Post-Evolutionism

I went and saw Wall-E this last weekend with 5 girls – 12, 12, 11, 7 & 3. (What else was I going to do with all of those little ladies?) It was a great movie, full of amazing visuals. The environmental angle was interesting, as humans were off somewhere in space while robots were tasked with cleaning up the mess left behind. The humans were all giant, slovenly lumps with their own hoverchairs and a nice big monitor that they did not take their eyes off.

Coincidentally I also am currently renting Idiocracy, which if you haven’t seen it is a movie about the dumbing down of man. The basic premise is that smart people reproduce at a much lower rate than morans, leading to a sharp decline in the IQ of all of humankind. It is was written, directed and produced by Mike Judge, so it is equal parts scathing commentary and utter ridiculousness.

Seeing both of these movies got me thinking about evolution and its role in a world where we have essentially removed the environmental component that allows only the strong to survive. It seems. at least in the more developed parts of the world, that we have cause evolution to jump the tracks.  Now evolution has been moved to the geopolitical/monetary system, creating dinosaurs gorging on our life’s work instead of our lives.  As more and more money gets consolidated at the top, those at the top get more and more specialized at making money.  In the same way that the dinosaurs became so specialized that they could not survive relatively small changes in the environment, our systems are evolving to merely siphon off the hard work and livelihood of huge swaths of people. Think of a blue whale eating krill.

More on this line of thinking as I develop it in a more coherent manner…