Friday 13 January 2006

Pic of the day: There isn't anything worthwhile to gain from being popular. (You may think it will make you happy, but in the end you will just be tired and resigned.)

Humanity 2.x – flawed?

I have written occasionally about the hypothesis (or perhaps it is still only a "speculation") that humanity has had its current type of body and brain for at least 150 000 years, probably more than 200 000, but has only had its current operating system or "soul" for 40-60 000 years. Under the old operating system, humans learned by example much like apes do, just smarter, and produced flint tools that were only slightly better than those made by earlier hominids. Only toward the end of this period do we see scattered signs of art, burial rituals and advanced toolmaking. It is generally assumed that the birth of modern language was the spark that set humanity afire, although we cannot know since writing only started around 6000 years ago.

If you are unfamiliar with this hypothesis or my thoughts around it, I recommend my entries from June 18 and a week onward, where I compare the Ice Age Revolution with a possible upcoming upgrade to the next step in human evolution. I believe this will happen in the same kind of body and brain we have today. In fact, I don't think further evolution of the human brain can lead to significant improvements until we have new and better software. I have met geniuses (and am one, to some extent) and it seems to me that a lot of power is wasted because of the limitation of our current soul.

I believe that in humanity version 1, including the Neanderthals and our ancestors who lived at the same time as them, there was no concept of time as such. There were concepts of need and there were memory in the form of recognition, but no tools to mentally manipulate the past ("what would have happened if...") or the future ("what will happen if"...) We simply accepted reality and moved on. There were almost certainly many other differences as well, but this may have been the most important.

Humanity version 2 unleashed an enormous creativity in so many ways. In part this was because we did no longer accept reality. We changed it, first in our minds, and then as far as we could in practice. The ability to fantasize about how things could have been different made it possible to make things different. But it also made it possible to lie, to live double or triple lives, it made possible hypocrisy and escapism. Instead of changing the world to the better, it was often easier to pretend that it was better or deny the uncomfortable. We made "clothes from fig leaves", hiding our true self for the first time.

The Judeo-Christian creation myth, with which I am the most familiar, is pretty adamant that the current version of humanity came into being by a mistake. While the Tree of Knowledge was in place, and presumably made for a purpose, mankind was not yet ready to eat of it. We evolved to the next level at the wrong time or in the wrong way. The current soul is not a good one: Passable but flawed. It is not worthy of eternal life, that is to say, it is temporary.

Now you may say that the myths of some Bronze Age desert tribe are not really relevant to modern science. But I think the myth was based on keen self-observation. The early humans felt, like some of us still do, that we could have been so much more. We chafe at the limitations of our mind, but we cannot overcome it because it defines our very existence. We are not this body or even this brain: We are this soul, the software that runs on the brain. We can sense things out of reach, things that should have been possible, but we can only sense them vaguely like shadows in the night, like a shout from so far away that the words are lost to us.

In the Bhagavad-Gita, one of the most beloved of the holy writings in Hinduism, Krishna (an avatar of Vishnu, although some say it's the other way around) is asked by his friend Arjuna: "What is it that forces a human to sin, as if bewitched?" This is again the essential question of the V.2 human. Why are we unable to live fully the life we can see? Why do we do things we know we are going to regret? Why are we not in control of our thoughts, our words, and our actions at all times, even though we are so much of the time? Krishna's answer seems very bland, at least in translation: "It is desire alone. It covers the soul like dust covers a mirror."

Nor is this a specifically Hindu revelation: The Christian apostle James (probably identical with James "the Lord's Brother") rhetorically asks: "From where comes all the infighting and disorder among you? Is it not from the desires that wage war in your limbs?" Nor was he the only of the first-generation Christians who thought so. The apostle Paul is pouring his heart out to the Romans about how he wants to do God's will in all things, but discovers a different law in his limbs that fights against the Law of God and takes him capture. In fact I would argue that you will probably not really notice this unless you make a controlled experiment to only do good all the time for several days. If you do, I would be amazed if you don't discover the exact same thing. There seem to be a natural counterbalance. Your soul seems to be designed in such a way that you cannot simply decide what to do, even if each thing in itself is perfectly possible. To quote Paul again (this time to the Galatians): "The flesh desires against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. They are contrary to one another, so you cannot do what you want."

