We Think Evolutionary Law Doesn't Apply to Us

Our culture doesn't have any respect for evolutionary law. It is hard enough for us to believe that there is no "law of the jungle" and that there is actually a law that regulates the relationships between species and promotes the good of the living community as a whole. It is even harder for our culture to accept that this evolutionary law applies to humans as much as it applies to jellyfish or plankton or earwigs. 

Mother culture tells us that our civilization has risen above the constraints that hold back the rest of the living community. "We are different," she says. 

Admittedly it appears that way at first glance. We are free from the unpredictability of nature's food supply, free from the need to be nomads. It appears that we are flying. 

Actually we are in free fall. The law of limited competition prevents a species from seeking to deny its competitors food. If a species decides to eliminate its competitors it will experience a short term gain and will continue to do so until it runs out of room to expand. Then it will implode.

The Cornerstone of Civilization Is In Breach

The agricultural revolution was all about defiance of this law. Instead of competing within the community of life for food the takers went about denying their competitors access to food and reserving it all for themselves. Animals that desired to eat our livestock were hunted and killed. Insects that ate our crops were destroyed in any way possible. 

The takers saw the world as one big farm for human food. Their holy work was to eliminate as many competitors for human food as possible and create as much as possible for us. Every increase in food production was met by an increase in population and an expansion of territory. As the takers expanded they continued to eliminate competitors as they went, claiming all the land for themselves and for their food.

The Law Makes No Distinctions

Now the law of limited competition does not distinguish between turtles and parrots, rabbits and geese or gorillas and humans. Nor does it distinguish between humans living tribally or humans living in civilization. It isn't about civilization but it applies to it nonetheless, just as it applies to beehives or termite mounds. 

A plane in flight does not defeat the law of gravity. It uses the air as a support in the same way that me sitting on a chair prevents me from falling to the ground. Planes can fly because they acknowledge the law of gravity and operate within it using the law of aerodynamics. 

A man who has jumped off a cliff in a Da Vinci flying machine and is ignorant of the laws of aerodynamics will surely crash because he does not know how to successfully use air as a support. He tries to defeat gravity rather than use the laws of aerodynamics to operate within gravity's limits. 

Our civilization is very much like our Da Vinci airman. We have leapt off the cliff by trying to build a civilization whilst being ignorant of the law of limited competition. Yes, we are experiencing the sensation of being airborne but it is inevitable that we will eventually crash.

Civilization Could Work

Civilization could in theory "fly" as long as it operates within evolutionary law. This could happen in the same way a plane maintains flight within the law of gravity. 

The model we have flouts the law at its source.

But it means starting from scratch. Our airman could refine his machine ad infinitum but it would never fly. Flight was achieved by discovering the laws of aerodynamics, scrapping the flying machines and coming up with a new design that would work - a plane. 

We will need to start civilization again from scratch. The model that we currently have flouts the law of limited competition at its very source - its method of food production. No amount of tinkering and fine tuning will save it from crashing if it is fundamentally flawed. Evolutionary law does apply to human civilization and we need to acknowledge it or we will eliminate ourselves.

Related Articles From Deep Ecology Hub:

• The Law Of Limited Competition
• Takers And Leavers
• Mother Culture
• We Think Primitive People Live In Fear
• The Global Vision Of Deep Ecology

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