an insight to the average man on the back side of the curve just check out any Tea Bagger political rally, or you can tune your radio to RAP music or listen to Glen Beck on Fox Network. The list is unending: Suicide bombers - David Keresh followers - Jim Jones followers, Heaven’s gate. If you read Carolyn Chute you’ll recognize that the Beans of Egypt Maine are the norm on the back side of the Bell Curve.



Can you make a case for an intelligent human race? Good luck.



Let’s take a look at this animal group we call human. Biologists divide all animals into different levels depending on certain features. The biological classification for Humans reads similar to any other animal on earth.



THE BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION (TAXONOMY) OF MODERN HUMANS:



LEVEL NAME FEATURE

Kingdom Animalia Animal

Phylum Chordata Spinal Cord

Subphylum Vertebra Segmented backbone

Superclass Tetrapoda Four limbs

Class Mammalia Suckle young

Subclass Theria Live birth

Infraclass Eutheria Placenta

Order Primates Most highly developed

Superfamily Hominoidea Human-like

Family Hominidae Two-legged

Genus Homo Human

Species Sapiens Modern human



*Note: with the exception of Genus and Species our taxonomy is identical to the chimpanzee



I feel, Biologists have fallen short in their classification of humans (and perhaps other animals as well), and that one more level – Gender - should be added to identify sex. The male and female of the Human species are as far apart as lions and gazelles in physiological and psychological make-up. To identify a single animal we must denote sex. But, this is fuel for another fire.



The bottom line is that we are omnivorous, bipedal animals whose closest kin in the animal kingdom is the chimpanzee (According to Vincent Sarich and Allen Wilson of the University of Berkley, the DNA of blood protein of human and chimpanzee differed only by 1.6 percent.) Being omnivorous, meat is an important source of our protein. Humans as well as chimpanzees have always been willing to kill other animals to supply their protein needs. For humans as well as chimpanzees cannibalism has been recorded. Humans, like their chimpanzee cousins, wage war and genocide (only we do it more efficiently.) Humans have bigger brains and larger penis than chimpanzees but smaller testes. Also the gluteus muscle that attaches to the enlarged posterior portion of the human pelvis is huge as compared to other quadrupeds, proving that we are the biggest asses of the animal kingdom



With the anthropological, biological and DNA cataloging that has been done to date, it is blatant ignorance to try and deny evolution. It is like holding on to the belief that the earth is the center of the universe and everything in the cosmos rotates around the earth. Yet, fundamentalists Christians still (successfully in many backward states) try. They deny evolution because in their doctrine man is created in God’s image, and if evolution were true that would mean that God looks like Lucy (Australopithecus Afarensis.)

Adam and Eve

Mankind is the most dangerous and destructive life form that has ever existed on this earth. We have proven more dangerous to other species than the dinosaurs and more deadly than the plague. We don’t kill just for food or defense. We kill because it is our nature. Young boys grow up playing army and cowboys – pretending to kill. Most interactive video games that young adults prefer - roll play killing. The NRA would like every American armed with a concealed weapon: the idea being that you can kill them before they can kill you. Now, we factor in nuclear weapons and commercial environmental destruction, and it is just a tossup which will wipe us all out first. Scientists tell us our sun will someday become a red dwarf and bring an end to our universe, but I don’t think we need worry about that.



To understand mankind and his niche on this earth we must start at the beginning. Around 5 billion years ago the earth was formed. The time from earth’s formation until approximately 545 million years ago is known as the Precambrian Era. During this era bacteria emerged; and, toward the end of the era multi-celled life began.



During the Paleozoic Era (from 545 to 251 million years ago) there was an explosion of underwater life forms. Shellfish, fish, sea animals, amphibians and reptiles evolved.



The Mesozoic Era (251 to 65 million years ago) began with a devastating extinction resulting in ninety percent of life being destroyed. During this period dinosaurs evolved to dominance and we find evidence of lower forms of mammal life.



The Cenozoic Era (65 million years ago to present) also began with a mass extinction, possibly caused by an asteroid or comet colliding near the Yucatan Peninsular. The dinosaurs were gone. The earth cooled. Rainforest gave way to grasslands and woods, and mammals diversified. About 4 million years ago the first members of the human family of primates emerged in Africa.



