Evolving or Devolving?
Last year I met a new colleague who believed in evolution. Surely I will not divulge the content of our argument, but let's say I was stunned but naturally not speechless. She believed we have evolved a lot, however I believe the exact opposite...We Are Devolving!!!
If you take a look at the level of imagination, resourcefulness, commitment and determination of the people before us, you will be amazed. Let's go in a trip back in time...back to 250 BC. The scene is Alexandria, Egypt and we are following Eratosthenes of Cyrene (Cyrene is modern day Libya). Eratosthenes was born in Cyrene but he lived and died in Egypt. Eratosthenes was the first man to almost accurately measure the circumference of the earth. ...250 BC!!!
Upon Eratosthenes observations, he imagined the earth as a giant circle sliced into equal wedges like pizza slices. Eratosthenes needed to the know length of the arc of these equal wedges and its ratio from the 360 degree of the earth to measure the whole circumference. Eratosthenes knew that at June 21st noon, the vertical objects cast no shadow in Syene (modern day Aswan). In other words the sun was perpendicular to Syene at this moment. However, he also noted that vertical objects in Alexandria on the same day noon casted a shadow, so he measured the angle of sun's inclination to be 7ᵒ 12`(see figure) and since the circle is 360 degrees then 7ᵒ 12`/360= 1/50. Eratosthenes then measured the distance between Alexandria and Syene, by roughly calculating the number of days taking a camel to cover the distance between the two cities. So, he finally measured the earth's circumference to be 39,690 km (the correct measurement is 40,075.017 km).
In short, it is a lot of determination, imagination, and calculation to roughly measure the earth's circumference without leaving Egypt at all. Eratosthenes didn't have a space shuttle, cameras, computers, calculator or even a car, however he made a miracle.
Eratosthenes is not the only genius we are indebted to throughout our history. There are thousands of people like Eratosthenes; for instance; Newton, Aristotle, Archimedes, and many others. These free souls managed to free their minds from any limitation and imagined the unimaginable.
So let me ask you now, if on day we woke up and all the technology on earth was somehow exterminated. At this moment, who do you believe will re-establish and save the human race from returning back to the Stone Age?
I guess we will all hope that we can find a brain like Newton's or Eratosthenes' to save the day? But would we find any!?!?!
I am sorry but I believe the answer is ......NO... Our recent brains without technology can accomplish nothing in comparison to these free minds.
Finally this is my opinion but now I am interested in yours.....what do you think?.... Are we evolving or devolving?
Image credit by The Anome via Wikimedia Commons.
The cycle of life, I hope you are right!!!
I mean, I look around sometimes and I find people unable to make a simple calculation on their own, they prefer to use a calculator. They don't even memorize their schedule, they have digital calenders and reminders......
Depending on the digital intelligence is very easy and also appealing. You can easily find a child hacking a government network and he can't do long division or even make friends in the real life.
But at the end of the day, I like that you are optimistic. I like to be optimistic too and hope for the best....who knows?
It is a very interesting topic .. It is true that we can not do without technology but I think that we do not have to start from scratch to be creative .. we still have beautiful minds nowadays that can add a lot to the already existing science .. History is also full of ups & downs .. there were dark as well as bright ages & there will be .. It is always a curve .. in the past, in the present & in the future .. so we are always evolving then devolving then evolving again .. and so on
