I am still culling books (and working my way ever closer to the end of this process), and I found a previously unknown to me, 2007 bound copy (uncorrected proof), of THE BOOK OF ANIMAL IGNORANCE: Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong, by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson (the order of whose names on the book's cover is switched on the title page).

The book copy begins with a quote which is close to what I have actually thought for most of my life (without being able to conceptualize it in such a pithy way):

"The missing link between animals
and the real human being
is most likely
ourselves."

[attributed to Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist and animal psychologist]

All of the many times that I have encountered someone, somewhere, opining that human beings are the pinnacle of either Creation (capital "C") or evolution, my automatic inner response has always been (even when I was a child, growing up): If WE are the "pinnacle" of Creation/evolution, the universe is in really B-I-G trouble!!

Turns out, Konrad Lorenz (even if no one else) agrees with me!

Very true. Good insight.

In the OT it says in a couple of places we are to think of ourselves no better than the beasts of the field.

It is humbling to say the least. We may have come a long way as a civilization, but we're still primitive in terms of potential.

Artificial Intelligence is actually far more advanced than human capacity is. A 'brave new world' will depend on how much power/authority it will have over mere mortals.

We are in a spectrum between monkeys and gods, and it seems we combine the worst characteristics of the two.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/2018 06:20PM by donbagley.