Evolutionary biologists may or may not disagree with the premise of our series The Impact of Toxins of Power On Evolution.But I venture to guess that most do agree with at least one of the peak series (peak oil, peak sanity, peak of oil wars, etc.).
I suppose it would depend on one's definition of "evolution".
Add an itsy bitsy "r" to "evolution" at the right place and you have "revolution", which social evolutionists see as positive evolution a la The French Revolution or The American Revolution.
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| Ye olde Bastille |
Of course our capitalistic view of "positive" would be applied to any direction any revolution takes by asking only one thing, which would be to ask about the effect any such revolution would have on that capitalistic analyst's bank account.
The yardstick used is nothing more than a sequential series of numbers going from zero to infinity, but not back again.
Evolutionary cosmologists use, as their yardstick to measure "positive", the mature development of the capacity to travel in space.
It is their measurement of evolution because all species on this earth are given life by the Sun, our star, for a span of time.
But in astounding contrast all life forms still here at the end of that span of time, the Sun's "life cycle", are eradicated (See Life According To Science or Tenet One Basics).
Academicians know that empires or kingdoms historically rise to the peak of preeminence, then fall to the depths of decay and/or destruction to eventually become the subject matter of archeology or history classes in college.
Keith Olbermann indicates that even the journalism of blogdom does this as well.
But when we get down to biological or cosmological evolution, hard core science, the scene changes from a scenario of peaks, however, to a peak-less, Kansas-like terrain where the flow of evolution is in only one direction.
We cited Dollo's Law of Irreversibility in the next to last sentence in the post Jabber The Whut, while mentioning the newly discovered female lizard that can reproduce itself without a male counterpart.
The clear, concise, black and white, peak nirvana sought by evolutionary and cosmological scientists, as well as dogmatic authoritarians, is difficult to touch, see, taste, feel, or even prove, when we consider Dollo's Law:
"An organism is unable to return, even partially, to a previous stage already realized in the ranks of its ancestors.". According to this hypothesis a structure or organ that has been lost or discarded through the process of evolution will not reappear in exactly the same form in that line of organisms.(Dollo's Law). That, combined with the female lizard discovery, would seem to indicate either that women are no longer orgasmic, or to indicate that
once peak oil, peak nuclear, peak sanity, and yes peak social evolution have been reached then passed, there is no going back to "better days".The Earth is whispering to many of us, but shouting to the rest of us, that our social evolution in ecological terms indicates that our time is up in terms of the need of a revolution concerning the use of energy.
According to astronomers and cosmologists, the Sun will one day "say" out loud what it has been whispering for eons, yes, it will say to any species still inhabiting the inner planets of this solar system, "your time is up, there is no going back."
The sum of evolution it would seem will depend on where we are then, determined it would seem by where we are now.
Dollo's Law applied to the lizard, then extrapolated to species down stream from that evolutionary event, would seem to indicate that females are no longer orgasmic.
ReplyDeleteWhich would seem to indicate that Dollo's Law is not a law after all.
"Strange Days" was the name of a Doors Album, but that saying probably has even more meaning today.
Very provocative post today, in the many of the peak energy types predict that we'll merely going back to earlier days and ways as peak oil supplies run out. Of course the going back is going to be nothing like the coming from, as we've burned far too many bridges along the way.
ReplyDeleteTo begin with, the coming from entailed huge and unsustainable population increases due to technological innovations. The going back will entail huge, painful, population decreases when those same technologies begin to fail.
Factory farming in particular has globalized our food production, making food supplies dependent on long supply lines, which are in turn dependent on oil. The farming methods themselves are vitally dependent on irrigation (which is in turn dependent on oil), and oil based fertilizers and pesticides, and the methods themselves have so depleted the soil that it will be useless for generations without technological enhancement. Mass starvation and food wars are already baked into our future cake. It's a stone cold lock that no amount of victory gardens and the like are gonna prevent.
But of course, before we get to any of that there will be the small matter of dissolving the modern corporate fascist state, which needless to say, is not going to go peacefully into the night. That may well involve total thermonuclear war before all is said and done, but in any case, it will certainly involve the continuance of "the war on terror" - which is to say, the war on all enemies of the fascist state, foreign AND domestic - until there's barely a man left standing.
And who will be the last fascist oppressor state standing? Why of course - oh the beautiful irony here! - none other than "the land of the free, and the home of the brave." In the historical irony of our epoch, the ultimate crusher of mankind's soul will not turn out to be the many failed dictatorial regimes of many stripes down through the years, but the one that set the highest goals and aspirations for liberty and freedom of any before it, but which was ultimately corrupted and brought down from within by the very forces it unleashed – a classic Greek tragedy if you will.
In my view, the earthquakes provide a perfect analogy of how it’s all going to play out. Stresses will build over time, either unseen or unacknowledged, which will then periodically break loose catastrophically, killing thousands or millions, and progressively resetting the bar of civilization lower each time. As the ratcheting of civilization progresses downward, the desperation and animosity will increase, as the “haves” lose all compunction toward stealing what remains - as they realize it will all soon be gone anyway - and the “have nots” respond with whatever remaining fury and fight they have left.
