posted on Jun, 24 2007 @ 09:00 PM
GreatTech,
Faith aside (I think we have both established where we are coming from in that respect), I think we can agree that humanity is more than capable of
destroying itself in any number of ways - I'm not sure what religious implications that has - perhaps the concept that suicide is a sin could be an
analogy for humanity as a whole. (That would have been an interesting inclusion in the bible, as the people of 2000 years ago could not have conceived
of humanity becoming extinct - but I digress)
All life-forms are competitive (thinking here at the level of microbes and viruses) and sometimes so competitive that they completely consume the
host. At the most extreme level the organism can be counter productive, in that it destroys its ability to continue to exist, because it cannot exist
without the host.
I see an analogy here with business and nationalist greed. Many nations and individuals are acting in an untempered competitive way while forgetting
that a balance must be achieved to enable their own continued existance.
I also see that in relatively recent history discoveries and cures have been driven more by greed that the desire for knowledge. In the past
researchers have been driven by the desire for knowledge and to rid our species of what ails us - and that, I'm sure that hasn't changed. The
difference is the vast sums of money required for that research to be carried out, and the fact that the funding will not be forthcoming unless the
organisation providing the funding can make massive profits from it. (A point I'm sure you are more than aware of in your employment). So what HAS
changed is the desire for knowledge (or cure) on the part of those providing the funding being replaced by greed. (This difference is even more
evident when someone in a position to provide funding has been personally touched by, say, a disease and they suddenly change their view from that of
amassing a fortune to a more altruistic view)
Again and again we return to greed.
Untempered greed (just like the case of the non-sentient virus) is unsustainable. We, as sentient creatures, SHOULD be able to see that, but it
doesn't appear that we do. Therefore, clearly, the future of humanity is very much at risk, not from competition, but from greed.
I see nothing wrong with competition, as it does have benefits for a life-form, including humanity.
So I guess you could actually define greed as competition untempered by sustainability. If we cannot learn this lesson, we are in no better situation
than a virus.
The Winged Wombat