4 thoughts on “BECOMING THE SUPERORGANISM OF HUMINITY”
I applaud the member or editor who posted this; something other than religion vs. atheism. I wish an introductory remark was written to attract the viewer’s attention; i almost erased it. A very complex idea presented in a very understandable format. It certainly is not a widely accepted idea – this idea of evolution by cooperation. So far evolution has been based on competition. Watch any “nature” show and you’ll see males fighting out over who gets the female; only the biggest and the strongest usually does; and he passes his genes onwards and the others don’t. That’s natural selection by competition. Even if evolution by cooperation is supposed to happen going forward, i wonder what benefit the 6.5 billion of this world’s 7 billion will add to our evolution from humans to “humanity”. Humans are what they are and where they are because of the 0.5 billion – or much less – of it’s inhabitants. And i believe human beings have a long way to go to reach their full potential before there is need for a significant leap into the 4th big phase of evolution as described by bruce lipton. The “membrane” still has a lot of stretching left in it.
A great lecture by Mr. Lipton. What he is presenting though is not a recent realization.
About seven or eight years ago I read a book written in 1974 (The lives of a Cell) written by Lewis Thomas, who held the position, among many positions, of Dean at Yale Medical School, that changed my whole idea about us humans. He wrote; “I had never bargained on descent from single cells without nuclei. I could even make my peace with that, if it were all, but there is the additional humiliation that I have not, in a real sense, descended at all. I have brought them all along with me, or perhaps they have brought me”.
I thought a lot about what he said …”or perhaps they (single cell bacteria) have brought me”! Now think about this; there are 100 trillion bacteria on average person (us humans), and only 10% of total cells in our body are human, 90 % cells belong to bacteria that live symbiotically within/on us – only 1% of genes in our cells belong to us and 99% belong to bacteria. This is who we are! I am sharing this information because this realization, of our reality, and our place in overall life on earth, that is so closely integrated, has been the basis of my rejection of faith based concept of “Ashraf ul Makhlooqat”. Nothing will ever again convince me of the genesis and creation of man, as told in holy books.
Lewis Thomas went on to say about bacteria that we live symbiotically with; ” the same creatures, precisely same, are out there in the cells of sea gulls, and whales, and dune grass, and sea weed, and hermit crabs, and further inland in the leaves of the beach in my back yard, and in the family of skunks beneath the back fence, and even in that fly on the window. Through them I am connected.”
One way of putting it is, that the earth is a loosely formed, spherical organism, with all its working parts linked in symbiosis. We are, in this view, neither owners nor operators; at best, we might see ourselves as motile tissue specialized for receiving information – perhaps, in the best of all possible worlds, functioning as a nervous system for the whole being…..said Lewis Thomas!
Thanks Babar Mustafa for scientifically well researched views. For the humankind, science is just a part of man’s comprehensive knowledge and way of life. However, I would like to clarify the term “ashraf-ul-makhluqat” which literally means “the best of the creation.” Even if humans have evolved they are the best of the whole creation. What makes them best is their intellectual and spiritual [even if one is not spiritual] superiority over all creatures or organisms.
I thank Mirza Sahib for explaining “ashraf ul makhluqat”, the literal meanings we all know though but I am still not convinced that we are really “the best” and deserve this title.
The use of this title in Islam (not sure about other faiths) particularly makes me very uneasy; Islam declares mankind the best and goes on to assert that all other (Hallal ones) life was “created” for us to devour ! What arrogance on the part of a species that can’t survive without bacteria breaking down its food to convert to energy. This species (us humans), as I already mentioned is part of animal kingdom and deeply integrated with the ecosystem and plants etc.
Are we “the best” from the perspective of any other species on this planet? Is it okay to declare ourselves the best? I can only think of one or two species i.e. domesticated dogs and cats, who might consider, ourselves the best or even their gods but I am pretty sure the rest of the animals will be singing, “Four legs good, two legs bad” as depicted by George Orwell in his book Animal Farm. By the rule of democracy we will be definitely elected “the worst” easily if a vote was taken of all living beings.
Mirza Sahib claims this title or justifies it by our “intellectual & spiritual” superiority. Intellectual part is not that questionable because of our progress in science and is there for every one to see but how do we know that only we are spiritual, and what exactly is spirituality – I think this again is our own declaration without having any means to determine if animals too feel connected to nature around them. If I may be forgiven for a lighter side of this discussion, I find owl quite spiritual, chirping birds seem to me in harmony with nature, my dog lays around very content and definitely capable of not only thinking but expressing his various thoughts too.
Let us also examine what the best of the best have delivered so far; we created a God of our intellectual imagination, and in his (God’s) name killed millions of fellow humans so far and still counting, we have exploited our racism, our political differences and killed even more and so we really surpassed every other species that kills its own kind. We could have used our knowledge to provide comfort, not only to our fellow humans, but to all the species but we have created such horrible weapons systems that our whole planet is in danger of self destruction. We certainly have beaten every species in the ways we can cook our chicken. We have caused the extinction of countless species, not to mention our fur coats and leather shoes.
I do agree that we are quite capable of achieving the title of the best ….but only when we learn to appreciate all life, quit killing each other and eating the species that share this planet with us and really become saviors instead of the exterminators that we are. So far, we do not deserve to be called the best, even by ourselves.
