The primary role in life for you and me, as with any other
species, is to multiply.
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| A sign of the tmes. |
That is to procreate and within that behave in such a manner
to ensure our genes are protected and have the best chance of survival.
Survival within the tumult of life is a brutal affair and it
was Charles Darwin who arrived at a complex understanding of how life evolves
and that has been reduced, in a sense wrongly, to “survival of the fittest”.
Reductionism is sometimes callous and unforgiving,
particularly when it tears apart and strips bare the powerful and emotional
human concept of birth that has been subjected to aggrandizement over the
millennia of human life.
Humans have evolved to have a powerful thinking apparatus,
the mind, and unlike most other species understand the past, present and
future; memory and anticipation allow changed behaviour in the present.
Most other species, from microscopic to mammoth, survive on
what might be termed instinct and humans, while also driven by that, have the
capacity for consideration.
Equipped with that “powerful thinking apparatus”, an
understanding of the past, present and future, having the ability to consider
and plan, and, within that, physically change the circumstances of their
environment, human numbers have, and are, growing exponentially.
The world already has in excess of seven billion people and
although human endeavour broadly warrants applause an honest appraisal of our
achievements should ignite a stern rebuke.
For decades now we have known about and understood the nexus
between human numbers and resources – too many people gouging relatively scarce
resources produces an inevitable collision; a collision, if left unattended
will decimate the human population.
Like so many other difficulties facing the world, or at
least humans, any workable solution to this one, limiting our numbers, is
weighed down with millennia-old emotional baggage that inhibits clarity.
Birth is a landmark event for humans and is celebrated with
enthusiasm in all cultures and having a deep and mysterious sense of success, it
is a great leveller as birth is available to all, whether rich or poor.
Any suggestion that in some way birth should be restricted
and human numbers subsequently limited is met with outrage, but if allowed to
continue without restriction, we face unimaginable difficulties ranging from
famines to water shortages and from conflicts to simply space to survive.
With a comprehensive tripartite understanding of life – that
is the past, present and future – man needs to consider what was appropriate
from the past, our present behaviour and how they equate with predictive
predicaments.
Any workable solution is not obvious, but we need to
stabilise the population; we need to have fewer people dependant on the planet;
and we need to have a bias in which deaths exceed births.
