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11. GLOBAL HUMAN ZOO A good zoo is one for which the zookeepers have great concern for the quality of life of the animals. By virtue of the zookeepers’ scientific understanding of the animals and their environment, they provide the animals with a life of contentment and pleasure, while protecting them from pain, suffering, disability, and early death (PSDED) produced by starvation, illness, fighting, predation, and other natural threats. As you know from my last 10 monthly articles (available with free "textbook" at the PHILOSOPHY section of humanianity.com), I have been attempting to describe what I believe will be the future psychosocial development of our species, making us at long last able to have "the good life" (joy, contentment, and appreciation unmarred by human-induced PSDED). We will have undergone the third exponential change, just beginning to accelerate, making us drastically different from all other species and from the way we were before the change. (The first two changes were the development of language and the development of science/technology, wonderful tools in the service of our basic chimpanzee nature.) So here we are, talking, hi-tech chimpanzees, doing wonderful things, but also awful things that cause enormous PSDED. The problem is that our naturally occurring behavior, especially in our highly unnatural environment, is far from optimal. The third exponential change for our species will be the global development of a far better way of living. We will live according to rational ethics, defined by its ultimate ethical principle that we should do whatever will promote not only our survival but also the good life for all of us, now and into the future. This will be a drastic change from authoritarian ethics, that comes naturally to us as a group animal, with its ultimate ethical principle that we should obey the most powerful. Rational-ethical living means always doing that which promotes the new ultimate ethical principle, and therefore means living according to ethical principles and rules that are consistent with the ultimate ethical principle. Rational-ethical living is guided by ethical principles that make use of our most accurate beliefs, reducing the likelihood of mistakes that causes PSDED. Science (the continuous pursuit of ever more accurate beliefs about the way the world is, was, and will be, using the rules of logic and rules of evidence) is our most valuable achievement. Our species developed language in a very haphazard way. As we went along, we made up words useful for the occasion, or used existing words in new and different ways, giving us a language with rich emotional meaning, but much ambiguity. We became poets. But then the second exponential change, science, allowed us to go beyond poetry as a tool for decision-making. Ever increasing accuracy of belief became possible. The scientist now takes care of the poet. But without the poet, the scientist has no reason to live. Just as zookeepers need animals to be zookeepers, animals need zookeepers to manage the zoo properly. Each of us has our basic animal nature, but then to a greater or lesser extent also a rational part, a zookeeper, that takes care of us and guides us in our behavior toward the good life. And certain areas of living especially need better guidance, like these three: We need rational-ethical guidance away from those pleasure-producing activities that entice us toward PSDED, such as substance abuse, forms of entertainment that reinforce our worst behavior, and certain lifestyles, including how we eat, that cause enormous PSDED. Guidance is needed in all situations in which anger arises, either in ourselves or in others, because what comes naturally predictably makes things worse. Violence and war are the extreme examples. We know in our private lives examples of the lingering effects of cascading anger-containing situations. There is essentially no training for the extremely complex, crucial occupation of child rearing. Natural child-rearing frequently goes bad. Very few of us make it into adulthood without a terrible burden of needless suffering that ruins our lives and the lives of those close to us. Sometimes we create monsters. We need to rear our children according to well understood principles, and to seek consultation from each other when problems develop. Each of us is an absolutely wonderful entity on this little planet, but we are very vulnerable, and our basic animal natures need the guidance and supervision of the rational parts of ourselves. Collectively, these rational parts of ourselves are the zookeepers for our basic animal natures. Are you a good zookeeper? Do you want to learn? To be continued…. |