With three pounds of matter, called the brain, the human race has gained complete dominion over all of life on this planet. It has discovered the raw power of steam and used it to create the industrial revolution. It has discovered the raw power of
splitting the atom and used it to create its own nightmare. It has
discovered how to prolong and improve human life and this will result in
a population explosion, where the rate of the human race doubles every forty years. Ironically, the great gift of humankind, superlative intelligence, may be the cause of its demise.
The solution, paradoxically, is more intelligence. Intelligence has to move from the few to the many. Literally, a new race has to emerge to keep civilization, even earth life as a whole, alive past this century.
The analogy often used is that most people are asleep, while others,
those who are noticing the collapse of the environment and the coming
storm, are said to be awakening. What does this really mean?
Perhaps, it means that most people, stuck in habituated or conditioned
thought, are not capable of rising to a place where they can contribute
anything more than resistance to the idea of the change that needs to
happen.
Another analogy might work better.
The Internet is an artificial global brain. Theoretically, it allows
anyone to contact anyone else. Those who use this medium to learn and
communicate are "online." They are part of the aggregate of humanity
that can share a community.
The rest of the world, either due to lack of interest or insufficient
economic resources, are living in a more local environment. They are
said to be "offline." They only know and communicate based on immediate
stimulation.
As you can imagine, there is a huge disparity between the two populations. Those online have any kind
of information available to them literally at their fingertips. Those
offline have very little information to work on. The result is a growing
disparity between the human race. Those who are informed and those who are not.
Similarly, in regards to the human race, only a small number are even
aware that the world as a whole is in jeopardy. They have a poor
knowledge of history, and do not realize how fortunate humanity was to
have survived the dictators and the escalation of raw military power
that emerged in the past century. They also have a poor knowledge of
science, and do not realize that there is enough raw power to blow up
the world eleven times over. Finally, they have a poor knowledge of
social issues, ranging from pollution to self-seeking political and
economic organizations.
The reason that they do not have
this knowledge is because they do not think it is important. In many
cases, too, they may not have access to this knowledge. In the past, the
general ignorance of the masses did not matter that much. This was
because there was never such a pressing need to create worldwide
consensus on many issues, there was never a pressing need to reorganize
and reprioritize human interests, and there was never the open
possibility of general ignorance becoming deadly.
While it is not necessary to become a savant; it is necessary to become
more intelligent, which means less conditioned, less ill-informed, less
self-oriented, and less apathetic. A critical mass of intelligent people
is necessary before the tide turns. Compassion and genius will not
flourish in an atmosphere of indifference and confusion.
How can we make the upgrading of intelligence an important agenda for human beings?
We can improve the quality of all our media presentations, from print
media to Television to Radio to movies to be less focused on trivial
entertainment and more on providing meaningful messages. We can upgrade
the educational institutions all over the world, from the model
that is currently operating, which is still based on the ideas of the
industrial revolution. And we can take individual responsibility and try
to read more, understand more, communicate more.
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