It is known that our planet is ruled by three kingdoms: Mineral, Vegetable and Animal, in which the human species is located. Have you ever wondered why? o Why does the HUMAN KINGDOM not exist if it is stated that man is a being superior to the rest of the animals? Well, in this article you will find some reflections, which we hope, that more than be of interest will contribute to your choice.
It is argued that between the differences between man and the rest of the animals is their ability to think and are you sure that animals do not think?
Reflect:
- What architectural work can compete with a honeycomb, what weaver can compete with a spider's web, or what hydraulic work can challenge that made by a mole? These are some examples…
Now, these amazing examples also make a difference and man's capacity, because if you look for a honeycomb in any previous century, you will find the same and in any region of the planet. It is the transforming capacity that distinguishes the so-called superior animal, but this did not happen overnight.
It is considered that the most momentous event in the history of the Earth and the entire solar system occurred when, after a long evolutionary process, the human species appeared.
This species that descends from the scientifically known pithecanthropus erectus (from the Greek: pithecos (monkey), anthropos (man) and erectus (upright), arises at the beginning of the quaternary period, that is, approximately one million years ago, although this calculation is quite conservative already that there are anthropologists who estimate the remains of a primitive man found in Ethiopia three million years old and that up to now are considered the oldest, although at present the study of other discoveries has not ceased.
In 1876 Federico Engels wrote a work of transcendental importance for all times: ¨The role of work in the transformation of the monkey into man¨. (1) In it, the main factors that make this transformation decisive are valued, that is, how that animal that he metaphorically calls ¨mono¨ begins to distinguish itself from the rest of the herd that surrounded him, meaning above all the role of work, which he considers ¨the basic and fundamental condition of all human life. And it is to such a degree that, up to a point, we must say that work has created man himself¨…
… ¨First the work, then and with it the articulated word, were two main stimuli under whose influence the monkey's brain was gradually transformed into a human brain, which despite all its similarity, considerably exceeds it in size and perfection. And as the brain developed, its most immediate instruments also developed: the sense organs. In the same way that the gradual development of language is necessarily accompanied by the corresponding improvement of the organ of hearing, so the general development of the brain is linked to the improvement of all the sense organs¨
Cranial evolution.
Fig. 1 Cranial evolution
If you do not have clarity in the stages, eras or ages in which the History of Man is divided for a better study, we suggest you consult an enlightening summary at the end of the work (2)
The discovery of agriculture (Agricultural Revolution) marked the beginning of the Neolithic. The beginning of this stage of human evolution is difficult to specify since each human group discovered agriculture at a different time (even today there are still in America and Oceania, human groups that continue to live in the Paleolithic and are unaware of agriculture). As an approximate date we can place the beginning of this time about 5,000 years ago.
During the Neolithic period, the first revolution that transformed the human economy took place: human control over their own food supply. Humans began to sow, cultivate, and selectively improve some edible herbs, roots, and shrubs. They also managed to domesticate and breed certain species of animals.
The Neolithic revolution, implied the first period of radical changes in the history of human civilization. Agriculture, the domestication of animals, the invention of pottery and textile production, the appearance of complex technologies by then, the sophistication of magico-religious beliefs and other advances in the development of human communities occurred during this time.
The importance of writing as a border between Prehistory and History is that only through written testimonies can we know with certainty events, facts and beliefs of those people who lived before us. In the absence of written testimony, archeology and anthropology become fundamental means to reconstruct the events of prehistory, through the study of the remains, material and human, left by the peoples of the past: their areas of residence, their utensils, as well as its great monuments and works of art.
… ¨the only thing that animals can do is use external nature and modify it by the mere fact of their presence in it. Man, on the other hand, modifies nature and thus forces her to serve him, he dominates it. And this is, ultimately, the essential difference that exists between man and other animals, a difference that once again becomes the effect of work.
However, let us not get carried away with enthusiasm at our victories over nature. After each of those victories, nature took its revenge… The men who in Mesopotamia Greece, Asia Minor and other regions cut down forests to obtain arable land, could not even imagine that, by eliminating the accumulation centers with the forests and moisture reserve, they were laying the foundations of the current aridity of those lands… Thus, at every step, the facts remind us that our dominion over nature is nothing like the dominion of a conqueror over the conquered people, which is not the dominion of someone located outside of nature, but that we, through our flesh, our blood and our brain, belong to nature, we are in its bosom, and our entire dominion over it consists in that, unlike other beings, we are capable of knowing their laws and applying them properly¨….
Cultures and civilizations were born out of a human need to respond to social demands.
Human life evolves according to new ways of thinking that give rise to the appearance of new paradigms linked to progress.
For example in the nineteenth century the emergence of nationalisms or great technological advances in navigation.
Hence the search of every man to find his place in the world, to adapt to it.
This evolution was relatively slow in its beginnings, as development progressed, it became more accelerated, becoming a reality what at one time was considered science fiction, as is the case of the work of Jules Verne, for just cite one example.
The late 20th century, which marks the atomic and cosmic era, the man who, according to our National Hero, "walks in two camps: those who love and found and those who hate and destroy" has promoted an accelerated development that in this first decade XXI is amazing and highly dangerous.
