Correction: This story has been modified from its original version. — The headline has been modified for grammatical correctness. The Collegiate Times regrets this error.
Humans are cocky, plain and simple. We think we are better and smarter than every other organism on this planet. From a human perspective, we are all that and more. We have navigated the four corners of the earth, inhabited every continent, and explored and left our mark everywhere — from the ocean’s bottom to outer space.
“Survival of the fittest” is the most common phrase for the justification of human egocentrism. Being raised a vegetarian and studying Buddhist philosophy during my teenage years, I never felt this was true. Sometimes, in the midst of discussion, a friend of mine may reference the stupidity of other animals (an example being chickens and turkeys hold their beaks up to the sky in the rain and drown — which is horribly untrue, I might add). A friend might also claim how these animals essentially deserve to be eaten or out-competed by the human race.
The truth, however, is that evolution has resulted in each and every organism having specific characteristics that help it survive. Perfect? No. Adequate? You bet.
What is it about the human race that makes us special? The one thing we have going for us is our extreme cephalization, or brains, that allow us to solve problems, use tools and so on. It was only a matter of time before an organism like us came along. However, there are other organisms that do have large brains, such as parrots and octopi. Humans as a whole are not that strong and cannot outrun many predators — in this day and age, we would probably not survive in the wild.
Take a look at organisms containing chloroplasts — they can, leaving the details out, convert sunlight into a useable form of energy for their cells and basic functions.
Other organisms, such as some bacteria, can form endospores that let them withstand extremely high temperatures and chemical penetration and avoid drying out, lasting up to 11 years at a time. Humans cannot do this, because the situation never called for it. At the risk of sounding cheesy, everyone and everything is special in its own way — these “special” characteristics simply arose via evolution if the situation warranted it.
I am not trying to bash humans in any way — I simply think we need an ego check. It is at times like these where I think of the lottery and gambling.
A version of this article appeared in the May 4 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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We may not be Darwinian Demons now, but the beauty of it is that we can be using what we have now - our brains. Our science and technology can turn us into Darwinian Demons.
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I wonder hat provoked you into writing this article. Who was being so egocentric that it drove you to write this splendid article. You know I saw an amp at the Zoo take a banana right from under the nose of the other ape. Sounds pretty selfish to me. Maybe it's our ability to understand not only separates us from the animals but also allows us to comprehend what we arbitrarily define as ethnocentrism.
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I think human beings would very much succeed without technology in the wild today. Chimpanzees also cannot out-run many predators but that is why they exist in social groups. It is not as though people were any faster back in the stone age. Our brains are our evolutionary advantage. If an apocalypse occurred tomorrow and people survived I think we would be just fine - we are an innovative and intrepid species. It may not make us the best but I think you underestimate people.
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