planet, or a star could have increased in size and swallowed all the planets surrounding it, a scenario many scientists predict the earth will go through six billion years from now. Curiously enough, the old bible is full of references to hellish flames caused by the Armageddon. A collision of two large planets is somewhat similar and might very well be the source of burning in fire found in the bible. Another possibility of incineration, which is as hellish as the first one, is a nuclear warfare. Twice this century humanity came close to facing such a horrific end. Either scenario could offer an explanation of why we have lost touch with our origin. (As a secular person, I do not find anything holy in the bible. Though, I do find in it references to an alien civilization. The Armageddon was one of them. Noah ark is another one. Knowing what we now know about stem cell engineering, it would be possible to save the DNA of many creatures and transport them on a space ship from one planet to another. Actually, the story of Noah is fascinating for another reason. Of all animals, we happen to be the only one that befriend other species and take them in as pets. We are also the only one to tame and train other creatures to serve us. Why other animals did not develop this skill? Is it possible that most of us are animal lovers because we happen to be from another planet and we grew attached to our terrestrial cousins out of curiosity?) The answer for the second question will have to do with what was stated earlier. It seems as if our species has being leading a dual life and has not been able to shake off completely its entomological and arthropodal origin (relating to insects, arachnids…). This is why to this date, as individuals, as small groups, humans do not behave in the same manner as they do when they belong to an advanced civilized society. This is what happened to us when we first landed on this planet. We know what takes place when any state fails in our time; one can only imagine the consequences of a total social collapse. Not only do we need law and order to be civilized, we also need them enforced. As is, many people still turn in monsters. Things are a lot worse when there is no accountability. Even in the most advanced of societies, until recently, most men behaved like little tyrants. Not only did they abuse their wives and children, but even incest was a dark kept secret among many families. Regardless of how advanced and sophisticated, under certain conditions humans are prone to go wild and grow corrupt. What is more alarming is the fact that anyone of us could turn into a tyrant like Hitler or Stalin or Napoleon. Ironically, it is the complexity of our brain that makes us susceptible to insanity. We inflict the most harm to humanity when we are only interested in the self. This is the reason that ego-centrists are the most dangerous to our species. Early humans found themselves in this situation when they first landed on earth. There was no humanity, there was only the self. As their descendants, we copied them for millions of years because we did not know any better. Even in today’s modern word, civility and civilization are still very fluid. In essence, we still have a long way to go before reaching a higher level of civilization - let alone become more sophisticated. This is only part of the answer; yet, this subject shall be examined in details further in this discussion. In the next chapter, I will make an attempt to explain how the conditions of a harsh climate could have been responsible for the evolution of intelligence into an advanced form called vision.
BEYOND AWARENESS
THE HIGHEST FORMS OF INTELLIGENCE: VISION, IMAGINATION, CREATIVITY, INVENTIVENESS
“Scientists estimate that earth has been around for about four billion years. On the other hand, the age of the universe is pegged at around twenty billion or forty or more, depending on the theory one elects to support. The chances are that life has existed on older planets. Not only that, but knowing what we know now about stars, one would be justified in concluding that some of these old planets if not all of them could have died long before our planet was born. After endlessly going through this process, in some cases lasting only no more than a million years on one planet, evolutionary biology through innovation and adaptation, must have learned how to survive beyond the destruction of any solar system. One way to achieve this goal would be in acquiring intelligence and vision. This is the only reason a species with a powerful brain would have evolved. This is why in my opinion, humanity must have evolved on an older planet, where biological life with a different DNA than that of earth, prepared our species not only to develop a large and complex brain, but more importantly, to acquire vision, imagination, inventiveness and creativity. Attributes only acquired by humans. All shared in common by artists, scientists, athletes, writers, commoners and even children. All along, we were assigned the task of colonizing other planets. Like it or not, this is our destiny. Working together to achieve this goal would make life on this planet much more tolerable if not more enjoyable for all of us. Before discarding this theory, one should take a good look at how bacteria on earth managed to acquire some sort of swarm intelligence and subsequently evolved into more complex organism. On earth, the search for food compelled bacteria to evolve into more mobile creatures. Just watch how some types of insects gain their mobility in morphing from maggots or larvae into flying creatures and you would get the picture. The same evolution must have taken place on different planet. This is a very effective strategy to survive on the same planet. To reach beyond that, at one point, evolutionary biology must have been compelled to think about surviving beyond any particular planet. This is when it came to realize that a different creature is going to be required for the task. A creature with intelligence, creativity and sophistication, someone like us.”
As an intelligent species our analytical ability allows us to understand many phenomena that affect our existence. Our inquisitive mind has made it possible to discover new and amazing scientific formulas. Our longing for exploration has paved the way for an endless number of inventions. Our love for beauty and truth has propelled authors and poets to create an impressive legacy of literary work; also, it has inspired painters, sculptors and musicians to produce numerous master pieces of artistic work. Indeed, humanity will always be grateful to every individual who has made any contribution to art or science. Furthermore, these individuals have brought joy and pleasure to our rather dull, mediocre and harsh lives.
The question that most of us often ask is, since we all happen to belong to the same intelligent species, why is this creative gift only bestowed upon such a few. The answer is simple: the ability to create, imagine, invent and discover requires more than intelligence. It requires something called vision as well. Without this vision nothing can be achieved on any level of the human endeavour. Vision is the highest form of intelligence. In fact, for our species to reach higher level of civilization, it must make more use of this faculty. Not just that, we must learn how to share it better and make it more common. Just because one happens to be assigned a vision, one is not meant to be selfish about it. To begin with, he or she does not own this vision; it belongs to the collective evolutionary efforts of humanity. To deliberately prevent a new vision from being shared with others is wrong, immoral and harmful to humanity. Perhaps, this is the reason that individuals with a vision feel compelled to share it with others. Evolutionary biology did a good job at assigning a unique task to each member of our species. A person with a creative gift is no different than anyone else. We are all equal; we only have different tasks to fulfill. This is to say than an artist or a scientist is better than a labourer or a teacher. This is why we see individuals interested in arts, whereas others take a liking to science and some find agriculture to be interesting. A skill does not have to be shared by all members, yet it dies off if not shared at all. A vision is not different. Not all of us have to be visionary, of have the same vision, but we all must share our visions with others or they will end up dying. Through evolution, we learned the importance of sharing knowledge, and now through the same process, we are learning the importance of sharing our visions. How did we acquire such an amazing power could be only explained in the same way I have explained how the development of intelligence came about. Except, in this case, the ultimate catastrophe was responsible for the development of such essential ability. We are all familiar with many catastrophic events that resulted in the death of millions of people, the Spanish Flew being one of them. The ultimate catastrophe humanity will be facing in the future is when the sun is going to self-destruct. If we all agree that at one time in the distant future, our planet is going to be destroyed as a result of the death of its star, then it is very likely that other planets and other civilizations have had to face this tragic event. In this case, intelligence alone was not going to enable anyone to survive. Intelligence by itself allows
