An Equation Which Generates the Near Future:

An Equation Which Generates the Near Future:

Overpopulation + wealth concentrated in the hands of a few + climate change from human activities + ethnic/religious/cultural intolerance + poor wages for huge numbers of workers + longer life spans costing billions of dollars + limited natural resources + emotional garbage information from internet sources + social media instead of community social involvement + ‘family values’ where only ‘family’ counts + all kinds 

of addictions and compulsive behaviors regarding money, power, sex, popularity, control, winning, et al + global economies with no global controls, + terrorism as an effective weapon for any group, large or small to use + 75 million displaced refugees with no place to go (like what country can really absorb this number of refugees?), + too many 

global leaders who are essentially thugs, mentally or emotionally disturbed ego maniacs about money, religion, power, control et. all + the current age of ‘feelings and alternate facts’ instead of scientific facts + answers to problems today being so complicated that the average person hasn’t a clue or is likely to ever have a clue + the U.S. with the most weapons of mass destruction and the only major power with military bases all over the world whose  citizens own 42% of all the weapons  owned by other citizens across the globe + consequently the U.S. managing to be the most popular target for citizens abroad and citizens at home + an economic powder keg in the U.S. where 43% of adults do not make enough money to even qualify to pay federal income tax + salaries of middle class and especially the poor no longer keep up with the cost of living (only the elderly have that protection) + government income taxes that don’t rise with the cost of living +  only 4% of children born in an American ghetto manage to escape the ghetto by age 30, so our ghettos are getting bigger, more dangerous, and with higher unemployment rates (“We keep countless men from being good citizens by the conditions of life with which we surround them.”) Theodore Roosevelt   =  the next evolutionary apocalypse.

Back in 2003 in a long musing (no surprise), I predicted that things would implode in this country and probably the rest of the world in 18 years if Democrats were in control and in 13 years if Republicans were in control. It is now 14 years down the road and I ask myself do I still think this will happen? Disregarding any prediction of the past, I would predict just such an implosion will occur within the next 5 years and probably sooner and I would remove the word maybe concerning the rest of the world. 

Most everything about our evolutionary situation right now is different. We are the first species to probably cause an evolutionary apocalypse. Our activity, which has grown at an exponential rate the last century, has been detrimental to most other species and now we have reached the point where we are even genocidal to our own species. There are simply too many serious problems coming down from every which direction, and there is no indication that we are capable of disciplining ourselves from individual behaviors which are self-serving and at the same time insufficient for adjusting to a changed environment. The human species is clearly not evolved enough to sustain ourselves at this point in evolutionary history. The necessary traits are there but not dominant enough to prevail in the short run. There are humans today who understand there is a necessity for responsible reproduction. But most still think they alone will determine how many kids they can have and how they will be raised. There are plenty of people who live ethical lives via the Golden Rule which benefits both the giver and the receiver and thus the entire human race. But most people still use inherited religion at their convenience to live a self-serving life. There are plenty of people who strive vigorously for monetary gain, sexual pleasures, power over others, expensive hobbies, etc, but discipline themselves to know when enough is enough. But they are in the minority. There are people who spend as much time or money, or both, on the less fortunate but they are in the minority. There are many people who appreciate racial and cultural diversity and find it easy to co-exist, support, and genuinely like those different from theirselves, but they are in the minority. And so it is—if the right humans had been in the majority the last 60 years, none of the problems in the above equation would exist and the near future would look more like a glimpse of Heaven. 

That things are not now lined up correctly means nothing in the long run for the evolutionary process. Thus, things are operating as they always have, governed by the laws God created to control the process. The problems identified in the above equation, and even more that were not included, will be solved in the long run. In what manner or way is beyond human intellectual capacity.  Abraham Lincoln himself could not have accurately described life in the 20th century—and he had amazing insights about most everything in life. It is, of course, disappointing that progress can’t be finalized in human lifetimes, but then the process has never been about any particular species or any individual members of any species. Humans are the ones who have tried so hard to view life through self serving religious beliefs. “It is not so much God who created Man in His own image, as everyone of us who creates unto himself a God in his own image”. (Unknown) Maybe after an apocalypse the remaining humans will learn from the past. Our species can do that, and we should remember, even today, most of our societies are far more civilized and tolerant of diversity than in earlier years. A lot of human social progress occurred in my lifetime. Maybe a new species will evolve and this species will talk of us like we talk about the long ago Neanderthals that were an older version of us. And of course we don’t really know where our own planet fits it with a universe that seems limitless. Some have, in a kind way, referred to me as Professor Doomsday. That’s ok. Past evolutionary apocalypses have occurred and we don’t today call them doomsdays. They were corrections, and some of these apocalyptical corrections took millions of years.  I reckon I could tell someone that everything looks just fine millions of years from now, and they might reply, “Who the hell is interested in everything being better millions of years from now, we will all be dead.” Exactly. And the dead don’t worry about a dam thing. Maybe that is what Heaven is, not having to worry about a damn thing. I always tell a dying pet that ‘you have had a good life, and nothing bad can ever happen to you from this point on.” Then when the last flicker of life disappears from their eyes I feel a glimpse of the reality that we, none of us, are running this show. ’Tis a good thing, otherwise the distant future would be a tragedy. We are all part of the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ and we ain’t running it. If we can’t run on gratitude for the good parts of our life we ‘in a heap of trouble’ achieving any contentment. 

One aspect of all this should be clear enough. Patriotism, which is present in every nation, will not solve or determine the near or distant future of humanity. Everyone of us could sing the national anthem every hour on the hour and this changes nothing. The Pope can pray for world peace, and has, for hundreds of years, and this changes nothing. To the extent most or all of the factors listed in the equation, which predicts a soon evolutionary apocalypse to be true, then it follows that, after an evolutionary correction, no matter how long the correction, we will eventually end up with “non-sectarian societies in which the Golden Rule will be the essence of ethics with a non-military culture, global sharing, healing the environment, sustainable economics, self-determination, social justice, economic empowerment of the poor, love and compassion in action” (Deepak Chopra). In this sense, wouldn’t it be nice if we could live forever? Then again, change and diversity drive the evolutionary process, so the same ole, same ole would thwart the process. The process is amazingly mind boggling, and we are dispensable—it is plain enough why others are, but less clear why I am dispensable. In this age of feelings as facts, I feel I should not be dispensable. A little birdie just chirped to me “We’ll see how this feeling works out.” Father Time is closing in on me, my race is winding down, the importance of anything is fading, and the finish line appears to be moving toward me instead of me toward it. Well, I think I will sit for spell, go gently down the stream, and if real lucky, this evolutionary apocalypse will be over my dead body.