3. A
historical perspective
In this chapter, I will give my view of human history at two
levels. The long term of tens of thousands to millions of years. And the medium
term of centuries to millennia.
The Neanderthal extinction
I take, as my first point of reference, the Neanderthal
extinction of around 40,000 years ago. There are many hypotheses for how this
happened. But none of the experts can come up with a single, clear, convincing
explanation. That said, it is generally accepted that the disappearance of the
Neanderthal species, and its replacement by homo sapiens, took place
over a timescale that was very short, compared with how long they had survived
up to then.
Among the extant hypotheses, one seems to me to stand out
as better supported by evidence than others. That is, that some social
development took place among homo sapiens, which enabled them to
live in larger groups than Neanderthals. This might have enabled them more
easily to avoid inbreeding, and perhaps also allowed them to use the division
of labour better.
Evolutions
The Neanderthal extinction was an evolutionary split point,
at which one of two or more alternatives won out over the others. Looking at
what is known about human evolution over millions of years, it appears that
there have also been several more, further back.
Experts differ on the details. But it seems that, after
splitting away from apes such as gibbons and chimpanzees, successive waves of
hominins (ancestral to, or closely related to, humans) dominated at different
times. In one generally accepted account, genus Ardipithecus (living
roughly 6 to 4 million years ago) gave way to Australopithecus, living
perhaps 4 to 2 million years ago. Which, in turn, gave way to genus Homo,
more than 2 million years ago.
Along the way, our ancestors learned various arts (though
the ordering of some of them is in dispute). These included: Making stone
tools. Travelling between continents. Evolving language. The use of fire and
cooking. The making of paintings. And the making and wearing of clothes.
Within genus Homo, successive species have
flourished. Some experts talk of a “great leap” about 65,000 years ago. Around
that time, there were considerable advances in the technology and complexity of
the tools, which archaeologists have found in the human settlements they
excavate. Just how different the people after this great leap were from their
predecessors, and what happened to those who failed to make the transitions,
are unknown. What we do know is that, by around 40,000 years ago, homo
sapiens existed in much the same physical form as today; and two earlier
species, the Denisovans and the somewhat later Neanderthals, had died out.
Five revolutions
Since the Neanderthal extinction, I identify five periods of
history, during which we human beings have been rapidly moving forward. Each of
these periods seems to have had a characteristic flavour of revolutionary
change for the better.
The first was the Neolithic revolution of about 12,500 years
ago. That was the point at which we differentiated from, and became superior
to, mere animals. And it was a practical revolution. Our ancestors began to
settle down in communities, to cultivate crops, and to domesticate animals. We
began to put into action the part of our nature, which leads us to take control
of, use for our benefit, and leave our mark on, our surroundings. The paradigm
of our first revolution was Humanity. We found the essence of what makes us
human.
Our second revolution, a mental one, was seeded in ancient
Greece, beginning in the early 6th century BC with Thales of Miletus.
Its paradigm was Reason. It led us to think rationally and abstractly; for
example, to do mathematics and philosophy. It enabled us to build new and
better kinds of civilization, such as Athenian democracy. And among the
civilizations which grew out of this revolution was Rome, which managed to
incorporate, and to build on, some of the best of the Greek culture.
Our third revolution was the Renaissance, starting in the
mid-15th century. Its paradigm was Discovery. Of ideas both old and
new, of new places, of ourselves. It was, for want of a better word, a
spiritual revolution; a rise of the human spirit.
The Renaissance brought, not just a re-discovery of ancient
learning, but a movement towards what became known as “Renaissance humanism,”
with new moral perspectives and a feeling of cultural renewal. It helped us to
emerge from the tyranny of the church and the feudal political system. It
brought a sense of renewed confidence in our own faculties. It brought a new
sense of freedom for us human beings, who had for so long been suppressed by
orthodoxy. And it laid the groundwork for the later development of science.
Our fourth revolution was the Enlightenment. Seeded by John
Locke in the 1680s, it grew towards fruition during the 18th
century. Like the second, it was a mental revolution. Its paradigm was Freedom.
From it have flowed all the (relative) freedoms we have enjoyed in the West
over the last three centuries. And it brought new ideas, more friendly to the
individual than before, that are commonly called “Enlightenment values.”
Our fifth revolution was, and still is, the Industrial
Revolution. Like the first, it was a practical revolution. Its paradigm was and
is Creativity, supported by the free market, free trade and honest business. It
has enabled people in those countries, which have fully embraced it, greatly to
increase their standard of living. And so, greatly to increase people’s quality
of life and chances of happiness. It has also enabled us human beings to take greater
and greater control over our physical surroundings, and to use them more and
more for our own advantage.
Five counter-revolutions
But each of our forward-movement revolutions is eventually
followed by a regressive, anti-human counter-revolution from those that are
hostile to us human beings and to our progress.
Our enemies’ first counter-revolution, starting probably
around 3,200 BC, was the rise of the political state. And the state itself – a
top-down system, that enables an élite forcibly to rule over a, potentially
large, group of people – was its counter-paradigm. What our enemies did back
then was pervert the part of our nature which seeks to control our
surroundings, into an insatiable desire for them to control us.
The second counter-revolution began in the 4th century
AD, when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire. It
produced a powerful church, to go with the state. The church, along with the
dogmas and narratives it peddled, enabled the unscrupulous to control people
mentally, just as the state enabled them to control people physically. This led
to the Dark and Middle Ages.
