Friday, April 21, 2017

Will our species crush our own intelligence? (#3003)

     We have seen behind the curtain but will we pull the curtain back into place. Apparently we human beings are not big on courage. We tend to be more reserved and look for comfort when it suits our own perspectives. In other words, we are less brave than more. Which is why since the late 1300's, the beginning of the enlightenment, we are hitting a wall now in the early 2000's.More than 600 years of progress toward modernization and an evolution of thinking creatively and innovatively is now in danger of ceasing as a rule. The general sense that we are not ready for more enlightenment is upon us. Given that we elect to public office here in America the republican sorts who would take us back to times where advantage and privilege dominated is my evidence.
     As well the current republican president is cutting funding for science based policies that have fueled our advancing enlightenment to this point. An abrupt end to the idea that there is no boundary we cannot overcome is now our demoralizing goal. Attempting to end the manifest destiny our species has been moving toward since the early scientists of the enlightenment. To conquer the unknown with our minds and our will. This happened before if you recall when the early Mesopotamian civilizations and early Greeks were starting their path toward enlightenment. An end came to them and the for many centuries afterward our species were cast into the Dark ages. So for us to be heading backward now is not new but is very unsettling given that we had come right to the threshold of mighty achievements before republicans gained control of our nation.
     It will be seen how this all plays out but the die is cast and the battle is upon to us reconcile our place in history. Will this be the end for intelligence or will intelligence help us save us from our worst selves? The worst part is that when enlightenment lost out in our past there were no nuclear weapons that could end our species for good. We are vulnerable to that now and as intelligent forces fight to keep enlightenment alive, will we be annihilated by the fear of the ignorant? Instead of improving our society so that there is less stress in being alive we are instead ready to destroy it so that we can become less than critical thinkers. We Americans who believe in the enlightenment of all will fight hard to keep our intellectual capabilities at our forefront but we are surely aware how tenuous that effort is under the current angry ignorant obstruction of the republican party.

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