Here that intelligence that signifies us, but at the same time limits us, is really opposed.
Let's analyze: some global problems:
- Depletion of the ozone layer.
- Increase in air pollution.
- Increase in water pollution.
- Climate change, global warming and the greenhouse effect.
- Armed conflicts. The nuclear threat.
- Pollution of seas and oceans.
- Pollution of the atmosphere.
- Deforestation.
- Soil degradation.
- Radioactive and nuclear waste.
- Ozone layer destruction.
- Shortage of fresh water.
- Loss of Biological Diversity (Biodiversity).
- 80% of the wealth that this land gives us is only held by 20% of the world's population.
- Man spends 12 times more in spending on weapons than on food.
Causes of the Loss of Biological Diversity:
Large-scale cutting and burning of forests; loss and fragmentation of the natural habitat; environmental pollution; poaching; overcropping; overgrazing; on fishing exploitation; destruction of ecosystems; illegal trade in species; strict use of pesticides and other chemicals; soil deterioration; WHO IS THE RESPONSIBLE?
What will happen to Biological Diversity?
It is estimated that two thirds of all species on the planet could disappear within the next 100 years.
Today the Earth has a forest population of 3.4 billion hectares of which 11.3 million hectares are cut down or burned each year.
Currently, 1,107 species of birds, 734 of fish, 253 of reptiles and 124 of amphibians are in danger of extinction.
The CITES convention mentions 30,484 species whose survival is in danger due to illegal trafficking (4993 animals and 25,491 plants).
WHO IS THE RESPONSIBLE?
Causes of air pollution:
The rapid industrial growth of the world in the last century, especially in developed countries, producing large amounts of polluting substances.
Consequences of air pollution
Increase of the greenhouse effect. Climate change.
Depletion of the ozone layer. Increased levels of ultraviolet radiation.
Modification of the typical composition of the troposphere.
Causes of water pollution
Dumping of waste from industries and the domestic sector into terrestrial and marine waters.
Excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture or forestry practices that cause contamination of surface and groundwater.
Excessive exploitation of aquifers that makes it easier for saline waters to invade the freshwater zone, due to displacement of the interface between the two types of waters.
Consequences of water pollution
20% of the current world population lacks drinking water.
About 3 billion people cannot access a good sanitation system.
Global consumption of fresh water has grown at the rate of 100 million cubic meters per year since 1940.
Two-thirds of the world's population is forecast to be living in areas with insufficient water resources by 2025.
Causes of soil degradation
Irrational use of non-biodegradable agricultural pesticides and mineral fertilizers.
Application of industrial and urban waste with a high content of heavy metals and pathogenic microorganisms.
The use of irrigation water with a high content of heavy metals, fats, detergents, fuels, salts and acid rain.
Consequences of soil degradation
About 22% of the world's population (1.2 billion people) live in arid, semi-arid lands and fragile ecosystems.
Soil Degradation has affected 1.9 billion hectares of land around the world (it means 172 times the surface of the Cuban archipelago.
Desertification costs the world $ 42 billion annually in lost income ($ 9 billion for the African continent).
Desertification affects a sixth of the planet's population and a quarter of the land.
According to data from the Global Environment Fund (GEF) as a result of desertification, the planet loses 12 million hectares, enough area to cultivate 20 million cereals.
Greenhouse gases
(Ozone) O3 - 6%, Oxides 16%, (Methane) CH4- 19%, (Chlorine-fluorocarbon) CFCs- 17%, (Carbon Dioxide) CO2 - 50%
Consequences of Climate Change
In the last 100 years the global average surface temperature has increased between 0.3ºC and 0.6ºC and the sea level has risen between 10 and 25 cm.
The composition of the atmosphere has changed significantly into carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).
There is an increase in other gases, a product of anthropogenic activity such as the burning of fossil fuels, the change in land use, agricultural production, etc.
Causes of ozone layer depletion
CFCs (Chlorine - Fluor - Carbon), refrigerant gases and highly inert aerosols have been introduced on an industrial scale that pass "unnoticed" through the troposphere.
Consequences of the depletion of the ozone layer for human health
• Initiates and promotes malignant and non-malignant skin cancer.
• It damages the immune system, exposing the person to the action of various bacteria and viruses.
• Causes damage to the eyes, including cataracts.
• It makes sunburns more severe and ages the skin.
• Increases the risk of allergic and toxic dermatitis.
• Activates certain diseases by bacteria and viruses.
• Health costs increase.
For the economy
• Reduces crop yields.
• Reduces the performance of the fishing industry.
• Damages materials and equipment that are outdoors.
But something so simple and everyday how much water, so scarce in the world, is lost every day for example: in the act of brushing our teeth, shaving, wetting the street and its surroundings to mitigate dust or refresh the environment, when we attack each other by word and deed and we do not talk, not to mention the human miseries that we experience daily and that are not worth relating.
SAME QUESTION: IN ALL CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? SAME ANSWER WITHOUT DOUBT: THE MAN.
