In reference to Ayn Rand and her statements about Mankind's Highest Value being that of Survival, I am, I guess, quite cynical in that I believe that Mankind is on its way to non-survival: that is, that Mankind [currently
Homo sapiens] will soon die out, like the dinosaurs and the species
Homo erectus that preceded us. The growing ozone hole; square miles of Alaskan tundra thawing each day; the poisons in our oceans and rivers and bodies; the poisons in our society; the burning of the 'lungs of the Earth', the Amazon rain-forest; the death of coral reefs around the planet; the freaky weather all are demonstrations that the current path of Mankind is leading to an unconscious self-destruction. The Culture Structure that is supposed to ensure our survival is instead pointed directly to species suicide.
I say that the very survival of this species that you and I belong to requires of us all an extraordinary effort that is not now being generated, at least not inside the Culture Structure. This species must bring into use the 90% of the human brain that lies fallow in unconsciousness; the species must direct major effort toward overcoming the existing mess ecologically, economically, ontologically; increasing numbers of members of Mankind must develop new personal skills to prevent our predictable future, which is non-survival.
There is Something inherent in the unused and unfulfilled potential of this species, possibly to take shape as a new species [which I designate
Homo cogitus: Reasoning Man], and we
must bring forth that Something or else the cetaceans will be left as rulers of the planet.
The intention of my book "Working Minds: A Philosophy of Empowerment" is to reach and enroll one reader at a time into individual and active concern for the terrible urgency of the modern situation, so that eventually folks with developing and mature Working Minds will find themselves working in concert, working together as individuals to generate Empowerment, to fulfill each individual's potential, so that Mankind can fulfill its dormant potential without which Mankind will not indeed survive.
Said another way, Mankind will not survive by complacency, by half-heartedly attempting the survival of our present institutions; Mankind must fulfill its potential great numbers of individuals must do so, in many and various forms or Mankind will simply die out.
And you the reader and you members of We The Living and other Objectivist groups must take this on, and pass the urgency on to others, or Mankind has no future.
[copyright 1999 by Gary Edward Nordell, all rights reserved]
The preceding is an excerpt from Chapter One of my forthcoming book, "Working Minds: A Philosophy of Empowerment".
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