I'm here as a product of process of evolution, which doesn't make very many exceptions. And which rates life relatively cheaply.
- Christopher Hitchens -
I recently finished watching a short series on Netflix called American Primeval, a brutal and confronting depiction of frontier life set in Utah around 1857. It's stunning, from the scenery, acting, storyline and in its direction; another masterful job by Director Peter Berg. It's in-your-face, unrelenting, brutish and bloody...primeval I suppose is a good word for it.
The watcher is taken on a journey woven around stories and difficulties of frontier life, issues between the whites and native American Indians, personal hardship and endurance and even true historical events; the Mountain Meadows Massacre committed by the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) where a hundred and thirty or so men, women and children were massacred as part of the Utah War in which the Mormon settlers and US Government went at it for various reasons. (Fucken nutbag religious nuts.) It demonstrates human behaviour at it's very base (primal) level with moments of compassion, caring, generosity and selflessness mixed in; it's an excellent depiction of how those years would have been I think...and how we are now.
This isn't a review though, so if you want to find out for yourself take a look on Netflix.
The show made me think about human evolution and how brutal humans can be (and are) towards each other for very little reason at all. (Greed and religion feature prominently amongst those reasons.)
I contemplated the difference between humanity today in 2025 compared to one hundred and sixty eight years ago in 1857 and that made me cast my mind back even farther to when we lived in caves gathering nuts and berries, our Neanderthal ancestry and beyond...and then the path back to the future throughout the years to right now.
Back then, should you take my nuts and berries I'd have clubbed your head in with a stick or rock. Should you have encroached on my farmstead or landholding in the middle ages I'd have stuck a pitchfork up your ass or swung a sword into your head or body. If I was the Emperor of Rome I'd have conquered your lands killing my way towards owning them in the name of Rome, or were I the Catholic Pope, Urban II, I'd have sanctioned the Crusades in 1095 and the killing that ensued. Yep, those things happened.
Moving forward, look at the brutality, suffering and harm humans have caused each other up to and including this very day. I did a list of wars and conflicts back a while in a post which started around the year 1900 if my memory serves well and it was long. But...we're evolving into a better species right? *Wrong. *If you want to have a little look at some of the conflicts and wars you can see this link to the Encyclopedia Britannica which lists many: See here. It stops around 2012 though so there's many not present.
But we're evolved right? We're better, moving in the right direction. We're enlightened...
I beg to differ and call into question the sanity of anyone who says such things. It's nuts and simply demonstrates their closedmindedness. Sure, we need to see the positives, I agree with people who say that...and yet that means fuck all if there's not enough action to create them. (And there isn't.)
Strip away the technology and we're generally not much different to the humans who came before us. Sure, we seem more enlightened, intelligent and connected but I don't think we are all that better at all...it's just a facade, an illusion, we create to delude ourselves with while we dumb ourselves down with AI and social media. Maybe I'm not talking about you or me, but in general we are the same beasts we've always been acting in the same brutish ways we always have and for the same reasons.
I doubt humans will ever learn better ways and employ them on a massive enough scale to make any difference...but don't worry, eventually we'll cause our own extinction through the destruction of the planet and resources, our intelligence through our reliance on AI and automation or through war. Bring all three I reckon, let's get the fucken party started!
The end (It can't come soon enough.) #getprimeval
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
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[Original and AI free] Image(s) in this post are my own