It is unfortunate that the rational, the one who with his intelligence has managed to reach the Cosmos, (although he has not set foot on Earth) is responsible for the threat of the extinction of more than our species, of life on this planet blue.
“Humanism is not so much a conception of the world as an assessment of human life. He is a humanist in the anthropological sense, who believes that man himself is the goal and justification of all human effort; man and not some of the innumerable fetishes created by man.
MARIO BUNGE (Ethics and Science 1960)
"Yesterday is history; tomorrow, a mystery; but today is a true gift, that is why it is called present… »
«If you want a tomorrow, do it NOW»… »Happiness does not come, it is built»
"'Life is not about how to survive a storm, but how to dance in the rain"
¨The pessimists lament the rain; optimists hope it clears; the realists adjust the sails¨
If each of us does today, what we will not even be able to regret tomorrow, we will guarantee the future of our children and grandchildren. Using resources rationally is possible, in the same way that a better world is possible, which is also very necessary. Let's think, reflect and extend this wise legacy:
… EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO THE EARTH WILL HAPPEN TO THE CHILDREN OF THE EARTH…
(Remarks by the Seattle Indian chief of the Suwamish tribe in the letter to the President of the United States Franklin Pierce in response to the offer to purchase the lands of the Suwamish in the northwestern United States)
If you have come this far, it is because you have been interested in the article or you have not had anything else to do; Any intention, although convinced in the first one, the attention paid is appreciated, we are satisfied with the time spent because it has not been a lost time. Otherwise you decide: HUMAN OR ANIMAL… KEEP IT PRESENT FROM NOW IN EVERY ACT OF YOUR LIFE AND THE REST OF THE SPECIES THAT SURROUND YOU.
References:
(1) All the quotes from the work ¨The role of work in the transformation of the monkey into man by Federico Engels, were taken from the text Selection of readings of Political Culture (2005) Editorial Pueblo y Educación. Havana pp. 57-67. ISBN 959-13-0903-1.
(2) - It is called:
- Prehistory. From the appearance of man (hominin subtribe, genus Homo), of uncertain date, more than two million years ago, until the appearance of writing, around the 4th millennium BC. C.
- Paleolithic (etymologically Old Stone Age, for the carved stone).
This is subdivided into:
- Lower Palaeolithic. First modes of instrument and hominid carving (Australopithecus and Homo habilis in Southeastern Africa, Homo ergaster and Homo erectus (the latter spread throughout the Old Continent); Homo antecessor and Homo heidelbergensis in Europe (Atapuerca site).
- Middle Palaeolithic. Linked to changes in material culture and hominid species (Mousterian and Neanderthal Man in Europe), from 300,000 years ago to approximately 35,000 years ago.
- Superior paleolithic. Linked to the material culture that is usually associated with Homo sapiens sapiens, from 35,000 years ago to approximately 10,000 years ago.
- Mesolithic / Epipaleolithic / Protoneolytic. Transition period, linked to the changes produced by the end of the last ice age. Since the 10th millennium BC. Until the VIII millennium BC. C., approximately. In the areas where it meant a transition to the Neolithic it is called Mesolithic, while in the rest, where it only means a continuation phase of the Palaeolithic, it is called epipaleolithic.
- Neolithic (etymologically "new Stone Age", due to the polished stone). Period linked to the so-called Neolithic Revolution (appearance of agriculture, villages, ceramics) that took place from the 8th millennium BC. C. in the fertile Crescent of the Near East, and spread to North Africa and Europe (in Spain from the 6th millennium BC) and Asia. The emergence of agriculture occurred endogenously in other areas of the world (certainly in America, less clearly in other areas).
- Age of metals. A historical period in the Middle East, still prehistoric in other areas.
- Chalcolithic (III millennium BC approximately, in Western Europe). The formation of complex societies.
- Bronze Age (II millennium BC approximately, in Western Europe).
- Iron Age (1st millennium BC approximately, in Western Europe). Until the romanization.
- History. Development of writing as a consequence of the appearance of the first states. IV millennium BC. C. in Sumeria.
- Old age
- Birth of Civilization in the Middle East: First states (temples, city-states, hydraulic empires) in Sumeria, Acad, Babylon, Assyria, Egypt…
- Classical antiquity: Greek and Roman civilizations. They count their eras from the first Olympiad or the founding of Rome. VIII century BC. Not to be confused with the classical period of Greek art (5th century BC and 4th century BC).
- Late antiquity: Transition period, from the crisis of the 3rd century to Charlemagne or the arrival of Islam in Europe (8th century).
- Middle Ages: From the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th century) to the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire (15th century) There is a fullness of the Middle Ages from the 11th to the 13th century.
- Modern Age: From the middle or end of the 15th century to the middle or late 18th century. (For the English, Early Modern Times, that is to say, "First Modern Age" or "Early Modern Age".) The Press, the taking of Constantinople by the Turks or the discovery of America is taken as beginning; as the end, the French Revolution, the Independence of the United States of America or the Industrial Revolution.
- Contemporary age. From the mid or late 18th century to the present. (For the English Later Modern Times, that is, "Second Modern Age" or "Late Modern Age"). It is considered by other authors from the triumph of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia in 1917 of the last century.
