Evolution?

Evolution suggests that “we” or “life” is evolving, that we are getting better as we so evolve…

In more ways than one blog post can contain, I protest this notion; but the reason that I bring it up at the moment is the thought, and with it many fears that I cannot seem to shake, that we are, in fact, ‘devolving’.  Laws of nature themselves reveal that everything tends towards chaos, not magical coordination or accidental design that develops intrinsically.  

Why has this been on my mind lately and why does it make me feel fear of all things?  Well for one thing, I see this self-evident truth in our nation, just as it has been with all great nations of the past, the governing thereof and the systems of education with which the majority of Americans are happy, or at least satisfied.  But the paramount aspect of this that has been looming o’er me is in the seeming genius of technology-- indubitably the manifestations of someone’s genius-- I suggest that the way in which we have taken hold of technology and applied it with such solidarity to everything imaginable is anything but genius.  Technology itself has now not only dumbed us down, but has crippled and disabled us.  Because of technology, very important, even necessary, knowledge and skills are being ignored, and worse, forgotten.  And that includes the ability to learn.

For instance, I was thinking the other day just how ridiculous it is that in public schools today it is necessary to teach “natural sciences” to our youth.  100 years ago it wouldn’t have even been considered, as young people actually experienced ‘natural sciences’.  They had no need to be shown how seeds sprout in a glass jar because they were part of the planting of gardens and crops that helped to sustain their families!  They understood cross pollination, not because they were taught in school, but because this information was passed down, or learned from experience out of necessity.

Kids didn’t need to be taught where milk comes from or that chocolate milk does not come from brow cows  ;)  If they themselves did not have the responsibility of milking cows (or goats or sheep), they knew and interacted with a number of people who did.  They knew full well where meat comes from and likely participated in the slaughtering of the animals which fed them year round.  Unlike a woman (most likely a liberal) from California who beseeched her fellow man, in a letter to the editor, to "stop the cruel practice of hunting for meat and start getting your meat at the market, like everyone else, where they make the meat"!

How is this “evolution” of technology responsible for this?  It is responsible because They have chosen to industrialize the food industry just as soon as the technology enabled them to.  I could go on forever about the “they” here and how “they” have impacted our nation with ill intent towards the masses, but that’s another post.  

With the invent of modern farming equipment, farming became big business, some might suggest a monopoly, and now when asked, “Where does food come from?” most children (young and old) will answer, “From the grocery store.” I’m not even sure what’s in much of the food found on grocery store shelves these days!  The knowledge recent generations have of actually growing food has become less and less, becoming merely textbook knowledge that will serve no good purpose if the time every came that these people need to use it.  

There was a day when the majority (at least in rural areas) had a good idea of what kind of plants in their area could be used as food or for medicinal purposes.  Now, the average Boy Scout can’t identify a blueberry or raspberry plant!   

I’m only going to touch on this lightly for the time being, but it dumbfounds me to see people jump aboard the supplement bandwagon, hoping to derive much needed nutrients from magical pills and powders, all because they have no real knowledge of the foods they could and should be eating, or because of the fact that what were once a nutrient rich crops have now become depleted and (not accurately, but rhetorically) anemic.  

I won’t go into the junk food industry, their marketing strategies, or the disintegration of family life that has resulted in a ‘need’ for quick, easy meals and the forgotten art of cooking.  

It is startling, to say the least, that the majority of people in our country would starve in the early months following a catastrophe that would bring the food industry as we know it to an end.  (I will assume that anyone reading this understands the impact of technology on this industry--electricity, transport, etc.  It is a fragile system, indeed).

I was proven to be just as frustrated as the average Joe by a lack of technology when, after a big storm a few years back, we were without electricity for a week.  We had a grill, so cooking was a cinch…but keeping the food we had stored in two chest freezers and a fridge/freezer was another story.  Without the use of a generator, we would have lost hundreds of dollars in meat and vegetables.  That experience made me well aware of the fact that I simply didn’t know what I could do without the use of some sort of electricity.  It didn’t take me long to realize that I desperately needed to learn the art of canning meat and vegetables, something that the generation before me, in my family, never passed down.  Realistically, where was the time to learn it if they had the knowledge?  I was too busy in school for eight hours every day and doing homework after…ehem.