This effect, that the spirit and the flesh block each other, is not restricted to Christians and Hindus, or even religious people. Many Christians are convinced, based on their own experience of sinfulness, that if they left their religion there would be no chains on them: They would perform any sin imaginable until the government hunted them down. I have certainly thought like that myself at times. And indeed, there is rarely one as depraved as the freshly fallen from grace. But they are horribly wrong when they imagine that by extension, all the "unsaved" are living their daily life in a cauldron of bestial desires. Sure, crime happens. But the surprising fact is that both the proselytizing atheist and the guy who just don't care, are still unable and even unwilling to burrow down into the depths of depravity. There are a few who do, just as there are at any time a few saints. But it takes a dedication that most people simply don't have. Nor is it simply a case of police. Even during disasters of such a scope that human government breaks down utterly, you find people – religious and irreligious – who continue to do good, sometimes even at the cost of their own life. Likewise you find people perfectly willing to risk their life for some petty crime even in a police state.

Perhaps the concept of "sin" is a reserved word for religions, but the experience itself is common to us all. Whether we count ourselves among the "white hats", the good guys (and most people do) or pride ourselves of being "black sheep", in the end we find that it is hard to be absolute. We follow our principles and our resolutions, and then suddenly we do something we regret, in fact we know we are going to regret it even as we do it, if not before! And it happens again. And again. And ... yet again. That's why I jokingly say that New Years Resolutions are re-solutions: The same solutions as last year. While some progress can be made and character can change over time, it feels like moving a farm across a mountain with a teaspoon.

***

It would seem then that the Human Operating System V. 2.x, which has been so successful that we have taken over every continent and every major island, put a flag on the moon and changed the very climate of Earth ... that this release is still fundamentally flawed. We can do something, but we really can't do much. Worse, we cannot even do the things we see just before us. We are constrained, and most people don't even notice most of the time. Not that noticing would be nearly enough.

So will Version 3.0 solve these problems? Yes, I think so. Will it solve all problems? Is this the final release of Real Life, with all bugs fixed, and will everything continue from then on in a kind of eternal passive perfection? I don't think so. But I don't really know enough about 3.0 to even guess at what comes after. I do however make an educated guess on what's in 3.0 based on the beta testers through the last few millennia, the mystics. As I wrote in June 2005, it is time for us to rise above culture in the same way that our ancestors rose above instincts to the new level that was culture.

For us who live in Western Europe and North America in particular, cultures are already colliding, deforming, cracking and splintering into subcultures. We live in a cultural supermarket, where each can pick his or her favorite pieces from cultures all over the world and from the dawn of civilization until now. That is a hopeful sign, but it is not the real thing. When you look at people, you see that most – or even almost all – are still trapped in the need to follow the flock. When something is popular, trendy, "in" ... then you see it almost everywhere. And even the subcultures that are based on protest are slaves of the same trends: When it is "in" with the others, it is "out" with us; you can't have it if you want to be one of us. And then you have the whole problem with "posers". People certainly have a lot of mental work to do because of their need to belong. (And often a lot of expenses too.)

What is urgently needed is individuation. Contrary to ads from Ray-Ban, you cannot find your own style by buying some advertised product. You have to turn inward and find your own myths within. You have to reach out and touch others' soul, not their image. And for that to happen, you have to shatter your own facade.

I don't say this lightly, because I know most people can't do it even if they try. If they stray from the flock, they will be lost in the woods. If they turn inward, they find madness. If they make themselves vulnerable, they are exploited. If they bare themselves, they are ridiculed and cast out. There are only a few in each generation who can help you find your way, and they won't do that for just any curious person. If you still feel the need to belong somewhere, but not everywhere, this is not for you. If you still want to impress, if you are still concerned about what people think about you, if you want to have power over anyone ... yes, even if you need to be loved, this life is not for you. You better stick with one of the thoroughly tried and tested versions of Humanity v. 2. Beta-testing software for computers is bound to be frustrating; beta-testing a new soul for your brain could easily be fatal.

But in the end, I am sure that a new soul must come to mankind if we are to survive and go forward. In fact, Version 3 may have been launched long ago, but mankind would (or could) not accept it. But that is a story for another day, if ever.