It is believed that in the evolution of the dolphin, the creature that first left the water evolved into a mammal resembling a dog that walked on land. It then evolved further into a creature more like a long lizard with nearly no legs, and soon discovered it’s real home was back in the water. It is thought that this is the reason behind the dolphin’s air breathing, and certain aspects of its bone structure.
This leads one to wonder about the evolution of man. Having left the primeval soup and taken to land, man’s ancestors found refuge in the trees. Man soon grew tired of swinging about and took to cave dwellings. Today man has surpassed the fire and metal ages to come into what is being hailed as the electronic or technological age.
What next? What do we do when we have captured all knowledge, cross-referenced it, and shaped and moulded it into what we believe to be “the answer”? What do we do when we know the answer to whatever the ultimate question is? What does a dog that is chasing a car do if the car stops? It has achieved its goal, but can’t remember why it wanted that in the first place, so walks off with a sense of achievement, but slightly confused.
In an interesting piece of literature I have had described to me some time ago, it discussed the stages of human development. As individuals every human goes through these stages in their life, but as a whole, the human race is progressing through these stages also. I cannot remember what these stages were, but believe the stage that mankind is currently moving through is from warfare to religion. This does not necessary mean that everyone becomes devout worshipers of a God of their choosing, it just means that on a whole, the importance goes up a notch.
Back in the 60’s and 70’s the focus was on the Cold War and the evils of Russia. This was due to ignorance and mistrust as much as the secrecy and lack of communications between the super-powers. Today we have opened up the communications channels, and man is becoming bored with war and killing one another. Weapons of mass-destruction are known to be of little value today due to the mutual destruction issue, and warfare is more selective. The last skirmish in the Gulf saw the U.S. step in and bomb a few selective targets (along with a couple of unselected targets) – game over. OK, the fun has been taken out of war – now what?
I personally have regrets about the falling of the Iron Curtain as the space-race is now lagging way behind where it should be. During the Cold War the U.S. and Russia were in a battle for space supremacy. This saw Russia with the first man in space, the U.S. with the first man on the moon, and the U.S. working on the Starwars Project which would have put up defensive umbrellas around the planet. Today we see NASA losing funding from the U.S. government as the public is losing interest, and there is no great hurry any more. No other country can afford such a massive assault on space as the U.S. and unfortunately they don’t really care any more.
Planet Earth is a failing, polluted rock of festering filth now. It is showing it’s first signs of rejection of man, much as a human body rejects a foreign body and builds up defences to purge it. Man must get off this planet before we are eradicated. As the line on The Matrix states, “humans are a disease”, and as such, we must multiply and colonise other planets before we plunder our current one (and only one) of all resources, and leave it a spent husk. Viruses and diseases don't try to kill their host as they will die with it. The planet will bounce back after a few million years, but mankind will have either long since perished, or moved on. Hopefully the latter.
Whatever our evolutionary path, one thing is certain: If we are to see what our intended form that evolution has in store for us is, it won’t happen in this planet’s lifetime. If we are still around, and we haven’t changed our ways significantly within the next thousand or two years, we will destroy ourselves and everything on this planet. The only chances for this species to exist in the future is to move out into space and seek other habitats. Man moved from the ocean to the trees, from the trees to caves, from caves to purpose-built homes, and the next step must be off the planet.