The decline of man

Humans have supposedly evolved since the end of Ice Age- through Stone Age, Iron Age, etc. aided by discoveries and inventions such as fire, wheel, metal works et al. We have recently passed through the Industrial Revolution, mass production, moved on to a technological age, and are now in the middle of an Information Revolution, shifting from blue-collar to white-collar jobs, where knowledge workers are most sought after.

Man, through the ages, has become better at manipulating nature and is now so adept at it that he is able to live in a completely artificial environment. We fly objects heavier (denser) than air, we’ve built an underwater hotel, constructed an artificial island, drilled deep into the Earth to extract natural resources, and even gone beyond the Earth: landed on the Moon, sent probes to Mars, built an International Space Station and ousted the Moon from its hitherto privileged position of being the Earth’s only satellite.

We have advanced so much technologically that we have our own virtual world, can view three-dimensional images from a two-dimensional screen, even store 3D images (hologram). We may even be on the verge of determining the origin of the universe (LHC).

All this proves that man is getting smarter over time; it is no more a Darwinian Survival of the Fittest world. In fact, society is judged by how well it protects its weak. The common man now leads a much more comfortable life than even the kings of old. We have shed all our resemblances to the primitive man. A new age for man has arrived. A smarter man in a better planet.

Is that really so?

Has man really become smarter over time?

Consider three dimensions of man- physical, mental and spiritual.

In the physical realm, man has definitely grown weaker in recent times. The average urban youth expends less energy than his predecessors. Muscles atrophy without use. An anthropologist has confirmed this trend, stating that even Olympic gold winners are physically no match for the ancients.

Still not convinced? Picture an ancient monument built with stone. Can modern man match those structures without the aid of current technology? We as a generation are physically weaker than our ancestors.

True, we may be physically weaker, but that’s only because the evolutionary advantage conferred by physical strength is less now. We need to exercise our brain more than brawn.

Our intellectual capability has not increased over time. Rather, our technological dependence has. We are outsourcing our brain’s work to computers. You might argue that this is natural progress from the abacus. And we still have to design algorithms. So we are at least intellectually on par with our ancestors.

Let us look at three fields- art, science and mathematics.

Artists of note- Michelangelo Buonarroti, Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso- are all dead and gone, the last of whom, Picasso, passed away in 1973. To date, they are still legends in the art world. No famous artist since their time has come up to their league.

Still, this doesn’t prove my point. History seems to recognize artists only after their time. But, in this inter-connected world, where fame spreads faster, we still haven’t heard of any great artists. Art is dead anyway, so let us look at classical music.

In Western classical music, there is still no one to match Beethoven (who composed even after losing his hearing!) or Mozart. In Indian classical music, Tyagaraja is still revered. Great singers sing his compositions.

Shakespeare still reigns supreme as the bard of English literature. Homer’s works are still considered epic. To date, Ramayana and Mahabharata are the most comprehensive epics which contain answers to deep philosophical questions.

There exists no profound modern works with as much depth as our religious scriptures, which, if you know where to look, contain the answer to every question.

In fact, we have deteriorated so much that we cannot even decipher or understand these great works!

Take science. We have made a lot of progress, true. Science accepts and discards new theories based on new evidence, after careful evaluation. It is not a clear progression- it is a series of continuous progressions and regressions which ultimately produces a fundamental breakthrough.

The greatest breakthroughs in science were all made by the previous generations: the theory of relativity, the law of gravitation, Newton’s laws of motion, electricity and magnetism, Archimedes’ principle, the list goes on...

That’s not the complete picture. We have advanced in quantum mechanics, gone beyond the atom, propounded string theory, bent light, and may soon discover the origins of the universe. So, we can confidently say that we have advanced in science.

Yes, we have advanced so much in science that we can now destroy the Earth much more easily than before. The combined nuclear arsenal of all countries can annihilate all mankind.

When man shifted his attention from pure science to engineering and technology, he lost his scientific temper. The burning curiosity to discover the world we live in has faded away. Man now works on ideas which have a monetary value. Experiments are now conducted not to advance research, but to monetize it. We live in a world where every researcher wants to patent his ideas, to use it to gain an advantage over the common man, rather than contribute freely to the cause of human scientific advancement.

Where science serves as a vassal to money and power, there will be no true science. Art for art’s sake and science for science’s sake is the way to progress.

Living in the modern world, we have become slaves to money, fallen into a rut, dulled our faculties with boredom and drudgery, thus deteriorating our mental ability.

What is the single most important breakthrough in the field of mathematics?

Zero.

Like science, mathematics was also subjugated to money. It bred the financial services sector. It complicated the world so much that at one point, it became a tool of greed and deceit. And the world came crashing down…

People threw good money after bad money, without knowing what they were doing, in a mad rush to get rich quick, led by the nose by unscrupulous corporate entities who disguised the true nature of the investment. The value they got out of this?

Zero.

Advances in mathematics- risk modeling, quantitative finance, actuaries- are all for money. It has complicated the world so much that it made people rush into investments without regarding the fundamentals. Investments were made on faith, because no one could comprehend the fundamentals.

The entire world deserves a big F in mathematics. Progress in mathematics has only led to a collapse- of investor confidence, of people’s hopes of financial stability. It has swallowed up retirement savings, made people lose their faith in their government and corporates; in short, it has led to a loss of trust, the foundation on which society is built.

Have we advanced or deteriorated? Are we really better human beings now?

Morally and spiritually, we have again degraded. Fat bonuses and golden parachutes to unethical executives, all paid from taxpayers’ money. Increase in the number of broken homes, violent crime, drug, alcohol and cigarette abuse, widespread corruption, a see no evil hear no evil attitude to tales of sexual harassment.

Atheists who call God a delusion, anti-theists who mock all theists and consider themselves supreme, godmen who cheat the gullible masses, communalists and jihadists who seek peace through violence, sadists who take pleasure in the slaughter of innocent animals, proselytizers who pay money for conversion, spiritual guides who tweak the scriptures to serve their own selfish needs.

Taken by and large, all this seems to point toward the decline of man. We are physically weak, morally corrupt, intellectually inept and spiritually disinclined.

Is this the future of humanity? Is it all downhill from here?

Maybe not.

There have been no great wars since 1945.

There have been no dire famines in a long time.

Life expectancy has increased due to advancement in medical technology.

There are much fewer dictatorship regimes.

More and more people are embracing the social cause.

There is resurgence in traditional practices like yoga, ayurveda, meditation, pranayama etc.

More people are environment conscious.

Maybe we are at cross-roads, where we have to choose between more darkness and a new dawn.

Maybe we are now waking up, and will choose the right path.

If a wound does not cause pain, we do not acknowledge its existence. We realize the pain now. This may lead to healing.

Evolution is never a straight path forward. It is a series of few steps forward and a few steps backward. We move back and forth and in the end we advance a little. We may soon advance.

It is said that the hour is darkest just before dawn. The dark hours of humanity may now be behind us.

We are soaring in the skies, rising through the dark clouds, beyond which lies a brilliant sunshine.

We are approaching our Utopian dream.

Someday, we shall achieve it.

So no, I refuse to believe in the decline of man.