Modernity has blurred the line between what is and is not an
invasive species.
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| "Leviathon" by Thomas Hobbes. |
Of course reference to history will quickly clarify any
doubt, but what was once, foreign, rare or not naturally occurring is
frequently so common and accepted that it is thought by many to be “native”.
Australia, New Zealand and smaller south Pacific nations
were once wonderful examples of how their isolation had resulted in what had
been hitherto unseen and unknown species.
However, just one species, Homo sapiens (wise man or modern
humans), that’s you and me, has followed in the footsteps of its ancestors
colonizing almost all available space on the planet.
Expansive intellectual prowess has launched modern man to
the top of the food chain, pushing many other species, from massive to microscopic
to extinction or the margins and now, it seems those smarts are going to be the
seeds of our undoing.
Not many centuries ago there was certain, and necessary
equilibrium about the earth with birth and death in both animate and inanimate
“things” being timely, equating with what was needed to ensure environmental
balance.
Modernity, driven by the wants of the “wise man” as opposed
to his/her actual needs, changed all that leaving us balancing precariously above
a chasm.
Troubles bigger than you and I block our escape and there
appears to be an absence of endeavour from both international and national
institutions to actively pursue societal changes that would avoid the fall.
Seeking to attribute the blame to someone or something, many
turn their gaze to the uncensored and unfettered rush of capitalism that has
plundered earth’s finite resources in its pursuit if infinite growth and
profit.
Modern life, despite its critics and those who pine for what
was, is unquestionable better than what existed and described by Thomas Hobbes
inn 1651 book, “Leviathan”, as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”.
Homo sapiens have become earth’s true invasive species,
threatening not just all other species, but even its own future, and even,
maybe, its own extinction.
However, let us not be too despondent for just recently the
British-based Philosopher’s Mail noted in a story about “Welcome to the Dawn of Capitalism”, in which the criticism of the hunger for growth and profit was
acknowledged, it said: “But perhaps the good future depends not on minimising
Capitalism but on radically extending it”.
“If we could just address our deeper needs more directly,
our materialism would be refined and restrained, our work would be more
meaningful and our profits would be more honourable. That’s the ideal future of
Capitalism,” it said.
Maybe we are “the” invasive species and maybe it is time
we engaged our naturally endowed intellectual prowess to become more refined
and restrained to live more meaningful and honourable lives?
