True, there is that "We," and I think you're right about the preferability of "Stone Age emotions," since, being basically the same kind of creatures today as those that evolved some 250,000 years ago, our emotions are even older -- far older -- than the stone age, and we would do well to know and accept ourselves, rather than embracing some ideology of imperative progress that judges us inadequate. I allowed myself, reading the quotation, to gloss over the references to "a Star Wars civilization" and "godlike technology."
So your criticism of this quotation is as on-target as a criticism of sociobiology etc. in general. Discussion is a great curative to not seeing clearly! Perhaps "we" in this context can be understood, then, as a reference, not to all of humanity, but to the subculture of which Mr. Wilson is a part? If we're unpacking Wilson's words, I took particular umbrage at the idea of "godlike technology." Technology is not a living being, and certainly not a god. It has no will. It may have a nature that more or less perceptibly guides the actions of those who use it -- as the old saying puts it, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail -- but I don't think that having that sort of influence on human action qualifies it as "godlike," certainly not in any positive sense of that term. It is just a tool, wielded by someone for some purpose, regardless of the other purposes it might conceivably serve. It is developed by someone, controlled by someone according to some rules dictating its availability to anyone else. It is never neutral. A case in point is that we (and by this I am referring to many of us all over the world) are awaiting a Corona virus vaccine -- a technology, a tool -- but what then? It's not as if it will magically appear everywhere for everyone. Who will own it? What rules will be applied to its production, its availability, its distribution? As Shoshana Zuboff might ask, Who decides? Who decides who decides? To bring this back to film (or at least to movies), there was, some forty years ago, a movie that I saw at an "art" cinema about sociobiology, that, among other things, depicted (as I recall) an office conflict between two executive types, then repeated the scene with characters in giant rat costumes, to make the sociobiological point. Does anyone remember what that film was? As a teenager, I thought it was clever, but in light of Francisco's thoughts, I wonder how it would seem now, and what other ideas in it might have got into my head, unnoticed... Also, I feel like I haven't seen Contagion or any of the films or shows about pandemics. How do they usually deal with the political side of a cure or vaccination -- who owns it, who gets it, who decides, who decides who decides -- as opposed to the technical side of it? > On May 3, 2020, at 8:15 PM, Francisco Torres <fjtorre...@gmail.com> wrote: > > What bothered me the most was- > ''We have created a Star Wars civilization, with Stone Age emotions...'' > ''We''? Also I do not see ''stone age emotions'' as negative, we may > need more of those and less ''civilization''. > > 2020-05-03 19:51 GMT-04:00, Robert Schaller <rob...@ontosmedia.com>: >> I just read a story in the Thousand and One Nights, in which a prince >> survives many disasters in which others die, and was judged blameless >> because "so it was written." I thought, that's an awfully convenient thing >> to be able to say if you happen to be one of those on top already! >> >> Then I read Fransisco's criticism of Wilson, and find similar words in his >> objection. This feels almost like a dream, this time we're in. It seems to >> affirm the rather evocative description of the human condition in what Gene >> actually quoted from Wilson. Time and life have become dreamlike, and the >> world notably chaotic. I talked to a friend on the phone the other day, and >> felt like I had just seen him, in person -- but, no, it had only been a >> video conference. Even though I know I've been home for almost two months, >> I had to think about it! >> >> And I am grateful for Francisco's criticism, for it prodded me to at least >> minimally read more about E.O Wilson, whom I had really only known as a >> name. While I don't see it in this particular quotation, he lays out what >> seems like a reasonable line of criticism. >> >>> On May 2, 2020, at 11:21 PM, Francisco Torres <fjtorre...@gmail.com> >>> wrote: >>> >>> It seems harsh to put the responsability of our current situation on >>> all of humanity when actually it is the product of decisions taken >>> since ancient times by those in power and not by anything like ''human >>> nature''. If today the Amazon burns and African rainforest are razen >>> it is because decisions taken in boardrooms and presidential palaces >>> and, if we want to go further back, when Columbus and Da Gama got >>> money and ships to ''discover'' America and Africa... >>> >>> But that is a political view of history, one that seems to be rapidly >>> being replaced by others like the one created by Mr. Edward O. Wilson, >>> Sociobiology. In Sociobiology we humans have no other choice but to >>> compete against each other without any hope of ever getting out of the >>> systems of control and explotation created by the state and capital. >>> After all it is our genes who are on the driver seat, selfish genes >>> who only care for their replication. So why despair about domination >>> and destruction of all of nature then? A very useful ideology to >>> those sitting at the top of the heap because it makes them feel better >>> by liberating them of responsability and for the rest of us who expect >>> to accept the rule power as the only possible way of living. ''Dont >>> worry, if it is just the way of nature, the strong survive and the >>> weak perish, either on the forest or the stock market''. That sounds >>> just like the words the priestly caste have been feeding us since >>> Babylon. >>> _______________________________________________ >>> FrameWorks mailing list >>> FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com >>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks >>> <https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks> >> >> >> >>>> “Humanity today <http://airmail.calendar/2020-02-20%2012:00:00%20MST> is >>>> like a waking dreamer, caught between the fantasies of sleep and the >>>> chaos of the real world. The mind seeks but cannot find the precise place >>>> and hour. We have created a Star Wars civilization, with Stone Age >>>> emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology. We thrash about. >>>> We are terribly confused by the mere fact of our existence, and a danger >>>> to ourselves and to the rest of life.” >>>> ~ Edward O. Wilson >>>> >> > _______________________________________________ > FrameWorks mailing list > FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com > https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks _______________________________________________ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
