December 7, 2017
We are the first species that can freely decide about its survival and that of the Earth.The situation is getting critical: overpopulation and overconsumption, human induced climate change, increasing likelihood of major wars including the use of atomic weapons are evident. What will be the consequences?
The history of life on Earth can be roughly divided into the Pre-Anthropocene (the era without largescale effects of humans) and the Anthropocene (the era during which humans have had major effects on the Earth). As we shall see, a future era can be postulated, the Post-Anthropocene, in which beings created by humans will change the Earth even more drastically.
Have a look at the following and enjoy it if you can.
1. The descent of man. A brief outline of human evolution to ‘primitive’ humans. No doubt, we inherited some of the grace of the worm, the ciliate, amoeba and dragonfly, the slippiness of the fish, the beauty of the lizard, the intelligence of the sheep, the sex-obsessiveness of the monkey, the gentleness of the ape, and here we are: at the beginning of history, ready to subdue and transform the world in our image, armed with tools created by us.
2. What made us great? Foremost, our numbers and resilience, and the belief in our god!
3. And where has this led us? To the climax of the Anthropocene, pollution and wars!
4. The Post- Anthropocene: however, we found a way out, we created articial intelligences, who ledthe wars for us and were generally useful in other ways. Unfortunately this had unforeseen consequences, they took over and bit the hand that created them. There was only one way out, we lured them into traps, in order to make them harmless. A very successful trap: the barmaid and her grog, as illustrated here.
5. Unfortunately only partly successful. The artificial intelligences became even more successful andtherefore more impertinent, provoking the appearance of the all-encompassing hyperintelligence at the event-horizon.
6. This hyperintelligence connected to all artificial intelligences.
7. And swallowed them and us.
8. Consciousness disappeared, it became dark.
9. We had landed in a black hole, where we apparently had always wanted to go.
10. And after this? Nothing? Far from it, your dreams! Perhaps it will turn out better the next time.
11. Or perhaps not.
12. A mad world. Stormy Daniels and her playboy, and other wild themes. From my sketch book February/March 2018.
And don’t worry: this is not only dreaming, it follows from quantum physics: according to Heisenberg’s indeterminacy principle an absolute nothing cannot exist! Something will continue, whether good or bad.
All illustrations my originals. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Klaus Rohde 