Logic Times

Eventual Destruction

Posted by Aslan, 1/25/05, 11:45pm. Comments (4)

Very early in Man's development, the potential for one alienated and violent individual to impact the world around him was minimal. In the days of cave dwellers, a cave terrorist would do....what? Go on a clubbing spree?

As technology advances and the club becomes a bow or a musket or the steering wheel of a plane, the destructive power of a disaffected individual increases exponentially, as described here:

Comments

1: Trekram

January 26, 2005 09:06pm EST

Aslan, great essay and it makes perfect sense. However there was a time in the human history where one man did singlehandedy killed 1/4 of the world's population. A great trivia question.

{Aslan: Any takers?}

2: Roy Ryan

January 27, 2005 5:17am EST

When Cain killed Abel, he killed off 1/4 of the worlds population.

(Aslan: Correct! I wish I had something to give you. A free subscription to Logic Times? LOL. How about a tougher follow-up.? Trekram's question ignores a certain population that was in existence at that time. Who was it?}

3: Sledgehammer

January 29, 2005 04:16pm EST

I think it is asinine to claim that a certainty of our destruction is a reason to be hopeful. You lost me there.

{Aslan: To me, it reinforces the existence of a Creator.

(NOTE: I had to distort the Y-axis of this graph just to make Man’s destructive power during the first fourteen millennia visible.)

Consider the primary threats facing our uncertain world today: powerful technology (dirty bombs, suitcase nukes, saran gas, anthrax, etc.) in the wrong hands, the hands of a nihilistic few. If we safely assume that technology will continue to fuel the destructive potential of destructive individuals, we have an unsolvable problem:

Technological progress makes each individual potentially more destructive,
Mastery of the secrets of genetics and atomic structure will one day make it possible for an individual to unleash a worldwide holocaust (fusion event, massive biological event, etc.),
There will always be terrorists.

Question: Would Mohammed Atta hesitate to use new and easily accessible nuclear fusion technology on September 11, 2301?

Result: Technology and human nature ensure our eventual destruction. We are concerned today because a small number of individuals have wrecked havoc on a large scale. What capacity will they have in 100 years? 1000 years?

The only solution to this depressing riddle is that humanity one day achieves a Utopian existence where violent and discontented individuals no longer exist. Anyone with even a primitive appreciation for human nature knows that such a Utopia is not possible.

The purpose of this essay is not to spread doom and gloom. Paradoxically, the message one should take from the certainty of our technological demise is one of hope. First and foremost, our Creator knows of the inevitable lethal intersection of terror and technology, and therefore, if compassionate, has a plan. Second, it is incumbent upon Man to nonetheless promote that condition of existence that is most poisonous to the sort of violent despair that motivated Mohammed Atta: liberty. Such efforts push back the inevitable destruction generations into the future, maintaining hope and ensuring life and prosperity for our children and theirs.

If you believe –

In a Creator
That the Creator is good
That the Creator loves His creation
That the Creator is omniscient
That there will be, as described in this essay, an end to this creation

Then our good, all-knowing Creator is well aware of Man’s fate and, being good and all-powerful, has a plan to deal with the inevitable.}

4: WDP

February 19, 2005 09:15pm EST

Extremely thought provoking…

Well done, Aslan, and quite an extraordinary set of thoughts & projections. Sure made me stop and think…

I just wish more of the nation / world would view Bush’s activities for what they are, e.g. well-meaning attempts to try and plant the seed of Democracy in the (obviously) troubled middle east (the altruistic view) and / or trying to place free, Democratic (e.g. Afghanistan and Iraq) nations on either side of Iran (the military view) rather than the typical liberal media drivel about his mistakes. Ultimately, I believe if people in the Middle East are given a choice, as well as good, unbiased information, peace and democracy will prevail.

Otherwise, if your projections on the graph come true, God help us…

{Aslan: Thank you, W. I don’t make the observation about technology and destruction gleefully. I would rather believe that humanity can grow beyond any manifestation of terror, but then I kick myself. I am a Christian, and a Christian intimately knows of the Fallen nature of Man, so such a Utopian view is incompatible. I choose to view it with optimism. The Utopia is not here.}