Rare Earth

Abstract

The emergence of the genus Homo, and subsequently of Homo sapiens, have led to a unique phenomenon in the history of nature where the advanced technological achievements of the species in mastering fire, combustion, the electromagnetic spectrum and nuclear power have given it the illusion of god-like powers. The arrogance of supremacy is blinding the species to its intrinsic origin from and relation with nature, endangering its survival. However, no biological entity, all the way from the DNA/RNA biomolecules to the human brain, can claim possession of intelligence – a faculty written into the laws of nature. Intelligence is no more a property of any species or individual organism than, for example, are the effects of gravity and electromagnetism to which life is subject. From its faith in omnipotent gods, to a mythological faith in human mastery over nature inherited from the scriptures, to a belief in a purported ability of computer technology to colonize extra-terrestrial planets, Homo sapiens has become subject to a self-referential anthropocentric delusion (Strongman L (2007) The anthropomorphic bias: how human thinking is prone to be self-referential. Working papers no 4–07. Lower Hutt: The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand. http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1245). For a species which shares some 98.5 % of its genes with primates,- such fantasies deny its inextricable relationship with the terrestrial biosphere, from which it sprang.

“For we are the local embodiment of a Cosmos grown to self-awareness. We have begun to contemplate our origins: star-stuff pondering the stars; organised assemblages of ten billion-billion-billion atoms considering the evolution of atoms; tracing the long journey by which, here at least, consciousness arose. Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. WE speak for the Earth. Our obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring … We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you know, everyone you love, everyone you’ve ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines. Every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturing, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves…”

(Carl Sagan, Cosmos 1980).