Mankind is Entering the 4th Stage of a Cultural Evolution

{This is a continuation of the footnote (dated 2/15/2012) to my posting dated 7/24/2010, please use the J-Cycle flowchart therein as a frequent source of much of my future writings}

Recently when I coined the phrase "Cultural Evolution" I thought it was original. The idea was that biological evolution from the beginning of life was mandated by God. The life forms evolved from single celled entities to far more complex organs, ending in the appearance of Homo sapiens. At that point, God was satisfied with his crown creation and allowed no further evolution in life forms (but perhaps with the exception of new disease causing viruses). Any change in behavior with people then is non-biological; hence cultural.-

Hoping to get some fresh ideas, I searched the internet for existing writings about CE. I was surprised to learn that a large body of literature on this subject is available. In late 19th Century, Morgan and Taylor defined three basic evolutionary stages: savagery; barbarism; and civilization. Since that time, numerous scholars have contributed in this field listed under anthropology---human evolution; archaeology; language; and culture.



One particular thinker, Leslie White (b.1900-d.1975) proposed that mankind can measure their evolutionary progress in terms of the amount of energy that a society has learned to harness for its use. This is very close to my view of society---economic well being depends on sensible management of its resources. However, White's theory suffers from a fundamental flaw in that he failed to discriminate one type of energy from another; he only measured the amount harnessed per capita per year. Harnessing fossil fuel should be very different from harnessing the energy from agricultural produce: the former (at the rate we're using FF) is a one-time-only nonrenewable gift from God, whereas the latter is renewable as long as the sun-earth system remains stable in the form of the J-Cycle flowchart. Nuclear energy at the present state of technological development is again dangerous and a highly risky venture for producing electrical power. There is thus a need to differentiate energy usage according to the character or type of the source of energy. Lumping them together does not give us a true index of cultural advancement.

For this entry I want to advance the theory that mankind is entering a fourth stage of evolution---but doing it with great reluctance because of two things. The first is a blunder in the relative valuation of fossil fuel versus human population and lifestyle. The second is a miscue in all religious teachings established among human civilization.

{to be continued}

The Tyger by William Blake

Reprint
{This entry was about two years old, the date of February, 2012 may be confusing to some readers}

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
…….

…….

Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb, make thee?
…….
------- William Blake (1757 – 1827)

I was a high school student in Shanghai some 70 years ago when this work was selected for our English class. I could still remember the first four lines of this great poem, but had forgotten the two lines which I’m quoting as the subject of today’s discussion. In these days of instant internet access, old master’s pieces can be recalled with ease, which is a blessing.

The question raised by Blake represents a serious and basic challenge to religious thinking. If a Creator had created all life forms on Earth, it is unavoidable that he made both the tiger and the lamb. Much more, he also made the disease-causing viruses which modern human societies are struggling to destroy, or control, at prohibitive costs.

When I was writing my book, I did not have Blake’s “Tyger” at my disposal. But I did raise the same question with an accounting of the locusts plague in China. In historic records extending over 27 centuries, the occurrences of the plague more or less follow the growth of population. I explained in my book the plus side of these events: the crops are re-distributed as food for nature’s numerous life forms, thinning the human lifeline and fattening the lifelines of many other species through the mechanism of migratory locusts. The introduction of pesticides has diminished the effectiveness of this type of population control. Our over-populated world is still encouraged by government and religion leadership to seek growth in numbers. Are we making sense?

In the 200 years since Blake wrote his work, the world has seen vast changes. New knowledge forces new interpretation of God and creation. My God can be quite different from Blake’s God in that justice triumph over love, not the other way around.

Blake’s observation of the symmetry in animal design is interesting and worthy of praise. All animal possess the ability to move in a direction, which is best accomplished by a left-right symmetry about the plane of motion. This will be talked about in another day.