David Brochu: Homo sapiens — an evolutionary perspective on opportunity

To The Daily Sun,

It is an odd thing — perhaps a counterintuitive one — for a species that prides itself as “the most evolved” to recognize it might, in some ways, be the least. Yet that is precisely the truth homo sapiens must reckon with if we hope to endure.

Of all the large species inhabiting this planet, humans are, by every biological measure, one of the youngest. And unlike almost every other organism, we have yet to complete the essential evolutionary task: building a sustaining, symbiotic relationship with our environment. Every mature species — tree, ant, whale, or bacterium — survives because it has fit itself to the rhythms, limits, and cycles of Earth. Its very existence is a record of millions of feedback loops, each a test passed, each adaptation a mark of humility before a greater system.

What makes us unique — our intelligence, our inventiveness, our creativity — should be a gift for harmonizing with that system, not dominating it. Instead, paradoxically, we attempt to reshape the environment to suit our fleeting desires, rather than adapting ourselves to the enduring realities of Earth. The arrogance, the hubris, is clear: We imagine nature depends on us, that it is ours to perfect or to ruin. But nature is indifferent to our fate. The environment is not dependent on us; we are entirely dependent on it.

Our survival, in the long view, depends on humility: the humility to recognize our role as participants, not masters; as students, not final judges. Yet, unlike other species, we are graced (or cursed) with consciousness — the capacity not just to adapt passively, but to choose to manage our evolution, to participate actively in the difficult work of realignment. This is humanity’s evolutionary opportunity: to admit our “leastness,” and from that honesty, choose better.

David Brochu

Belmont