I doubt the origin of humans was through natural selection; because had it been so, today we would see it at work. On the contrary, what we see today, in action, in human societies is the unnatural selection. What is unnatural selection? It is a very simple thing. Let me take you to a slightly familiar and vulgar scene.
There is a man buying popcorn in a movie theater. The popcorn (along with a “medium sized” Coca Cola) costs 600 rupees. A poor family in India eats for more than a week for the same amount of money. The man who is buying the popcorn for that amount is not necessarily immensely rich. He might be from the “emerging middle class”. Now our tendency would be to think that the man buying the popcorn was naturally selected over the family unable to feed itself.
However, is it really natural that an animal (let’s talk in biological terms for a while!) who is able to sell something is naturally superior to another who is not able to? A poor person can be very talented, simply not well versed in the ways of the free market, and not able to sell his or her talent. Today, the animals who sit at the top of the food chain are not genetically superior or better equipped to survive. They are simply good sellers. Sometimes they sell what they produce, and at other times they simply take buyers to the some other animal who produces, but is unable to sell due to thousands of reasons.
When I say that humans are not governed by genetic predisposition to survival, but by other factors, one might even feel happy “ah, we are compassionate enough to let the weak survive”. Nevertheless, it isn’t compassion either that governs the human evolution. It is simply the ability to sell, the marketing skills.
The elite that we talk about now and again are not great scientists or great artists or great writers; they are simply great sellers. They are businessmen. And they are the ones who decide what “mainstream” should be and towards which direction should it run.
For example, these days the only thing that makes your existence worthwhile is your productivity. Let’s take a look into what productivity really is.
Productivity is not really creativity. Productivity is generally measured in the amount of work and the number of hours, not in the terms of quality. However, the apex predators (the elite at the top of the food-chain; henceforth AP) have led us into believing that productivity is creativity and if it is not, creativity is either not worth acknowledging or is a synonym for insanity. And success is not measured in any unit other than economic. If you are creative, or if you are an inventor and your creativity or your invention does not generate money (either for you or for someone else) you are simply non-productive. The satisfaction that you may receive doing something is not worth it, because the AP ensure that your time is taken by working to generate money to feed yourself, nothing more, nothing less. You may wonder “how are THEY responsible for our working constantly to fulfill our basic needs?” Well, it is simple because the people who have enormous concentrations of wealth at their disposal do not want to share it with others. And hence, others are forced to work their entire lives just to make a living. Well, it does create a competition which we are led into believing “is healthy”.
So, now tell me how can you be satisfied if you work your entire life trying to generate money for sustaining yourself and for sustaining somebody else’s enterprise. Now the next idea that comes up is “ah, I should start something of my own”. That is OK, but it is not going to satisfy you either. Because your entire concentration is on selling, not on creating (which is the key to satisfaction). But anyway, a truly “productive” person does not seek satisfaction in such abstract phenomena. He looks for satisfaction in profit, always monetary. So, be productive and you may dream of one day joining the AP. Because the upward road to the top of the food-chain is covered through selling. But that, my friend, is unnatural selection.
– Madhuvan Rishiraj
LAMPS OF DESERT 