What do we mean by “We”? - slowly and evenly, repeating for clarity as needed (lento assai e legato; ritornello)
What I would like to do here is to avoid using any of the common expressions of unity that we sometimes hear, such as “common bonds that make us one,” or “whatever affects one of us affects us all,” or other similar expressions of sentiment. Instead, I would like to try to list some of the basic descriptors (the technical term would be predicates) that pretty much apply to us all, wherever we are, and whoever we are.
(I don’t deny that there may be some organic unity, only that this idea is so overused that it would, in my opinion, end up obscuring, through the sentiments or emotions that it might evoke, more than it revealed.)
So then: Who are we?
1. We like to enjoy being alive. (But we also like to be frightened by monsters.)
2. We are the centers of the actions of complex, dynamic biological systems that are indissolubly linked to their environments.
3. We had no choice in the matter of our being born, and nothing to say about when it happened, who our parents were, or what culture or cultures they were part of.
4. We are all only random, and partial, expressions of the human genome, random mixes of two particular sets of chromosomes. Each of us is, accordingly, a manifestation of only some of the possible expressions of the human genome; we are all, in that sense, partial.
No given expression of the random mix of the human genome is privileged; it just is. The only thing we know for sure is that some mixes represent combinations that cannot continue natural development in the womb, and are naturally aborted.
5. We are mortal, with all of the limitations that come with that, including that we will someday stop living.
6. It takes time, longer than most of us realize, to become a being that can interact symbolically, physically, and emotionally with others in a functional and mutual way; to become human. The fact of a live birth does not by itself produce a human being. Nurturing, support, education, and experience are needed for that.
7. To be human means that we have (at least) three basic aspects of our nature: we are biological entities, we are conscious (we have minds), and we are social; a body alone, a mind alone, and being alone (having no social interactions in our development) can’t produce a human being.
8. There are many different ways of being human, many combinations of the biological, the mental, and the social, and many different combinations of the specific attributes of each of those three sets (biological, mental, social) that can be expressed, even within any given individual at different times—even in the course of one day.
9. In spite of the above (4 & 8, in particular), we are "partial" in another way - partial to ourselves the way we are; we have a strong innate tendency to think that we are “complete” or even ideal, and to disparage others who are not as we are. Just think of what “men” and “women” have to say about each other, to take only one example.
10. As biological entities, we have the presumed right to do what it takes to stay alive; as entities with conscious minds, we have the presumed right to express the individually specific qualities and abilities of our minds (to “be ourselves”); as social entities,we have a basic (“ontological”) equality with all others, and they with us. [See at end for a basis for this assertion.]
The fact of our basic or ontological equality means that the presumed rights that have been mentioned are relative, and not absolute, since we have to honor other's equal rights in the exercise of our own presumptive rights. Our presumed rights are also subject to the balance of these presumed rights (and any other rights that are formally established by individual societies or cultures) and the continued development and maintenance of a social environment in which offspring can become functioning human beings with that basic equality with each other.
11. Human excesses or insufficiencies, including insufficiencies of knowledge and understanding, along with a strong innate and need to act, and to exert power or special prerogatives over other people, in particular, will always make the attainment of such a social environment problematic. Climate change, overpopulation, and resource depletion will add to that.
12. In addition to our presumed rights, humans everywhere want to be somebody, to grow, to connect, and to prosper, and to make things (especially finely detailed things); we like beautiful things and new things, especially children, and we like to put on shows and to tell stories, including shows and stories about who we are,what we have done, and what we are going to do (or who we are going to be).
13. We insist on being “I”s and on distinguishing ourselves from other “I”s, and resist being pinned down or put down; at the same time, we also evidence the need for larger identities (name, clan, club, nation, state, school, work, religious belief, sports team, military, etc.).
14. We are consigned by the nature of physical reality and by the specifics of our biology and our minds to always be seeking certainty, and, almost above all else, in many cases, peace of mind. And to act as if, or to claim, that we have found certainty.
Although being able to organize and to plan ahead are two of the distinguishing features of being human, our lives are also full of the accidental, the incidental, and the uncertain. And mistakes - and, perhaps very important for the future, recovery from them.
15. Music, and art, and literature, and compassion.
These are the main things that my experience, my observation, and my reading tell me that “we” have in common. This, to me, is who we are.
What have I missed?
Oh, yes … sex. What else?
***
[The assertion of our ontological equality, in the tenth statement, follows from statements 3, 4, 6, and 8, and from two additional facts. One of these is that evolution is “blind”, ‘leading’ only where differential survival due to variations in characteristics and changes in environment takes different groups, or where there is some physical (as in physics) or chemical optimum involved.
The second is that the phrase “survival of the fittest”, as it applies to evolution, does not really mean what it is often thought to mean, with the word "fit" taking on connotations that we humans, who, unlike other animals, can consciously set out to become more "fit", give to it. While it is true that specimens that are not functionally healthy enough to live and reproduce young will not have their genes passed on, dying (or being killed) before they are able to do so probably only means that they were not naturally "fit" enough to survive to that point, not that those who do survive are among the "fittest"; statistically speaking, most reproduction is by specimens in the middle two standard deviations of the applicable normal curves, not in the two "tails".
The phrase "survival of the fittest" is probably most useful in referring to the differential survival of specimens that best fit a particular environment, whether it is an existing or a new or changed environment, including niches within an existing environment. The history of evolution on earth is rich with examples where smaller, slower, or more fragile specimens, though perhaps less "fit" as seen through human eyes, actually better fit some specific environment and become the basis for a new subspecies or species.
In evolution, survival and successful reproduction are the prime ingredients, and it doesn’t matter what the characteristics of the survivors are. Because we could not be able to tell beforehand which characteristic of characteristics might lead to differential survival, we cannot speak of one or another characteristic as being “privileged”.
I therefore conclude that we are all equal with respect to the randomness of genetic inheritance, in having had no say or control over any of the facts of our births, and in the lack of “privilege” associated with particular inheritable characteristics. In laymen’s words, we are all here “on the same terms”.]
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