We Stupid Apes
Entry by: EmmaM
25th August 2016
WE STUPID APES
How are we different to all other animals on the planet? Are we really still just stupid apes?
Physically, we are really no different to animals. Our bodies feel pleasure and pain in the same way as theirs and we eat, drink and mate just as they do. What makes us different is our most precious, yet often most ill-used, tool: our mind.
The human mind is the most powerful and the most destructive force on the planet. We have used our ingenuity to build cities, send people to the moon, develop technology and cure diseases. Yet our minds have also driven us to leave a trail of destruction throughout human history.
WHO'S GOOD AND WHO'S BAD
We may watch a nature documentary and consider the animal kingdom to be harsh. Many animals live in constant fear of attack, and predators will mercilessly hunt and kill their prey. However, everything animals do is for a reason, for survival. They fight and kill to protect themselves, or win a mate, or find food for themselves and their young. Animals are not capable of evil.
A brief glance at the daily news headlines will leave no doubt in your mind that humans are capable of evil. We have terrorised, persecuted, tortured and destroyed each other for thousands of years, driven not by a survival instinct, but an egoic mind. Hungry for power and blazing down everyone in our path. Blindly believing that we are right and desperate to eliminate anyone who dares to disagree with us. Fighting embittered wars where neither side can remember what the fight is about.
Animals are not capable of this senseless cruelty. However, neither are animals capable of kindness. What differentiates us from our fellow creatures is our ability to feel compassion and empathy towards others. Woven into every tragic event are tales of selflessness and bravery. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attack in New York, countless people risked their lives to save others. An animal would not do this – it may put itself in danger to protect its own offspring, but not any another animal.
IMPROVEMENT OR DESTRUCTION?
A wild ape in the African jungle will be living a life that varies very little from apes who lived hundreds, even thousands, of years ago. In contrast, people in the world today live in a vastly different way to our ancestors. We have used our intelligence to develop, create, discover and invent. We have found ingenious ways to shelter, feed, clothe and transport ourselves, to make our lives safer and more convenient.
The shadow cast over all of our developments is that much of our action has been at great cost to our environment. In the animal kingdom, they take what they need from their environment, and nothing more. They respect the circle of life and are careful not to break it. Instinctively they know that to destroy their habitat would be foolish.
In contrast, the human drive to develop and create has led us, sometimes ignorantly, sometimes consciously, to cause irrevocable damage to our planet. In a few short years we have depleted its resources, polluted its atmosphere and destroyed many of its creatures. We have taken far more than we need, in order to satisfy our own selfish desires.
SO ARE WE JUST STUPID APES?
We consider ourselves to be intelligent beings, but does any intelligent creature destroy itself and its home? Is it really intelligence that we possess, or is our mind a dangerous mutation, an accident of mother nature? When you consider the chaotic and frivolous way that we have behaved, it may be fair to say that we are not just stupid apes. We may be far more stupid.
But, we are also the only species ever to walk the earth to have felt romantic love, to have developed countless languages, to have laughed, to have understood morality, to have questioned our own existence and to have appreciated true beauty. It cannot be denied that our capabilities, both emotionally and intellectually, make us remarkable among the world's animals.
So what do you think? Are we just stupid apes?
How are we different to all other animals on the planet? Are we really still just stupid apes?
Physically, we are really no different to animals. Our bodies feel pleasure and pain in the same way as theirs and we eat, drink and mate just as they do. What makes us different is our most precious, yet often most ill-used, tool: our mind.
The human mind is the most powerful and the most destructive force on the planet. We have used our ingenuity to build cities, send people to the moon, develop technology and cure diseases. Yet our minds have also driven us to leave a trail of destruction throughout human history.
WHO'S GOOD AND WHO'S BAD
We may watch a nature documentary and consider the animal kingdom to be harsh. Many animals live in constant fear of attack, and predators will mercilessly hunt and kill their prey. However, everything animals do is for a reason, for survival. They fight and kill to protect themselves, or win a mate, or find food for themselves and their young. Animals are not capable of evil.
A brief glance at the daily news headlines will leave no doubt in your mind that humans are capable of evil. We have terrorised, persecuted, tortured and destroyed each other for thousands of years, driven not by a survival instinct, but an egoic mind. Hungry for power and blazing down everyone in our path. Blindly believing that we are right and desperate to eliminate anyone who dares to disagree with us. Fighting embittered wars where neither side can remember what the fight is about.
Animals are not capable of this senseless cruelty. However, neither are animals capable of kindness. What differentiates us from our fellow creatures is our ability to feel compassion and empathy towards others. Woven into every tragic event are tales of selflessness and bravery. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attack in New York, countless people risked their lives to save others. An animal would not do this – it may put itself in danger to protect its own offspring, but not any another animal.
IMPROVEMENT OR DESTRUCTION?
A wild ape in the African jungle will be living a life that varies very little from apes who lived hundreds, even thousands, of years ago. In contrast, people in the world today live in a vastly different way to our ancestors. We have used our intelligence to develop, create, discover and invent. We have found ingenious ways to shelter, feed, clothe and transport ourselves, to make our lives safer and more convenient.
The shadow cast over all of our developments is that much of our action has been at great cost to our environment. In the animal kingdom, they take what they need from their environment, and nothing more. They respect the circle of life and are careful not to break it. Instinctively they know that to destroy their habitat would be foolish.
In contrast, the human drive to develop and create has led us, sometimes ignorantly, sometimes consciously, to cause irrevocable damage to our planet. In a few short years we have depleted its resources, polluted its atmosphere and destroyed many of its creatures. We have taken far more than we need, in order to satisfy our own selfish desires.
SO ARE WE JUST STUPID APES?
We consider ourselves to be intelligent beings, but does any intelligent creature destroy itself and its home? Is it really intelligence that we possess, or is our mind a dangerous mutation, an accident of mother nature? When you consider the chaotic and frivolous way that we have behaved, it may be fair to say that we are not just stupid apes. We may be far more stupid.
But, we are also the only species ever to walk the earth to have felt romantic love, to have developed countless languages, to have laughed, to have understood morality, to have questioned our own existence and to have appreciated true beauty. It cannot be denied that our capabilities, both emotionally and intellectually, make us remarkable among the world's animals.
So what do you think? Are we just stupid apes?
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