That’s enough of the food topic for now. 

How about other basic necessities?  

Let’s take a look at hygiene.  I like to think that I’m slightly above the curve because I know how to make my own soaps for personal use, laundry, and other cleaning purposes, but during that storm I learned that not only was I dangerously dependent on modern refrigeration, I was also terribly dependent on technology for laundry.  Naturally, the night the electricity went out two of my children got sick and threw up all over their bed clothes.  Thankfully, we live in close proximity to a river because our only water source is a 100 foot well that can only be used with an electric pump…let me tell you, hauling buckets of water from the river is not a great deal of fun, though two little girls bathing in the river actually was.  I now plan to pound a well that can be equipped with a hand pump on any future property we own. 

I had often wondered how people managed laundry before washers and dryers…it was during that week that I understood that it’s our excess that makes laundry a nightmare.  Washing hundreds of clothing items by hand is ridiculous.  Having hundreds of clothing items is MORE ridiculous.  Less, in this case, really is more.  My grandma remembers as a child having only a couple outfits to choose from, a church dress, a school dress, and a play dress.  My kids have more than two outfits for every day of the week!  okay...way more...You know why?  because it’s so easy and relatively inexpensive to buy them.  I’m sure if I had to make them things would be different. Even though I’m somewhat “crafty”, I'm not so confident that I would know where to begin making clothes for everyone in my family!

That scenario assumes there is a good supply of fabric in the area…I have to wonder what the heck we would do if we didn’t have access to that…in days long past there were more local textile companies, nowadays most of our textiles are manufactured overseas and shipped here!  We take so much for granted.  I don’t know how to spin wool or weave…maybe I should learn.  I’ll youtube it this evening   ;) oh and I must remember to find a good plan for building a loom…

Another obvious problem with technology and this highly evolved life as we know it is the fact that we are reliant on it for shelter and pretty much everything imaginable that we would use in sustaining and maintaining even a menial quality of life.  Vehicles are used to get people many miles to and from the jobs that they spend their days doing for other people--ehem--so that they can make a modest amount of money with which to purchase all their necessities.  What if we were all without means of travel and had to somehow earn a living locally?  How many of us have skills that could be used to serve a purpose locally, personally?  I doubt, if the time ever came where that was necessary, a bachelors in business management or psychology will do you much good.

What about the houses in which we live?  I won’t say the houses we own, because in reality, most of us don’t own our homes, the bank does.  But what about the basic need for shelter?   We designed and built our own house, something the majority aren’t capable of doing, mostly only because they have no reason or motivation to even care how that might be accomplished.  The skills that they learned in high school geometry and shop might have come in handy, but they’ve had no reason to remember them!  Even with the knowledge and motivation to build, we relied entirely on companies from which we purchased the materials used to build.  Lumber was bought from a local lumber yard, but that lumber was not sawn locally, trusses were engineered and built out of state and shipped to us, hardware such as nails were also purchased from stores that are supplied by some central manufacturer, power tools were used…

I think we might be able to build a house without power tools or machinery, with lumber from our own woods, etc., but it would take a great deal more time and knowledge of basic mechanics!   And what if we didn’t have access common hand tools and hardware? Throughout history, people have managed to accomplish such things with the natural resources at their disposal!  “Neanderthal tools”, Indian arrow heads chiseled from rock…That’s ingenuity and resourcefulness that we just don’t see in the average person today, sadly.  

Can you imagine life without all of these conveniences that we take for granted, without all of these pre-made, easily acquired products that enable the hustle and bustle of our frenzied, fast paced existence?  The saddest realization of all is that our school systems have disabled the self-motivated learning drive in generation after generation, and I fear that without Google or DIY network, most people wouldn’t know how to learn to do any of these things!  Our need for ingenuity and resourcefulness has withered and dried with the growth of technology.  While America was once the source of more than 90% of the worlds’ patents and many of the modern day conveniences enjoyed world-wide, we are now down to 20% of the worlds’ patents and most of the new ideas are merely different versions of past inventions…There is, indeed, nothing new under the heavens...

While I could go on and on for pages and rant about language and literature among the many examples society offers us, I will end now with a question. 

Are you still convinced that we are evolving?