Perhaps the dumbest thing about the classic B-movie franchise ‘Planet of the Apes‘ is the title; it’s hardly menacing or in any way suspenseful when we already live in on a planet dominated by – albeit over-domesticated and tragically naked… – apes.
What’s more the dominant primate on the planet has already been in some kind of direct ‘conflict’ (a term used broadly as it could be the case that Homo sapiens simply bred-out/out-bred their ‘competition’) with closely related primate species. Initially with Homo erectus some 75,000 years ago and more recently (10,000 to 30,000 years ago) with our very close friends Homo neanderthalensis (who is often portrayed in popular culture as being a bit ‘thick’ even though their brain capacity was higher than ours).
The common mythconception is that we humans came to dominate the planet because we were somehow more highly evolved. The reality is, of course, much less rosy. The ‘conflict’ between human and non-human intelligent primates came during moments of crisis…
The end of Homo erectus and the birth of human culture based on the hunting developed in Africa around 70,000 years ago in response to a fierce plunge in worldwide temperature triggered by an enormous volcanic explosion in Asia. Homo neanderthalensis dominated the struggle for survival during Europe’s glacial period, but as the global temperature rose they found themselves ill-adapted to face the new challenges of an inter-glacial climate. A warmer world also saw the birth of agriculture, which, over the last 10-20,000 years or so, has slowly strangled previous nomadic lifestyles and created the myths of ownership and entitlement.
Ho saps didn’t gain control of this planet because they had better brains or bodies, they survived because they were better scavengers/scroungers. Inventive, aggressive and omnivorous we have the advantage in times of evolutionary crisis; something which has faired us well in the past, but is is now proving to be a double edged sword. We’re the ultimate hoarders; grabbing everything we can whether we need it or not… like overgrown toddlers we continually repeat the mantra ‘mine, mine, mine’… We’re even expected to emulate/envy and celebrate the most annaly-retentive of our species (aka ‘the rich’), who’s mental attitude Daniel Quinn describes as ‘Taker‘.
For example, on an individual level we’re real good at storing fat, which undoubtedly has got us through some lean times, unfortunately we can’t seem to stop eating/storing even when there’s no food scarcity – which is why 60-70% of Americans are obese even though many of their own countrymen rely on food hand-outs. The addictive nature of human beings seems to make them throw their own lives (not to mention nature) out of balance. On a planetary scale the problem is even worse; we take everything we possibly can from the planet with no thought of the consequences. In the blink of a geological eye we’ve screwed-up our own life support system just to ‘own’ a few extra things (or gain a few extra pounds) which we don’t really need… for ‘wise guys’ (Home sapiens means ‘wise/knowing man’) we really are pretty dumb.
In real terms we’re not even ‘successful’. Home erectus survived on planet earth for 2 million years – modern human society has brought itself to the brink of extinction in less than 1% of that time period.
The tragedy is that we are more than aware of our own tragedy. We know full well the destructive road we’re on… there’s a big nasty economy/ecology smashing juggernaut heading down that road, but we can’t seem to resist stepping out into the traffic to grab the remains of a donut that’s lying in it’s path. There are obvious alternatives to donuts, in fact there are plenty of apple trees heavy with fruit by the roadside, but we’re addicted to the instant gratification of saturated fats and sugar.
So if there ever was another Planet of the Apes type scenario where it was a choice between humans and some other less fucked-up primate, whose side would you be on? 😉
Click here to download a free PDF of the ‘Revolution on the Planet of the Apes’ poster.
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