First,
there seems to be this ubiquitous (yet factually unjustified) assumption that humans are inherently competitive and
that we are just born to be better than each other. In other words, it’s built right in! Nonsense! This is
patently false. Outside of the context of perhaps five fundamental necessities
to grow and live optimally, nothing is
inherent. That is, regardless of where you are from, what color your skin
is, whether you believe in gods, etc., as a biological entity, to grow and
function optimally, your body requires
a specific set of necessities to be fulfilled. Those are: 1. Clean, fresh
water; 2. Nutritious food; 3. Clean, fresh air; 4. Close contact with others
(especially as newborns); and, 5. Sunlight. If there is an imbalance in either
direction in any of these necessities, trouble can and likely will arise
through disease. While malnutrition can certainly cause chemical imbalances in
the brain directly leading to aberrant behavior, behavior itself is
environmentally influenced—even at the genetic level. (I would love to continue
this argument but I fear I’m getting super side-tracked so I’ll just move on.)
So, competitive behavior is forced by the environment. (Of course, the
tumultuous times during the Cold War certainly played a key role in the
development of NASA and our space program. But, this is still considered an
environmental factor.)
Second,
we talk a lot about money. But, does anyone in our society even know that money
is created out of debt? Has anyone heard of fractional
reserve banking? Or is it just that people don’t know or need to know where money comes from—they
just know they need it? For a
supposedly intelligent species, we act so foolishly sometimes on such a grand
scale. Similar to the myth of human
nature being used to justify or denigrate abhorrent behavior, the myth of
the necessity of money directly stifles our rapid ascent to a globally unified
society beyond politics, poverty, and war. Think about it: the only reason that
politics exists is because of inherent inefficiencies in a monetary/market
system based upon debt and speculative trading of fictional assets; the only
reason poverty exists is because a debt-based monetary/market system exists
(poverty is entirely a human invention and it is ‘justified’ in any number of
equally disgusting manners); the only reason war exists is because it is the
biggest business ever created besides banking itself. “But we need it to live!”
we tell ourselves. It’s really fascinating to live in a society that has the
technology to feed, clothe, and house every
single person on the planet with ease and
without a price tag, yet would
rather spend time bickering about who others should marry, who makes more
crumbs—the “burger flipper” or the paramedic, whose god is so much better, whose president kicks more ass, or whatever the
flavor of the hour happens to be. Senselessness! Yet still we explore—unfortunately
in this case, more ways to be even stupider. (Space—the final frontier…LOOKOUT!
America’s coming to bring you some freedom
and democracy!)
Finally,
we could say that we explore simply for the sake of exploring. The unknown is a
fascinating realm to delve into. Perhaps our frontal lobe is what really sets
us apart from other species of Earth. Specifically, our highly sophisticated
prefrontal cortex allows us to plan future events in detail. So, if we are to
point to a part of us that is truly responsible for the reason why we explore,
point to the prefrontal cortex. We wouldn’t be able to plan any of this without
it!
I suppose we now explore space because, once we were able to reach beyond all we had ever known, all we had ever known didn’t seem so significant anymore. Now we are perpetually trying to fill an ever-growing void both in outer space and within our minds. Perhaps we are trying to redefine our significance without realizing that it never was. In any case, humankind will likely continue to explore the unknown (hopefully) for millennia to come; for, all that is now known was once unknown.
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