If you were to layout a time-line of the earth using one inch as a million years it would stretch to almost a hundred and thirty yards (longer than a football field.) On that time-line man would only been present for four inches and modern man (Homo-Sapien) for one one-hundredth of an inch.



New discoveries in Africa and China are adjusting what we know about the decent of man, and like computers our family tree is being constantly updated. Through the archeological record we have trace our lineage back between 38 and 26 million years ago to Aegyptopithecus, a small twelve-pound monkey. Between 23 and14 million years ago we find Proconsul, a chimpanzee like creature evolved. Ramapithecus, about 7 million years old, was a three to four-foot tall upright walking ape. Finally, about 4 million years ago our line leads to the direct ancestor Australopithecus (which if not the beginning of our line – is near the beginning.)



Australopithecus could be called an ape-man. He was smaller than today’s humans, had a larger brain than an ape, walked on two legs, lived in bands and hunted with clubs.



Next in line, about 2 million years ago, we find Homo-Habilis. He was primitive and made stone tools and constructed shelters.



Next, came Homo-Erectus that lived between 1.5 million years ago and 400,000 years ago. Erectus’ brain was twice the size of Australopithecus. He stood about five feet tall and was the first hominid to leave Africa. He built huts, cooked food, invented tools, had a language and lived in bands.



Between 230,000 and 30,000 years ago we come to a split (probably not the first) in our lineage. Neanderthal branches away and becomes a dead-end link. Because of the many European archeological sites we know quite a bit about Neanderthal. Neanderthal had a three-pound brain - comparable to our own. He spoke a language, lived in caves, made tools, hunted with spears and buried his dead. He was stockier than modern man and had somewhat simian facial features. It has been said that if you put Neanderthal in a suite and let him walk through a mall, no one would give him a second look.



Neanderthal was replaced, some believe exterminated, by Cro-Magnon, which existed from 40,000-10,000 years ago. Cro-Magnon was replaced by modern man (Homo-Sapien) about 10,000 years ago. Cro-Magnon painted on cave walls, made pottery, built nets and spears and traps. He lived a tribal life and except for his more primitive life is not particularly distinct from Homo-Sapien. For some reason (just like declaring Europe a separate continent from Asia) we have decided to distinguish ourselves from Cro-Magnon and call ourselves Homo-Sapien or modern man.



Now, this has been a general representation and by no means a complete picture. The spaces in-between and at the beginning of this lineage are being filled in by today’s anthropologist, paleontologist, archeologist and with the great advances of DNA science.



At any rate, the human race today seems to prefer to present itself as ten thousand years old. We are fairly newcomers and have risen to the top of the food chain remarkably fast, but like the dinosaurs our time will pass. The next dominant life form on this earth will undoubtedly be the insect. We all know the cockroach is here to stay, and how about the population explosion of ants around the world? Anyone from Maine who has suffers through the summer bug seasons of black flies, deer flies, no-seeums, midges, misquotes, wasp and hornets will attest to the awesome power of the insect. Even Mark Twain in Letters to the Earth declared that God was a fly.



There we have it; so much for the divine dominance of the human race. When I look at our species I see ignorance, cruelty, egocentricity, manipulation and deceit as the norm. As individuals most humans are amiable enough but as a group we are a disaster to our environment, ourselves and the other creatures we share this earth with.



So, where do we go from here? The human being is obviously getting larger. Today’s generation has been raised on fast foods, and between televisions, computers and automobiles we have developed a sedentary existence. We are taller than our forefathers and due to our diets and inactivity obesity is becoming pandemic. (Of course we make excuses by saying that obesity is a sickness; but, to paraphrase George Carlin; when did eating too much become a fucking disease?)



When we see humongous fat people, to large to walk, riding around the supermarkets in electric carts shopping for food – are we looking at the future of the human race? Add to this the depletion of the ozone layer that is allowing dangerous sun rays to enter our atmosphere and we could speculate a time when the race becomes nocturnal. And, let’s not forget the kids walking around all day with earphones plugged into their ears…hearing loss?



So there we have it: mankind of the future – a huge, deaf, nocturnal blob of flesh that eats its own children (we will have killed all the other animal life,) riding around in motorized chairs with our only sensory input coming from virtual reality glasses.

Of course, that’s ridiculous. Remember? We are all allotted three score and ten and like Miss Marple I shall soon be overdrawn – and when I am gone this world will no longer exist.