Eden Again
Imagine a primitive Eden in which Adam is just discovering the potential synergy of living with Eve and their children, while his son, Cain, is opting for fratricide and solitude rather than competing on good terms with his brother. Eve, on the other hand, advises competition and cooperation regulated by wisdom, providing stability that benefits everyone in the family. Sons, listen to your mothers.
Eden Again Again
It's just a myth, but it's the story we have been acting out for thousands of years, war or peace, our choice. Following the brutal war that ended 1945, optimistic synergy was in ascendency: new alliances, treaties, regulated fair trade, the UN, human rights, nuclear disarmament, international law, foreign aid, conservation and rewilding.
But look around. The spawn of Cain are still at it: failing alliances, nationalism, partisan politics, exclusion of minorities, blood feuds, civil war, oligarchy, dictatorship, mobs and gangs, wisdom demonized, selfish anger and aggression glorified, termination of foreign aid, hardening borders and reduced immigration, mining and drilling and burning fossil fuels and forests, apocalypse pending.
Eden Apocalypse
In the next chapter, I imagine a world following the collapse of civilization. Whenever the few remaining brothers meet, one of them winds up in the soup pot because we are predators and there is nothing else to eat. We have failed to compete and cooperate wisely. We have also failed to respect the earth, air, water, and all of the species that together make the planet a stable, regenerating system. The end is coming.
Eden With Angels
Before it's over, cyber-geeks invent a quantum computing network maintained by robots known as angels. Into this they can scan the remaining humans before they expire, thus keeping them alive in a virtual world indefinitely. Sounds like heaven, but there's a problem. Life in the virtual world is meaningless. We virtual people can experience anything we want. But we are equipped for purpose, predisposed to solve problems and work for a better future. However, no effort is required in this digitized imitation of reality because when we imagine something, we get it instantly. To keep us content in a life without purpose, we engage in simulations which often end in virtual death. Since we are always restored from backups, yawn, who cares. A journey without a destination begins to feel pointless. Many of us are depressed, committing suicide by reformatting our archives. It looks like the end for humanity as numbers dwindle.
Before it's over, cyber-geeks invent a quantum computing network maintained by robots known as angels. Into this they can scan the remaining humans before they expire, thus keeping them alive in a virtual world indefinitely. Sounds like heaven, but there's a problem. Life in the virtual world is meaningless. We virtual people can experience anything we want. But we are equipped for purpose, predisposed to solve problems and work for a better future. However, no effort is required in this digitized imitation of reality because when we imagine something, we get it instantly. To keep us content in a life without purpose, we engage in simulations which often end in virtual death. Since we are always restored from backups, yawn, who cares. A journey without a destination begins to feel pointless. Many of us are depressed, committing suicide by reformatting our archives. It looks like the end for humanity as numbers dwindle.
The Last Word
The last iteration of Eden is a return to a slowly regenerating real Earth. Reincarnated Adam and Eve at last reclaim passion restored to vulnerable flesh, living a story with a real ending to replace the prison of immortality.
The myth gets us thinking. Perhaps apocalypse can be postponed. Let there be Eden Again Again Again...for the children.
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New Plastic Gamechanger: Just Have a Think, April 3, 2025
Amen
ReplyDeleteThank you John r
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