The Evolution of Humanity - A theory by Hans Budach
i. These creatures respond to all situations through the inborn programming they possess.
ii. These creatures cannot make willful decisions.
iii. These creatures lack the knowledge of their own imminent death.
i. What may seem like fear or love is simply advanced instinctual responses.
ii. These creatures lack sentience.
iii. Survival for these creatures is based strictly on instinct.
i. The humans’ instinctual development is lesser than that of all other living creatures.
1. Humans are able to overcome their instinctual urges using both logic and emotion.
2. Human logic and emotion are evolutionary upgrades to what already existed within instinct.
ii. The human center of logic evolved as the main evolutionary advancement within humans.
1. Logic evolved to take control away from instinct for the main purpose of evolution: Survival. Logic existed as a better alternative to instinct in that it gave the creature using it more control over its environment. Humans used this logic for advancing their society. They invented tools, they invented higher levels of thinking, they ultimately became the dominate species on the planet.
2. Logic indeed surpassed instinct as an evolutionary advancement, but it held a major flaw in its main purpose: Survival. Survival exists within all living creatures. Without it, life would not be able to exist. Logic within humans was able to push survival to the point of being nearly completely gone, a point of complete comfort. The flaw in logic exists when it is the only factor governing survival. The point of life is to not die. Survival supports this idea. With logic, came the understanding in humans that life begets death. Logic within a single human mind works in this fashion: ‘If I am to die, what will my existence in life mean? When I am dead, what will I care what I have done in the past? I cannot care, for I will be dead.’ This is the flaw in logic with regards to survival. Since life exists in order to live, and all life eventually dies, logic cannot find an answer to the question ‘what is the point?’ Without an answer to a simple question like that, logic breaks down. No creature that must die can be governed strictly by logic. A counter for logic must be created. This counter in humans is emotion.
a. As a side note, look at AI or artificial intelligence. This type of creature can exist strictly governed by logic, because there exists the option of ‘living’ forever. A human cannot live like this due to the fact that there is nothing it can do to avoid death.
iii. The human center of emotion evolved within humans to counter the principle flaw in logic with regards to survival.
1. The emotions of humans are also linked to instinct, much like logic. A human holds a vast array of emotions, each one different and unique. These emotions can, however, be categorized into two main groups: ‘good’ emotions and ‘bad’ emotions. To counter the self-defeating logic of survival, emotions give humanity other reasons for living. A human wants to feel ‘good’ emotions. It does not want to feel ‘bad’ emotions. It is this strength of feeling that counters the flaw in logic. Take what I would consider to be the two most powerful emotions: Love and fear. Love is the ultimate in ‘good’ emotions. Fear is the ultimate in ‘bad’ emotions. A human can rationalize that love in life is reason enough to remain alive and further the species. A love for family, a love for a significant other, even love for non-living things can be strong enough to hold sway over logic. If a human cannot find solace in ‘good’ emotions, it will instead succumb to remaining alive strictly because it does not want to feel ‘bad’ emotions. Fear is the prime example of this. A human does not want to die, because it fears death. Because a human can truly see (through a logical standpoint) that when it dies it will be gone forever, fear of not existing keeps it alive.
2. The sway between logic and emotion of an individual has a direct effect on what emotions are needed to overcome the flaw in logic.
a. A human with a larger sway towards logic than emotion will not be able to accept ideas that cannot be proven. Blind faith, much like with a religion, is not an option. These individuals will find solace only in ‘good’ emotions that do not rely on intangible thoughts and ideas. Anything that is a logical unknown or impossibility cannot be accepted by these individuals.
b. A human with a larger sway towards emotion than logic will be able to accept abstract ideas easily. These individuals succumb easily to religious beliefs that involve logical unknowns like gods and afterlives. Ideas of a ‘soul’ are easily accepted by these individuals. These individuals can even overcome the basic fear of death through a blind faith in their beliefs.
c. The ultimate outcome of this sway is that no matter the individual, emotion will always hold the key to keeping a human alive.
i. This individualism has advantages. Humanity is able to explore broad ranges of ideas because no two humans can truly understand each other. It is this slight change in an idea that spawns an endless chain of new ideas from one individual to the next.
1. Humans have this lack of understanding due to language. Since thoughts cannot be expressed directly from one human to the next, language must exist for communication to take place. Language causes ideas and thoughts to become slightly skewed, and thus communication between individuals is imperfect.
ii. Individualism in humanity also has disadvantages.
1. Because of individualism and its imperfect communication, each human is ultimately alone within its own mind. This creates a basic ‘closed-mindedness’ within each human. This lack of perspective is the basis for most individual to individual conflicts.
2. Individualism is also the first cause for all inter-racial conflicts within humanity. Misunderstanding and intolerance are the basic causes for all war within humanity. Without an individual based species, the understanding and tolerance of one unit within that species is the understanding and tolerance of every other unit.