complexity intro
change & stability
prog. complexity
more complexity
homo nobilis
references
discovery story
implications
invitation
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The Advent of Homo nobilis, stellaris (VII) |
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There is no question that technology is a matter of cognitive evolution - and more importantly - that cognitive evolution is teachable, at least to those individuals who posses the necessary brain capacity. The shaping of the first flint - the evolutionary marker of the emergence of the "Homo" line - was, obviously, teachable. It was also the foundation of technology which then blossomed and evolved to our present day technology, and like all evolution, as driven by the universal law of Progressive Complexity. |
The same holds true of the evolution of societies and cultures. Indeed, this is their prime purpose, to teach their members their evolved societal and cultural knowledge, as the prerequisite of survival within their societal, cultural and environmental contexts.
Like all evolution, societal and cultural evolution are also governed by the universal law of Change & Stability (and markedly so by the latter - hence Change is slow and difficult, even painful when Change is rapid), and driven by the law of Progressive Complexity. And this brings us to the function of Stability in the dynamics of all evolution. This is an immense, rich and as yet largely uncharted subject - due to academia's failure to recognize the laws of Change & Stability and of Progressive Complexity - but we will concern ourselves here only with one crucial aspect of the function of Stability within this context.
The Stability Function in Evolution
The continued existence of all fundamental stages of the evolution of Life to progressively higher life forms - from the first bit of self-perpetuating RNA, to single cells, sponges, worms, fish, amphibians, reptiles,
mammals, to our kind - is preserved by the Stability function of the governing law of Change and Stability.
There must be a stable base for evolutionary change to occur. The Stability function of the law of Change & Stability assures the former, while the Change function drives the latter - and in a most breathtakingly elegant way, which always comes down to available energy.
The Stability function assures, among other things, that bacteria, for instance, are still around to recycle all life-wastes. This deep and abiding Stability also provides a vast and profound resilience of Life - in case something goes awry with its more complex forms. This is the sole reason why Life has managed to persist despite several mass extinctions and a dozen ice ages. It also solves the puzzle why only some organisms, and not all, evolve.
We have now come to the crux of the matter at hand. In all instances of evolution, the new line has arisen out of an existing and stable 'old' line, while the 'old' line persists essentially unchanged, to await its evolutionary fate. This varies from swift disappearance to long term persistence. None of the direct antecedents of Homo sapiens, sapiens exist anymore, and only its distant animal cousins, the great apes, are still extant.
To illustrate this point to my young daughter when visiting the monkeys at the local zoo, I asked her to consider this: Many, many millions of years ago, this little chimpansee behind the bars of the cage, and our kind, had the same mother. Today, we hold the fate of a planet in our hands, while her kind still only holds the fate of banana in hers.
In the case of cultures, only a very few modern cultures are as they were 200 years ago, and only a few small pockets of highly isolated cultures are older than this. And the pace of cultural evolution is accelerating rapidly. Indeed, we are now in the midst of the evolution and emergence of humankind's first global culture.
Although this remains to be fully recognized by the experts, choice is a strong factor in the process of evolution among all but the most primitive organisms - as Darwin realized with his recognition of the role of sexual selection in evolution. Even such a bird-brained bit of feathered fluff as the bower bird chooses her mate purely for the evidence of his superior wits.
Since sexual selection, or choice, plays such an important role in the perpetuation and evolution of Life, it would be foolish to think that choice is not a factor in our evolution. On the contrary, besides being the only 'animal' on this Earth which can chose whether to have offspring or not, our highly cognitive consciousness gives us a far wider range of choices. And in cognitive evolution choice plays a dominant role.
There is also the matter of the survival of the species. Those who nurture, protect, support and build - and this includes our environment - obviously have a far better chance at survival than those who degrade, destroy and fail to nurture and protect. And this is entirely a matter of choice. Consequently, whether we remain Homo sapiens, sapiens or evolve to Homo nobilis, stellaris contains a strong element of personal choice as well. And particularly so since cognitive evolution can be transmitted by teaching.
The latest surprise to come out of the laboratories is "directed evolution". It has been shown again and again that bacteria which feed on a specific food will mutate rapidly in the absence of that food, and adapt to another, previously unusable form of food, if present (in my view, the evolution of flight is due to this same phenomenon). It is also clear that the cognitive, technical, societal and cultural evolution of our kind has been directed by the choices we have made.
The domain of Homo nobilis, stellaris is vast and powerful. Homo nobilis stellaris has a grasp of the nature of the universe, knows him- or herself to be the direct product of the fundamental laws and creative forces of this universe, and that we are, first and foremost, creatures of the universe - the Cosmo's children, so to speak - who happen to dwell on the Earth. And Homo nobilis, stellaris is fully capable of wielding the creative forces of the universe within the domain of his or her influence.
Homo nobilis stellaris also knows that humanity is one 'family', and that his or her mate is another direct expression of the fundamental laws and creative forces of this universe, and sees the universe manifest in the eyes of his and her children, siblings, parents, friends, neighbours, work mates, the girl at the check-out counter - even in the eyes of his or her 'enemies' - and regardless of race, gender, nationality and religion.
This then, is the vast potential that is now given us by the creative forces of our universe, and what it will bring in the future is as unimaginable to us now, as our time is to the shapers of the first flints. But the choices are ours to make, all along the way.
PS. I cannot help but make a comment here. Like all things, human art forms have also evolved from primitive beginnings to highly complex and sophisticated forms, and particularly so in music. However, some forms of modern music and visual arts are the only expressions of the perceptions of Homo sapiens, sapiens which have taken an evolutionary nose dive as of late. There has been a dramatic and profound devolution of music, for instance, between Johan Sebastian Bach and "rap", and worse, the mindlessly primitive monotony of 'industrial grunge'. These too are purely a matter of choice - and also happen to be the only examples of devolution there are in all of evolution.
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