Today's muse, so much of our personal lives, and I suspect our species lives, are endless, mostly unconscious, behavioral repetition. Perhaps it is, in part, the deeply embedded species drive to procreate, to sustain itself, that leads to this repetition i.e., that it is vital to increase the odds of "success" on an evolutionary level. Certainly modern day humans have an almost pathological need to discount and minimize this drive. This, what I will call "repetition awareness", is also made all the more challenging by the fact that much of our repetition transcends our own life e.g., that we are often unconsciously repeating multi-generational patterns, and maybe even multi-evolutionary patterns.
Looking at behavioral repetition in my own life, and in looking outwards at more macro-scale cultural repetition e.g., the human tendency towards tribalism, I tend to pay more attention to, and focus on, behavior that looks like it may be new, or, if not new, behavior that is new to my experience, or to the experience of the species. It is in this light that I find the topic of technology fascinating. At least as near as I can tell, though maybe we should ask the dophins to be sure, I can find no precedent for the rapid rise in technology, and its application, over say, the last 1,000 years of human history. And 1,000 years in any evolutionary time frame, is but a blink of an eye.
A couple of simple points based on the above. First, the rise of technology may have placed our species into a profound state of stress as we maybe exhibiting behavior that may not be evolutionarily "sane" (jury is definitely still out on that one), the byline might read, "Human Species Pleads Insanity". Second, since we appear to have driven (pun intended) off the edge of the evolutionary road map, we need to be somewhat cautious about how we approach technology, especially as it relates to its impact on our species. I have worked in various areas of technology for many years, and I am profoundly, profoundly surprised at how unconscious we generally are about the impact of technology on our species. We pay little heed to its impacts until we are almost literally hit over the head. As much as, some days, I might want to be a Luddite, this genie is well and truly out of the bottle.
Looking at behavioral repetition in my own life, and in looking outwards at more macro-scale cultural repetition e.g., the human tendency towards tribalism, I tend to pay more attention to, and focus on, behavior that looks like it may be new, or, if not new, behavior that is new to my experience, or to the experience of the species. It is in this light that I find the topic of technology fascinating. At least as near as I can tell, though maybe we should ask the dophins to be sure, I can find no precedent for the rapid rise in technology, and its application, over say, the last 1,000 years of human history. And 1,000 years in any evolutionary time frame, is but a blink of an eye.
A couple of simple points based on the above. First, the rise of technology may have placed our species into a profound state of stress as we maybe exhibiting behavior that may not be evolutionarily "sane" (jury is definitely still out on that one), the byline might read, "Human Species Pleads Insanity". Second, since we appear to have driven (pun intended) off the edge of the evolutionary road map, we need to be somewhat cautious about how we approach technology, especially as it relates to its impact on our species. I have worked in various areas of technology for many years, and I am profoundly, profoundly surprised at how unconscious we generally are about the impact of technology on our species. We pay little heed to its impacts until we are almost literally hit over the head. As much as, some days, I might want to be a Luddite, this genie is well and truly out of the bottle.
