Our finite resources

Dear editor:

I want to thank Micheal Gerson for his review of Noah Harari's fascinating book: "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" (Friday, June 12). Give this a read.

Harari observes that such things as gods, nations, money, laws and justice are all the creation of man's intelligence. And it was some 70,000 years ago, when homo sapiens began to make huge strides in intelligence. Now, humankind has taken over the planet, extinguished many species and has the ability to design us and the future as he sees fit. Look at a few things we can do now: 1. A Brazilian artist by the name of Eduardo Cac has been able to alter the DNA of a white rabbit and have it grow into a fluorescent green rabbit. 2. You may remember 1996 with the cloning of Dolly the domestic sheep or when an ear was grown on the back of a mouse. 3. Scientists are proceeding to bring back into existence a woolly mammoth, which has been extinct for thousands of years (using DNA sequencing and cloning technology). 4. The genome of the human brain is supposed to be completed by 2025. This will make it possible for artificial intelligence to catch and surpass the brain of humans.

A disturbing thing that Harari points out is how the current economic world of today is dependent on continued and perpetual growth. We have a planet that has limited resources and space. We cannot forever continue to expand, overpopulate, pollute, plunder and deplete the finite resources that Earth provides.

In 1932, Aldous Huxley wrote "Brave New World." The disturbing manipulated world that Huxley envisioned is becoming possible with today's technological advances. Will we allow manipulation of DNA and psychological conditioning to create different classes and sizes of humans? Will we continue and expand regulating peoples' well-being through drugs? In "Brave New World," these things are done in order to establish a stable world.

One intriguing idea that Harari points out was that the foraging homo sapiens from 70,000 years ago may not have been that different in their brain power or in their joy of life as us today. It reminds me of Jesus, when he told the rich man to give away all his possessions and follow him. Wasn't Jesus saying that the natural world provides everything that is needed in life? Didn't Jesus point out that birds don't ask for food or what to do. Our Creator provides us the instincts and a bountiful world with everything that is needed.

We have seen the disturbing way that mankind has ruthlessly used power to accumulate wealth and empire. History shows us how mankind created a slave market, mistreated the natural inhabitants of North, South and Central America and the surrounding islands in this pursuit. Will humankind ever really learn to share and see that the planet and all its life-forms are more important than power and profits?

Bill Wiedmann

Hot Springs

Editorial on 07/26/2015

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