matril

I would like to put forward the random assertion that evolution, defined for this purpose as the process that furthers the survival of the fittest, has failed.

One can put forward any number of arguments for which species is the most highly evolved. But humans are definitely up there, right? We're pretty darn advanced in comparison to, say, the average bacterium or lobster. We kill them better than they kill us, for example. Of course that's not the only, nor the best, measure of superiority, but I think you'll agree it definitely ties into survival of the fittest. Theoretically, our species should be continuing to undergo the process of natural selection so that only the fittest might survive and yield a superior version of humanity after a few (thousand? billion?) generational turns. I'm rather dubious that such a thing is going to happen, though. You might say that evolution, by making humans the way they are, has driven itself into a ditch.

Here we are, sitting pretty somewhere near the pinnacle of evolutionary development, and where are we looking? Not up, for the most part. No, we're looking down at our fellow, lesser-developed life forms, worrying about their well-being. I mean, look at PETA. On second thought, don't - they're pretty crazy. Seriously, what other group of animals, let alone life forms in general, worries about the ethics of how they treat other life forms? No tiger agonizes over devouring his prey. The black widow happily eats her mate without a single twinge of conscious. Thus the great evolutionary wheel turns, until it gets to humans. Then it grinds to a halt. When we realize we've hunted a species nearly to extinction, we don't chalk it up to natural processes. We consider ourselves, natural creatures though we may be, something apart from the rest of nature. We run around determined to save the whales/condors/manatees (How I do love those manatees! Sweet giant lumbering sea-cows), because if not for us, they would still be flourishing, and humans can't possibly be a part of the process of natural selection. (Isn't that how we got here? Shut up!) Those species weren't supposed to die out; it was our foolish human meddling. So we meddle some more, the other way around, to try to fix it. Hmm.

It's not just how we treat other species. It's what we do with the weaker, sickly humans. Do we shrug our shoulders and acknowledge that it's only evolution, after all, doing its work to weed out the less fit? Heavens, no. We make sure everyone has the very best chance at living and reproducing. In fact, we can expect a lot more offspring from those uncultured buffoons who aren't educated about overpopulation, while the intelligent ones are producing one, maybe two children. This may very well result in the survival, or at least the greater prevalence, of the stupidest. (Has anyone seen "Idiocracy?" I haven't, but I understand that's the basic premise of the film. It makes me simultaneously amused and frightened).

But lest you mistake my tongue-in-cheek tone for callousness, and fear for my humanity, I would like to state that I'm glad to see humans spitting in the face of evolution. Glad, I tell you! Our concern for other life forms (beyond our own offspring) serves as proof that we differ from those same other life forms, in terms of our moral and ethical awareness, and the moment we forsake that difference and succumb to the usual process of survival of the fittest, we will lose our true place on this weird, wild planet of ours - the caretakers. The ones who worry about overpopulation and mistreatment of animals and pollution and ecosystems and the depletion of natural resources. Life forms have ruled the earth for millenia without ever worrying about their proper place upon it. We, alone, have had the brain wiring or the evolutionary advantage/disadvantage or the divine mandate or whatever the heck it is to care about every philosophical ramification of our co-existence with others. And I say, keep on promoting this backwards, illogical idea of "Survival of everyone, darn it!"

Thank you. That is all.