In the end, Mother Nature will have her revenge, as climate change will gradually close the narrow window of habitability for the human race to possibly just a handful (although, even that’s certainly not a given either), and humankind’s Industrial Age, Post-Industrial Age, and Information Age will all be collectively referred to as the Age of Folly and Madness by whatever universal intelligence remains to consider our plight.
We won’t be missed.
Well said disaffected.
ReplyDeleteMany different word scenarious can be used to tell it like it is.
The "O" of MOMCOM was discussed in Dredd post A Closer Look At MOMCOM's DNA - 2.
Gives new meaning to "the twinkie defense" of the good life.
Civilization now having passed the peak of evolution, the various "revolutions" going on appear to involve the drug of choice, oil.
ReplyDeleteWestern (MOMCOM) interest in Libya will not be fully understood unless oil is factored in:
"In the course of the rebellion, Libya has gone from a once-promising economy with the largest proven oil reserves in Africa to a country in turmoil ... Italy, which had been the main buyer for Libyan oil, offered the use of seven air and navy bases already housing U.S., NATO and Italian forces to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya." (French Jets Flying Over Libya)
I just went for a hike with a friend who, during the course of our conversation, I found out was unaware of what all the circles were that she was seeing when viewing the western US in Google Maps Satellite View from about 10K feet or so.
ReplyDeleteShe couldn't even guess when I finally told her that those were center pivot irrigation fields, which is pretty much the only way any food crops grow west of Grand Island NE or so. And what enables the center pivot irrigation? The Ogallala Aquifer, an immense underground source of millions of years of rainwater and glacier melt, which not coincidentally, is also being pumped dry due to those same industrial farming practices. And what enables the pumping of the Ogallala Aquifer to enable industrial farming in places where the natural eco-system dictates native tall grass prairie suitable only for light seasonal grazing? Cheap oil.
The native Americans were exactly right. The white man’s coming foretold a plague upon the land that would prove to be everyone’s undoing. From an interspecies point of view, we are little more than a plaque of locusts, using our technologies to rape and pillage our natural environment, blissfully unaware and unconcerned for even the medium term ramifications of our actions. Peak oil may be the best thing that’s ever happened to us. There’s simply no telling how much damage we could and would inflict on the earth otherwise.
The rally cry for grabbing up mid-east oil seems to be "The people of [Libya] must be protected" ... but the reality is that these are oil wars.
ReplyDeleteThe only question is when will the peak of the oil wars be reached, then passed.
Will Chernobyl I and Chernobly II seem like child's play soon enough?
Will Chernobyl I and Chernobly II seem like child's play soon enough?
ReplyDeleteRandy,
Yes indeed. I suspect they will seem JUST LIKE that. The disintegration is accelerating now, just as most systems theories predict that it will, once equilibrium has been unequivocally lost, and the systems begin to spin wildly out of control toward disequilibrium.
When it comes to higher levels of organization in this round of development, it certainly appears that human kind has finally exhausted its current potential. While that's certainly tragic from our current limited point of view, the phrase "catch you on the next go 'round" might be the ultimate catch-phrase for human souls incarnated in the 21st century.
We're going down alright, although it's certainly got NOTHING to do with a vengeful GOD(!) who's pissed off at us. Rather, it's got EVERYTHING to do with a purposeful and resolute HUMAN GROUP CONSCIOUSNESS, that knows perfectly well what we're capable of (for better or worse), and demands nothing less than PERFECTION over a course of infinite time.
Cadillac Desert
ReplyDeleteSuggestion: Read it, follow all the links, study it, quote it, and recommend it. I'd heard about it widely before and after reading the book. I've neither read nor heard of any credible refutations since. On the other hand, I've read MANY recommendations and references.
Uh oh, even FRANCE(!) of all people are being welcomed to the wonderful world of MOMCOM!
ReplyDeleteAs France takes the reins on Libya, Sarkozy triumphs
Never doubt the power of war and destruction to reverse political fortunes.
This story is either laughable, tragic, or both. I'm thinking both.
Call this one, MOMCOM continues to infect the world.
I watched an interview of two retired military types, usually MOMCOM propaganda mouthpieces for spreading the propaganda on MSNBC.
ReplyDeleteThey were disagreeing with the propaganda message today (Europe is doing it ... uh France ... uh and the NATO boys are taking Libya out because Qadaffi is Sadaam Hussein reincarnated) ... yada yada yada ...
They flatly were insubordinate to the message saying instead that THE U.S. IS IN CHARGE of this invasion of yet another mid-eastern country. Libya.
The oil wars of MOMCOM are in full swing now.
Look out Brazil ... Argentina ... and ????
Randy,
ReplyDeleteOF COURSE the US is in charge of whatever MOMCOM wars of opportunity are being waged in the name of [fill in the blank] in whatever part of the world. The only question is, who are they blaming it on and why. Therein lies the little bit of intrigue for those of us who continue to ask why.
Small consolation that. The wars will be waged regardless.
Randy,
ReplyDeleteHate, ugliness, and tragedy continues to infect us all. We're all on the verge of something else. What that something "else" will be remains to be seen. Pray - aka ACT - so that it will be something better. That's all we can really do at this point.