THE GOOD THAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED (PART 3)

Having discussed the adverse fallouts of our precipitous existence on this planet let us now look at whatever can be considered as positive impacts or consequences of our prodigious evolution. When we consider a broad birds-eye view of human presence on Earth one thing is very clear that all through time humans have always been living for the present moment, innocently albeit rather irrationally. Assuming (since there is no evidence) that there were no equal or more intelligent life forms who walked this planet before us, who could visualise about the future and could plan for a sustainable survival, it is very apparent that every life forms were created and destroyed by the forces of nature and the predatory behaviour of other life forms.  We humans too do not deserve to suffer a different fate. As long as we survive, we would continue to focus on satisfying our immediate needs with all our might. 

Notwithstanding the collateral damage that such a narrow, imprudent, single-minded endeavour generates, we humans have also managed to pull off certain extraordinary feats which have helped us to pull along for over 13,000 years. These features have developed slowly over the millenniums and we definitely deserve to take credit and a bow.

Getting better at Synchronized-Living

Controversial though it may sound, I consider that we humans have been evolving from being selfish freaks. Let us look at this from the aspect of urbanization. From the time when we were hunters-gatherers-cave dwellers to the time when we learnt to live in nomadic small groups, onward to vagabond communities, then with the advent of agriculture into villages and subsequently with trade commerce into towns and finally with industrialization we developed metropolitan cities, we have gradually and in a subtle manner been learning that more we help each other the more we make our personal lives better. The common narrative is a lamentation that smaller societies of villages and towns have a more personal touch; folks knew each other and were eager to help in times of need. It follows that in cities people have become impersonal, out of touch with each other, and after the invention of smart phone with internet people have gone into their individual personal cocoons, oblivious to the plight of his fellow citizen. However I see it differently. No community, village, town or metro city can survive without a major arrangement for things like water supply, sewage handling, roads, cleanliness, etc. All these tasks need to be organised. A governing body becomes essential, elections become essential. Even during the early days of human evolution, say 6000 – 8000 years ago, during the times Mesopotamian and Indus civilisations flourished and traded with each other through land and sea, and much later even before the dawn of electricity, towns had their common cultural practices, place of worship and religious practices, people who were skilled in different tasks, production and distribution of food produce, taxes, etc., we humans were evolving slowly to coexist better. Collective living is a creature, a wild animal, which needs planning, handling and care. Today considering the size of cities and the volumes of population which they cater to, doesn’t make the administration any simpler, rather with varied heightened needs, demands and the enormous scale, it has become extremely complex. And yet cities survive and attract more and more population. This, what we call urbanization one such feat and it cannot be achieved through selfishness. Sharing of work, making individual compromises for a common good, shouldering responsibilities and becoming accountable is a must. Of course we have had monarchies, we had individuals with gigantic egos, we have seen wars, we have seen rage and rampage, invasion and destruction for satisfaction of personal ego, but such behavior has been reducing in proportion though not wiped out. By and large, we are witness to the fact that majority people are peace loving, compassionate, willing to compromise, and the proportion of such people has been increasing over the ages.

Insatiable urge for Innovation

Innovation is the discovery of a better or refined process, product or thought aimed at making living easier, and whose primary intent is enabling ease of achieving ones desires. Innovation is the fruit from the churning of intelligence, the crown of human endeavor. The earliest innovations could be identified as fire, use of colour in cave hieroglyphs, sharpening stone tools, the wheel and the concept of God and religion. Later on innovations came in the form of came spoken language, agriculture, molding various metals into tools, gourmet culinary, garment clothing, two-storied buildings, barter system, herbal medicines and medical procedures, and also the concept of marriage. Much later originated the written languages, medicinal drugs, telephone, electricity, steam and combustion engine, widespread use of plastic, etc. The striving for innovation continues and we have seen how the modern internet has changed life on this planet.  

Once upon a time innovation was an innocent advancement of ideas meant undoubtedly to make human life easier, however over the past couple of centuries especially post the industrial revolution, innovation has adopted a pseudonym and is disguised in two different ways; it has now become synonymous with Science and it is fashionably undertaken to exploit some commercial value. This makes it counterproductive and instead of making life easier it is become a tool for exploitation and to stifle a sustainable lifestyle. Further we waste a lot of resources in the pursuit of innovation. Some of the innovations are unhealthy but their ill effects are known only in the long run and not immediately.

Nevertheless we have to acknowledge that innovation and technology advancements has led to increase in production and therefore also the reduction in prices, thus enabling consumption by waste majority of human population. Producers taking advantage under monopolistic conditions find it difficult. Innovation in the field of health care has helped several of us to lead a better life. Education has spread widely and we humans have become more aware of our surroundings and what it takes to develop a new product or process.

A rather strange spectacle that can be seen on our planet is that all kinds of development spread out pretty fast across to all continents. It is naïve to assume that innovations took root simultaneously at several places. But it is quite apparent that all new ideas were and are being used in every corner of Earth. Let us take the example of large scale farming of a particular produce or crop. It is irrelevant whether it was the Neanderthals or the Humanoids who first practiced this, but cropping based agriculture did not remain contained to one single region.

Spread of Material Prosperity

An overwhelming majority of us human live for and swear by materialistic conditions. Progress for us means unadulterated materialism. All our efforts right from the time we learn to handle ourselves is directed towards improving the material conditions of our lives and those around us. We call ourselves prosperous by the amount of money we earn, and have managed to put away, by the size of our houses, cars, and other gadgets, by the texture and quantity of our clothing and food. We value monetary abundance as richness and the sole purpose of living.  To that extent we can say that money is a great leveler. It reaches every person who wishes to pursue it and do not remain the domain of a few.

From such a perspective, post the WW2, on a very general and generous scale, it can be said that the human population has grown in wealth and become healthy and are living longer. Notwithstanding the fact that there are still pockets of poverty widespread on this planet, the number of people living a reasonably good quality of life is much more than ever. The general levels of money in circulation have increased across most territories and the people living in isolation and in destitute conditions are proportionately less. We critically analyze the rate of growth in each country, but we overlook the fact that the size of GDP has been increasing along with and inspite of the increase in population. Obviously the GDP is owned by the people and it is they who are contributing towards it.

Even when we look at the economically weaker sections of society, there is a fairly decent public distribution system in place for food and health in most countries today. Food, medicine and health reach all those who cannot afford to spend a lot of money. Of course there is a handsome level of corruption which goes hand in hand, but for the moment let us chose to keep that aside. Avoidance of death of a human being due to hunger and lack of medical facilities has been a major cherished governmental aim across the continents. How so much ever we may argue about the manner and extent of these goals, and undoubtedly there is immense scope for improvement, but their utility and achievement cannot be denied.


                                                                            To be continued...........