Are you familiar with Bonobos? They (not chimps) are our closest relatives. Just learning a little about them is enough to see the resemblance, especially in their treatment of intimacy, closeness, and sexual behavior. They are almost extinct – the only ones left are in one small area in the Congo. If you have access to Google, check them out.
Did you know that 17,000 or so years ago there were as many as 4-5 other human species co-existing on Earth? All (except us humans) disappeared – I’ll leave it to you to guess at the probable cause of their extinction. So we are really not the unique species that we fashion ourselves to be. We are only unique because our closest relatives were rendered extinct. Today, as our population skyrockets, the extinction rate of species after species is skyrocketing in unison with our out of-control population growth. So it is not a stretch to consider that we (Homo sapiens sapiens, modern humans) were responsible for the extinction of those other human and proto-human species.
So our remaining closest relatives are bonobos, gorillas, chimps, followed by dolphins, elephants, tigers and the other large mammals.(there are now more tigers in captivity than in the wild; elephants are following closely behind). Turns out we humans may not be as peaceful and tolerant and kind as we like to think.
On a sub-conscious level, we humans know that we can’t keep doing what we are doing, behaving like we are behaving, killing and destroying and hating. No wonder we’re anxious, angry, neurotic – we’re a species that, at its best, lives in groups, intimately, eye to eye, face to face. Yet, like the junkyard dog, we are so deprived of closeness, love, touch, tenderness that we lash out in suspicion and rage at anyone who we think is … different. And why do we do that? Because in addition to being frustrated and angry, we’re also selfish, prideful, grossly immature and arrogant. So instead of speaking our truth honestly, we “put on a happy face,” depriving ourselves and others of the healthy honesty, intimacy, closeness, fellowship on which humans thrive. Instead, we obsess and are addicted to money, ego, the pitiful need to be “right” (and make the other person wrong), titles, cars, appearances, looking and acting like children when we are adults. Not a pretty picture – not a healthy species – a species in decline.
Every species has a life cycle. No species continues forever, including humans. We may already be in the descending stage – the symptoms are staring us in the face but, in denial, we fail to see the obvious. The idea that humans are somehow “different” and will basically be around forever is … fiction. We are just another life form, and will wax and wane just like all other life forms do.
I have written several books, and one book which I considered but haven’t written (yet) was entitled HSII: The Next Human Species. Its premise is that a new species of humans is emerging as we speak. It’s right before our eyes, in the events of today, and we don’t see it.
When the Galapagos Islands separated from the South American mainland, many species of plants and animals separated along with it. Over time, those species morphed into new and distinct species, adjusting to a new and different environment. But the important point is that, initially after separation, the plants and animals were identical to those on the mainland. Likewise, a new species of humans may be (and, I believe, is) emerging, and we (those of us who may be morphing to this new species), are in the initial stages and therefore look and act little different from the rest of the human population.
So how can we tell if we are potential candidates for this new species? I can best answer that by describing the differences between HSS (Homo Sapiens Sapiens) and HSII (Homo Sapiens II):
HSS: The Current Species
- Believe that humans are at the top of the food chain.
- The world, Earth, and the rest of life on it, exist for our use, profit, enjoyment.
- The rest of life basically has no rights.
- Our population size is fine.
- 7 billion people, going to 10-11 billion over the next few decades, and we can feed and provide for all of them through science, for example with cloning, genetically modifying food, using chemicals, medicine and medications to avoid the pollution, cancers, pandemics that are inevitable when a species populates out-of-control.
- Governments will take care of our “problems”.
- Humans used to live in communities, but with modern technology, science, and medicine, we don’t need others in that way. Every individual can just succeed, thrive, and find happiness by themselves. The fact that youth globally are struggling is no problem.
- In the U.S., for instance, our young are:
- Killing themselves (suicide is the 2ndgreatest killer of kids in the U.S.)
- Less educated than their parents
- Will earn less than their parents
- Will not live as long as their parents (by as much as 2-5 years!)
HSII: The Next Human Species
- Wants to live naturally, in and for their group (communities, villages, tribes).
- Wants peace – for themselves and others – and seeks to dwell on our similarities (all humans are 99.9% the same) instead of on the 0.1% differences.
- Owns the training and preparing of our own youth (so education is not the responsibility of some government or politician, but belongs to us as parents and members of our community).
- Owns the other issues in our community – the elderly, widows, orphans, those struggling. They are all members of our community, and it is in our best interest to help them with their issues and to get them back on their feet and self-sustaining.
- Realizes that governments have the unintended consequence of undermining our strong connection to our group (community). We don’t propose to eliminate governments – just to insist on their return to their proper role (which is as Public Servant – and NOTHING MORE!
- Wants to live in harmony with Mother Earth, and with all the species of life on it, instead of using, burning, destroying, killing (including each other).
- Uses and grows local food and provisions, necessities and luxuries. We get our food locally – we dispose of our waste locally. Our footprint is limited to using the resources available to us in our locale. We don’t pull resources from elsewhere, taken at the expense of others (humans and other species). We don’t use more of Earth’s resources than it can replenish (currently we use all of Earth’s resources that it can replenish by July – all of Earth’s resources that we use after that date cannot be restored. It was this fact that prompted the late physicist Stephen Hawking to say that we must quickly colonize Mars because our days on Earth are numbered.
In conclusion, I believe that a new species (HSII) IS emerging. I believe that I am a member of that species. And if you are reading this, I believe that you are potentially a new member too. What could be more exciting than being part of the evolution of the next human species!
JOIN US