I applaud the member or editor who posted this; something other than religion vs. atheism. I wish an introductory remark was written to attract the viewer’s attention; i almost erased it. A very complex idea presented in a very understandable format. It certainly is not a widely accepted idea – this idea of evolution by cooperation. So far evolution has been based on competition. Watch any “nature” show and you’ll see males fighting out over who gets the female; only the biggest and the strongest usually does; and he passes his genes onwards and the others don’t. That’s natural selection by competition. Even if evolution by cooperation is supposed to happen going forward, i wonder what benefit the 6.5 billion of this world’s 7 billion will add to our evolution from humans to “humanity”. Humans are what they are and where they are because of the 0.5 billion – or much less – of it’s inhabitants. And i believe human beings have a long way to go to reach their full potential before there is need for a significant leap into the 4th big phase of evolution as described by bruce lipton. The “membrane” still has a lot of stretching left in it.
A great lecture by Mr. Lipton. What he is presenting though is not a recent realization.
About seven or eight years ago I read a book written in 1974 (The lives of a Cell) written by Lewis Thomas, who held the position, among many positions, of Dean at Yale Medical School, that changed my whole idea about us humans. He wrote; “I had never bargained on descent from single cells without nuclei. I could even make my peace with that, if it were all, but there is the additional humiliation that I have not, in a real sense, descended at all. I have brought them all along with me, or perhaps they have brought me”.
I thought a lot about what he said …”or perhaps they (single cell bacteria) have brought me”! Now think about this; there are 100 trillion bacteria on average person (us humans), and only 10% of total cells in our body are human, 90 % cells belong to bacteria that live symbiotically within/on us – only 1% of genes in our cells belong to us and 99% belong to bacteria. This is who we are! I am sharing this information because this realization, of our reality, and our place in overall life on earth, that is so closely integrated, has been the basis of my rejection of faith based concept of “Ashraf ul Makhlooqat”. Nothing will ever again convince me of the genesis and creation of man, as told in holy books.
Lewis Thomas went on to say about bacteria that we live symbiotically with; ” the same creatures, precisely same, are out there in the cells of sea gulls, and whales, and dune grass, and sea weed, and hermit crabs, and further inland in the leaves of the beach in my back yard, and in the family of skunks beneath the back fence, and even in that fly on the window. Through them I am connected.”
One way of putting it is, that the earth is a loosely formed, spherical organism, with all its working parts linked in symbiosis. We are, in this view, neither owners nor operators; at best, we might see ourselves as motile tissue specialized for receiving information – perhaps, in the best of all possible worlds, functioning as a nervous system for the whole being…..said Lewis Thomas!
Babar
Thanks Babar Mustafa for scientifically well researched views. For the humankind, science is just a part of man’s comprehensive knowledge and way of life. However, I would like to clarify the term “ashraf-ul-makhluqat” which literally means “the best of the creation.” Even if humans have evolved they are the best of the whole creation. What makes them best is their intellectual and spiritual [even if one is not spiritual] superiority over all creatures or organisms.
Mirza
I thank Mirza Sahib for explaining “ashraf ul makhluqat”, the literal meanings we all know though but I am still not convinced that we are really “the best” and deserve this title.
The use of this title in Islam (not sure about other faiths) particularly makes me very uneasy; Islam declares mankind the best and goes on to assert that all other (Hallal ones) life was “created” for us to devour ! What arrogance on the part of a species that can’t survive without bacteria breaking down its food to convert to energy. This species (us humans), as I already mentioned is part of animal kingdom and deeply integrated with the ecosystem and plants etc.
Are we “the best” from the perspective of any other species on this planet? Is it okay to declare ourselves the best? I can only think of one or two species i.e. domesticated dogs and cats, who might consider, ourselves the best or even their gods but I am pretty sure the rest of the animals will be singing, “Four legs good, two legs bad” as depicted by George Orwell in his book Animal Farm. By the rule of democracy we will be definitely elected “the worst” easily if a vote was taken of all living beings.
Mirza Sahib claims this title or justifies it by our “intellectual & spiritual” superiority. Intellectual part is not that questionable because of our progress in science and is there for every one to see but how do we know that only we are spiritual, and what exactly is spirituality – I think this again is our own declaration without having any means to determine if animals too feel connected to nature around them. If I may be forgiven for a lighter side of this discussion, I find owl quite spiritual, chirping birds seem to me in harmony with nature, my dog lays around very content and definitely capable of not only thinking but expressing his various thoughts too.
Let us also examine what the best of the best have delivered so far; we created a God of our intellectual imagination, and in his (God’s) name killed millions of fellow humans so far and still counting, we have exploited our racism, our political differences and killed even more and so we really surpassed every other species that kills its own kind. We could have used our knowledge to provide comfort, not only to our fellow humans, but to all the species but we have created such horrible weapons systems that our whole planet is in danger of self destruction. We certainly have beaten every species in the ways we can cook our chicken. We have caused the extinction of countless species, not to mention our fur coats and leather shoes.
I do agree that we are quite capable of achieving the title of the best ….but only when we learn to appreciate all life, quit killing each other and eating the species that share this planet with us and really become saviors instead of the exterminators that we are. So far, we do not deserve to be called the best, even by ourselves.
Babar