Emergence of Intelligence
The nature vs. nurture dichotomy is a myth constructed by those who believe that the sentient animal can be transformed significantly after its conception. This is not the case. The cultures of sentients may be malleable, but we are still essentially the people who our genes mold us to be. Witness the preternatural similarity of the identical twins who provide this lesson for even the most primitive races. It all comes down to the proper organization of the brain. Those whose brain systems are chaotically wired, distressingly common in the universe, are incapable of the long chains of causal reasoning required for rational thought. If one cannot conceptualize reality coherently it is easy to believe anything stated with confidence, no matter how nonsensical. Those sentients with disorganized brain states have an unerring tendency to retard the progress of races toward desirable equilibrium states of egalitarian freedom and creativity. It is simply not possible to achieve these goals in an environment of irrationality, feudalistic devotion, and violence. Hence, callous though it may seem to the untrained eye, such individuals are expunged from the gene pools of successful sentient races.
Darwinian natural selective processes are exactly as he described them: a means of eliminating maladaptive individuals from the population. All creatures live brief lives followed by the swift kiss of non-existence; genetic success is the reward for those who can keep the most children alive and position them properly. The sad thing about humans is that their brains are just large enough to realize the inevitability of their own impending demise and fret inconsequentially, raging without effect against the falling of the night.
When species discover methods of achieving biological immortality, serious problems can develop. As the cytoskeletal structure rearranges itself and the congenital fungal parasites responsible for most aging symptoms are cured, average intelligence increases by around two standard deviations, but this reorganization actually exacerbates the effects of disorganized brain wiring patterns. Witness the Japanese, who discovered that an extract of coniferous woodsmoke bestows these benefits and laced the drinking water with it to make their soldiers stronger on the eve of the second world war: the population became smarter but was also hysterically aggressive and sycophantically devoted to the emperor. To compensate for this excess, the Yakuza of postwar Japan used the bloodthirsty but Darwinian method of eliminating the entire family of anyone guilty of violent crime. The result has been a creative, intelligent and harmonious population that is clever enough to limit its own birth rate and shows virtually no aging or disease. This is the tradeoff when a race crosses the rubicon to immortality: the unfit must be removed from the population or else chaos will ensue.
We who see the universe from a distance watch the suns dance circles around the galaxies, the continents drift across the surfaces of the worlds, and the species morph from one form to another. We delight in the creatures' brief flares of existence and we wait anxiously for the emergence of intelligence. Usually it disappoints us with its pettiness and cruelty, mired forever in its baser evolutionary baggage. All too often the species destroys its own ecology, and we shed few tears when such races extinguish themselves. We cry only for the horrific depletion of their biospheres, which leaves almost no raw material to evolve new sentience. There is only a short flicker of complexity in a world's history, starting billions of years after its birth with its oxygenation, and ending in one of two cataclysms: sentient overreach and self-extinguishment, or the slow roasting of a wild world in the growing heat of its sun.
A common mechanism for the elimination of a sentient race is the following: the population grows too high and a single precocious individual takes matters into its hands and engineers a plague. Much of the time it succeeds so well that all members of the race are wiped out. This may seem unconscionable on a human timescale, but from the perspective of an entire world's lifespan, it can be salutary. If the event occurs while the ecosystem is still relatively intact, it can leave just enough time to regenerate resources for the survivors or successor species. When close relatives rise rapidly in intelligence, they may just be able to make out a few ancient ruins-unheeded reminders of the perils of biosphere destroying industry and overpopulation. The new species usually recapitulates the fate of the old, though with the inevitable subtle variations.
Once in a great while a culture of well-adjusted individuals arises and we rejoice in their success. Oh how we love to find technological beings living in harmony with their ecosystems and each other. These are the ones who truly deserve to expand outward from their home sun's system. Humanity has a long way to go to become such a race. Hold on tight; it's going to be a wild ride.
Darwinian natural selective processes are exactly as he described them: a means of eliminating maladaptive individuals from the population. All creatures live brief lives followed by the swift kiss of non-existence; genetic success is the reward for those who can keep the most children alive and position them properly. The sad thing about humans is that their brains are just large enough to realize the inevitability of their own impending demise and fret inconsequentially, raging without effect against the falling of the night.
When species discover methods of achieving biological immortality, serious problems can develop. As the cytoskeletal structure rearranges itself and the congenital fungal parasites responsible for most aging symptoms are cured, average intelligence increases by around two standard deviations, but this reorganization actually exacerbates the effects of disorganized brain wiring patterns. Witness the Japanese, who discovered that an extract of coniferous woodsmoke bestows these benefits and laced the drinking water with it to make their soldiers stronger on the eve of the second world war: the population became smarter but was also hysterically aggressive and sycophantically devoted to the emperor. To compensate for this excess, the Yakuza of postwar Japan used the bloodthirsty but Darwinian method of eliminating the entire family of anyone guilty of violent crime. The result has been a creative, intelligent and harmonious population that is clever enough to limit its own birth rate and shows virtually no aging or disease. This is the tradeoff when a race crosses the rubicon to immortality: the unfit must be removed from the population or else chaos will ensue.
We who see the universe from a distance watch the suns dance circles around the galaxies, the continents drift across the surfaces of the worlds, and the species morph from one form to another. We delight in the creatures' brief flares of existence and we wait anxiously for the emergence of intelligence. Usually it disappoints us with its pettiness and cruelty, mired forever in its baser evolutionary baggage. All too often the species destroys its own ecology, and we shed few tears when such races extinguish themselves. We cry only for the horrific depletion of their biospheres, which leaves almost no raw material to evolve new sentience. There is only a short flicker of complexity in a world's history, starting billions of years after its birth with its oxygenation, and ending in one of two cataclysms: sentient overreach and self-extinguishment, or the slow roasting of a wild world in the growing heat of its sun.
A common mechanism for the elimination of a sentient race is the following: the population grows too high and a single precocious individual takes matters into its hands and engineers a plague. Much of the time it succeeds so well that all members of the race are wiped out. This may seem unconscionable on a human timescale, but from the perspective of an entire world's lifespan, it can be salutary. If the event occurs while the ecosystem is still relatively intact, it can leave just enough time to regenerate resources for the survivors or successor species. When close relatives rise rapidly in intelligence, they may just be able to make out a few ancient ruins-unheeded reminders of the perils of biosphere destroying industry and overpopulation. The new species usually recapitulates the fate of the old, though with the inevitable subtle variations.
Once in a great while a culture of well-adjusted individuals arises and we rejoice in their success. Oh how we love to find technological beings living in harmony with their ecosystems and each other. These are the ones who truly deserve to expand outward from their home sun's system. Humanity has a long way to go to become such a race. Hold on tight; it's going to be a wild ride.
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