The Configuration of Goo!

Our persistence at separating the wheat from the chaff since the Pleistocene era has made us forget that the chaff is still part of the wheat.

And we are still at it.

Take the example of human intelligence. No one is quite sure how much of it one possesses, but when it comes to other species, we are dead sure that we have the sole claim to fame. Extra-terrestrials don’t count, as we have already proved them non-existent.

Human intelligence is claimed to be our tool for survival.

Over the eons, we have expended much of it to prove our supremacy. Today, zoos may have been replaced by sanctuaries, and vegetarianism may be polite, but tolerance is not one of our best virtues. One has only to look at the inspiration of war on human progress to realize that competition is probably the best application of  human intelligence.

Perhaps it’s time to take a square look at the mirror and ask – “Exactly how intelligent are we?”

I’m told that, in the tussle between genetics and biology on the one hand and human intelligence on the other, the former has always won out.

Desmond Morris explains – “It is worth re-iterating here, that, we are not concerned with the massive cultural explosions that followed, of which the naked ape (that’s us!) of today is so proud. The dramatic progression that led him, in a mere half million years, from making a fire to making a space craft. It is an exciting story, but the naked ape is in danger of being dazzled by it all and forgetting that beneath the surface gloss, he is still very much a primate. (‘an ape’s an ape, a varlet’s a varlet, though they be clad in silk, or scarlet’). Even a space ape must urinate."

Definitely biology imposes limitations, which creates a waste of time and effort. Ernest Haeckel talked about recapitulation, where fundamental change is accomplished by the addition of new systems on top of old ones.
For example, the human embryo goes through a fish stage with gill slits which are absolutely useless even for the embryo which gets nourished via the umbilical cord. But just because gills were necessary for our ancestors, we run through a gill stage in becoming human. 

Perhaps, it helps us understand why human intelligence is regarded as the ultimate – it gets to the point without the meanderings of conventions and logic.

Today, we make a lot of fuss on the need to constantly develop our levels of intelligence, mostly because of the perceived threat from the escalating competitiveness  of our  world. It has become like  money – a commodity that is traded for one’s survival. 

But the mistake we have made, is that human intelligence like everything else in our world has become mass produced .The demand for compliance today far outstrips that of creativity and so there are no takers for individuality. Are we smart enough to figure out what would constitute being smart today ? And I am not talking about neck-ties!

Considering this scenario, the future may become like a fantasy science fiction story that I once read of the world being taken over by the non-intelligent people who are always in majority. But even today nothing is truer. One has to only look around and see some of the politicians and others in power. So where are we heading?

Let’s take another scenario.

Two friends go camping, and one of them collapses. The other friend whips out his cell phone and calls emergency, and says, “ My friend has collapsed. He looks dead. What do I do?”

The operator says, “Calm down, let’s take it step at a time. First, make sure he’s dead.”

There is a brief silence, and then the sound of a gunshot.

“Ok,” says the man. “He’s dead. Now what?”

What is the purpose of working out the configuration of goo? No one is quite sure.

Copyright © 2014,Lima Sehgal
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