When Vanimen explains the human institution of slavery to Meiiva, she asks:
"'And yet the Maker of Stars favors their breed above all else in this world?'
"'I cannot understand, either....'" (p. 97)
(A faint echo of Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker.)
The breed that is capable of slavery, war and genocide is also capable of creativity, knowledge and understanding, of art, science and technology. The best becomes worst. The highest falls lowest. Fallen angels become demons - mythologically speaking, of course.
If humanity were only its bad side, then it would not have survived for as long as it has - although how much longer will it survive? Sf has described catastrophic futures. We are now living in one.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
No, there are untold millions of Christians, Catholic or Protestant, who believe in the actuality of the angels, and that some of these rebelled against God to become demons. And we don't believe angels to be mere myths.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Of course. I was just clarifying my own position on that. Either way, the point is valid: the highest fall lowest.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Understood.
Sean
Different parts of human nature are inextricably linked.
Eg., the emergence of "behaviorally modern" human beings took place about 80,000-50,000 years ago.
Concurrently, there was a decrease in testosterone levels in males -- you can tell because the hormone plays a big part in bone development, especially in the facial area.
But this didn't mean humans became less violent; it simply shifted the locus of violence.
Males became less aggressive towards their immediate neighbors, which increased social cohesion and allowed for bigger 'primary groups'.
One result of this was increased -inter-group- violence; as people became more capable of group cooperation, they fought each other as groups more frequently and much more effectively, over territory and to abduct women.
Prehistoric massacres, which turn out to have been fairly frequent, have a striking demographic common feature; they're demographically representative of the population concerned, -except- for a much smaller number of females in their prime reproductive years.
Three guesses why.
So a decrease in -individual- aggression led to an increase in -group- aggression; war, in other words.
This is probably why the genetic changes involved spread so rapidly.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Iow, Tribe A attacked Tribe B, killed off the males and grabbed the women!
Ad astra! Sean
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