In the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick presents a scene depicting the spiritual and intellectual development of humanity. This scene is from one of my favourite films, a film I was introduced to about five years ago. When I came across this scene from the film the other day on Youtube, I was struck by this depiction of the first inventive impulse odour species. The scene shows a primitive crouching over the skeletal remains of a cow. He appears to be in a state of deep contemplation, as though he were mulling a problem. Suddenly an idea appears to dawn. He picks up a shin bone and deploys it as a tool. Is he learning to create percussion and rhythm? Is this our ancient ancestors first primitive attempt at music? Or is he learning to deploy the new tool as a weapon? Probably both. The truth is our Stone Age ancestor is learning to be an artist and a predatory killer at the same time. Does this represent Stone Age mans first rudimentary steps towards the advancement of the species? Nietzsche said, Man is a tightrope stretched between man and Superman. How fitting then that Kubrick should choose Richard Strausss Thus Spake Zarathustra as the theme music for 2001: A Space Odyssey, based on Friedrich Nietzsches book of the same title. Human evolution depends on conflict for our advancement and evolution as a species. What is our primitive ancestor thinking as it takes the cow bone in his hand? He picks up the cow bone and uses it to strike the bones of the dead cow. Then suddenly and dramatically he crushes the cows skull with the bone. We then see scene cross-overs of a live cow being felled by a weapon and our Stone Age ancestor crushing the cows skull with his newly invented weapon. What made our Stone Age ancestor come up with the idea. Necessity, we are told, is the mother of invention. So it is with our primitive ancestor. He has invented the first weapon of war. The technological arms race has begun. Henceforth, humanity will advance through conflict. From the first baby steps of stone tools, stone axes and stone arrowheads, human technology will advance till it creates the weaponized space station shown at the end of this scene. The cow bone weapon turns into a space station in the final scene cross-over. Do not therefore lament the death of old customs and time-honoured traditions. The dying art and the dying craft pass away because they are no longer needed. With the creation of a new technology, humanity takes another step forward on the tightrope of evolution. Through each war, humanity invents more advanced technology for defeating the enemy. Is conflict and warfare necessary? Apparently it is. It is necessary for humanitys evolution. Thesis - Antithesis - Synthesis: Hegels Dialectic of the Spirit, the so-called master-slave dialectic has produced in the human mind the way forward, the evolution of man, the progress of the species. What is the end result? Hegels Absolute Spirit, the most advanced state of human civilization, the absolute spirit of the age, the ultimate Zeitgeist. Will humanity destroy itself through these wars and campaigns of destruction? It will never happen. To some survival of the fittest is an offensive idea. It is not an ideology. It is a fact of nature. Who will survive the wars and campaigns of conquest? The smartest and most technologically advanced. Other species have not survived. The dodo is a dead dodo. Many animal species have become extinct. Why? Because they did not have our intelligence and ability to adapt. They were unable to develop the technology and the means of their survival. They perished because they could not adapt. Is this not proof that only the fittest survive? Are we destroying the planet as the master species of Earth. In Genesis, it is declared that, Man holds dominion over land and sea. It states that man holds dominion over the beasts of the land, sea and air. Who can deny this? Through science we have even been able to master nature and control the weather. Will man destroy the Earth and nature in the process? Will we as a species destroy our home? We may, but like a Phoenix we will rise from the ashes and build a new nest on another planet. The process of evolution will never stop. Humanity thrives on struggle, adversity and conflict. Were we to have too long and sustained a period of peace we would perish from entropy. Humanity requires adversity and conflict as a spur for its development. Necessity is the mother of invention and the greatest inventions are born from the need to survive as a species. Developing the means of our survival requires struggle. We cannot advance as a species otherwise. People speak of the terrible waste resulting from war. Nothing is wasted. As William Blake said, The cut worm forgives the plough. m.youtube/watch?v=QSxI0OOjR0Y
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 02:18:52 +0000