The counter-paradigm, then, was institutional religion, and
the church that embodied it. Against our natural urge to look at reality and
think rationally about it, they promoted dubious dogmas and mumbo-jumbo. Which
still exist today in the minds of followers of religions, all over the world;
including environmentalism.
The third counter-revolution, which followed the
Renaissance, had three main strands: orthodoxy, tyranny and dishonesty. The
pressures for orthodoxy were supplied mostly by the church. Meanwhile, tyranny
and dishonesty, already features of many states, became all but enshrined in
the idea of the state through the work of Niccolò Machiavelli. He prompted
rulers to be sly, deceitful, and unscrupulous; as well as cruel, oppressive and
heartless.
Our enemies’ fourth counter-revolution began in the 18th
century. It was based, at its root, on a collectivist reaction against the
Enlightenment. Over time, a slew of political ideologies emerged, all of which
were hostile to the human individual, and to his and her rights and freedoms.
Socialism, nationalism, communism, fascism, social or religious conservatism,
false “liberalism” or Tory élitism,
for example. And all these ideologies inexorably increased the power of the
state, and the scope of what it did. The result? Continuing oppressions and
wars world-wide.
Our enemies’ fifth counter-revolution has been growing for
the last 80 years or so. It began during the second world war, with the events
that led to the formation of the current international order. Its
counter-paradigm is Suppression. Suppression of truth, suppression of rights
and freedoms, suppression of prosperity, suppression of our humanity and our
creativity. Suppression of us human beings.
The main thrust of our enemies’ fifth counter-revolution is
a push to suppress industrial civilization, to shut down the economic free
market, and to use taxation, regulation and extortion to squeeze ordinary
people out of existence. The extremists among them, and these include many
prominent individuals among the mainstream UK political parties, want to halt
the use of fossil fuels (and so also of all products made using them), and to
destroy economic freedom in the UK entirely. If not stopped, the result will be
the destruction of prosperity and freedom for everyone, except (for a while)
for a clique of self-serving élites.
They pooh-pooh our achievements during and since the
Industrial Revolution, and in their place promote anti-values like re-cycling
and “minimizing our carbon footprint.” Moreover, as more and more people are
becoming aware, they have deliberately designed green agendas such as “nett
zero” and anti-car policies to starve us of energy and of the ability to move
around. And so, to lead towards the destruction of our industrial civilization.
And as was shown in Sri Lanka in 2022, policies that harm
farming, if they are not stopped, are likely to force us down into food
starvation as well.
The UN and Maurice Strong
The fifth counter-revolution is being hurried along by the
EU, the UK government and many other national governments, notably in the
“Anglosphere” and in Europe. But it is in origin a product of, and is most of
all being driven by, the United Nations.
The Canadian former oil baron, Maurice Strong, was the
individual that, more than anyone else, perverted the UN into a bureaucracy
intent on destroying human civilization, and in particular Western industrial
civilization. Strong was, among much else, secretary-general of the UN’s Earth
Summit in 1992.
Indeed, I rate Strong as the evillest man of the 20th
century. Ahead, indeed, of Stalin, Mao, Hitler and Pol Pot. Those four all set
out to commit genocides against particular groups of people. But Strong set out
to commit genocide against our entire civilization. He gave this away in a 1997
magazine interview, in which he said: “Frankly, we may get to the point where
the only way of saving the world will be for industrial civilization to collapse.”
Over several decades, Strong influenced those around him in the UN, including
those at the very top, to move towards provoking that collapse.
Whose environment is it, anyway?
And it is these provocations, prompted by Strong and others
almost as evil – politicians, bureaucrats, billionaires, dishonest academics,
and many more – that we human beings are suffering under today. Those that seek
the collapse of human civilization claim to care about “the environment.” But
they don’t care about the most important environment of all – the environment for
human beings, the environment in which we can fulfil ourselves.
Ask yourself: Do we human beings, today, experience the
environment of peace, freedom and justice, which we need in order to flourish?
Surely not. Our daily lives are watched as never before – even, in Cardiff and
soon in London, with facial recognition cameras. Our basic rights, such as
freedom of speech and opinion, are in serious danger. Indeed, our enemies want
to label as “misinformation,” and suppress, any statement – however factual –
that contradicts their narratives. And senseless wars continue in places like
Ukraine and Gaza.
Further, throughout their history, states have
re-distributed wealth. Always in favour of the ruling class and their cronies,
and at the cost of everyone else. Otherwise put, states re-distribute wealth
from the politically poor to the politically rich. But today, predatory
taxation, impositions, and extortion – for example, fines for breaking of
arbitrary rules by people merely going about their daily lives, without harming
or intending to harm anyone – have increased to a level that is unbearable. And
many people who are poor financially as well as politically, such as small
business people and pensioners, are among the hardest hit.
Moreover, the absolute basics of developed civilization,
such as affordable, reliable energy, transport that meets our needs, and a free
market economy, will soon be taken from us forever, if we let our enemies have
their way. So, life for ordinary people has become, more and more, an Orwellian
nightmare. Far from creating and maintaining the human environment of
peace, freedom and justice which we need, our enemies are doing everything they
can to destroy our environment.
Things must change.
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