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Humanity at the Edge:
The Rise and Fall of Humankind?
By
Winfried Karl Rudloff
Governors State University, USA
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Humanity at the Edge: The Rise and Fall of Humankind?
Prologue
We are at a decisive crossroad. Human knowledge has reached heights never thought
possible before. One should recognize that knowledge in itself is neutral. However, it is the dualism in
humanity that forces us to apply our knowledge for good or for evil.
The two faces of Janus: Atomic
In this lecture we will discuss the dualism in nature and in human
energy or atomic destruction.
behavior that are important in the assessment of humanity's future
survival.
Genetic Engineering:
We find dualism all around us; it is in our understanding of
Homunculus or a way to
true
or
false, good or bad, yes or no, plus or minus; it is in our
improve our quality of life?
sexuality. It, certainly, is in our binary computers with their “on”
Programming the mind for good
and “off” switches as the basic mechanism to communicate with
or evil?
them in “machine language”. Our world of dualism is reflected in
Einstein’s equation,
The world: Clashing of the
E = mc2
cultures or a melting pot of
humanity's ideas?
where there is a relationship between the energy, E, and matter, m,
and where the velocity of light, c, is supposedly the limiting speed
that can be attained although this has come recently into question by
experiments conducted at the CERN Supercollider1.
But then, there is always some fuzziness in between. There is the Heisenberg uncertainty
principle2 that states that our experiments in quantum physics exploring the microcosm can only be as
precise within the limits as given by Planck’s constant, ħ = h/2π, or expressed as:
Epilogue: Is there a future for
the human dinosaur?
ΔxΔpx ≥ h/4π or ΔEΔt ≥ h/4π
There is fuzziness in nature; many plants are bisexual, so are humans, “Hermaphrodites” as the
Greeks termed persons with gonadal anomalies. There is fuzziness in our political systems as
politicians distort the facts to their own personal gain. Our legal system is fuzziness at large when the
US Supreme Court declares corporations to be persons.
Lofti Zadeh developed the concepts of “Fuzzy Sets”3 or “Fuzzy Logic”4 that puts into logical
context the observation that nothing is absolute; there are always shades of gray between the black and
the white; between the good and the bad, between the beautiful and the ugly; as there are “almost”
gates between the conditional “true” or “false” in the “not” gates of our digital computers.
Indeed, there is vagueness in our communications when we misunderstand the intentions of
our neighbors. Indoctrination of the young and ignorant has led to global wars and terroristic suicide
with almost total destruction. Communication is the most difficult endeavor in human interaction.
1
Randall, Lisa; “CERN or Einstein? Interpreting the Findings”, Huffington Post, September 25, 2011, see also
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-randall/cern-speed-of-light-einstein_b_979883.html
2
W. Heisenberg „Über den anschulichen Inhalt der quantentheoretischen Kinematik und Mechanik“, Z. Phys.
Volume 43, 172-198 (1927)
3
Zadeh, Lofti, “Fuzzy sets”. Information and Control. 1965; 8: 338–353.
4
Zadeh, Lofti, "Fuzzy logic and its application to approximate reasoning". In: Information Processing 74, Proc.
IFIP Congr. 1974 (3), pp. 591–594.
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The two faces of Janus: Atomic energy or atomic destruction.
Human nature is binary; the physical as well as the behavioral, mental or spiritual. The physical
nature is exemplified in the differences in sexes. Any new scientific discovery and technological
achievement is subject to our inborn dualistic behavior. The two faces of Janus5, the ancient god, look
at “the good, the bad, and the ugly”.
Homo Scientificus explores the macro- and the microcosm with the tools of mathematics, the most
abstract language of all. Yet it is Homo Technicus, the technician of opportunism who applies such
knowledge for good or for bad. The atomic bomb was developed to fight evil with even more devilish
evil. Like the plague or cockroaches in a garbage pail, atomic weapons are proliferating all over this
earth and Al-Quaida’s dirty bomb is looming over the horizon.
Nuclear power plants were supposed to be the solution to our energy problem; a seemingly positive
application of atomic energy. However, disposal of nuclear waste with half-lives of thousands or more
years has become an overwhelming problem for our environment; not to mention the disaster in
Fukushima. Goethe’s “Der Zauberlehrling, the Sorcerer’s Apprentice“, summarizes it all:
Die ich rief, die Geister,
werd' ich nun nicht los.
The spirits that I called upon
I can’t get rid of them!
We have become slaves of our energy consumption. What has brought us freedom of
movement over continents and oceans - that is the good and beautiful - has made us dependent on
the greed of oil barons and Wall Street - the bad and the ugly. It has diminished our quality of life
as man-made pollution has poisoned our air, water, and soil. Global warming is here as we observe
flooding all over the world. Having passed over Greenland almost every year during my travel to
Europe and back, I saw the ice cover melt away at an alarming rate.
The transition from alchemy to modern day chemical science has brought about quantum leaps
in medicine and polymer technologies. Pharmaceuticals can now help us to overcome pain and
suffering; they can help us in prolonging ours lives. That is the good. But chemistry can also be
used to poison whole populations with chemical warfare and terrorist attacks. It certainly can be
used to kill humans on death row; an act of legalized murder that is the bad and the very ugly.
Plastic material, glass and carbon fiber is used in the production of cheap computers, cars and
airplanes. It has improved our way of life; that is the good. However, we use such material to built
stealth bombers and remotely controlled drones for killing anonymously; that is the ugly.
Computers have become household items that help us communicate with our friends around
the world. We can shop electronically, tap into a vast pool of knowledge that even includes
revelations by WikiLeaks of our politicians’ secret machinations; knowledge is becoming more
and more democratized; that is the positive. Yet there are the hackers of mean spirit and
commercial intentions who invade your privacy and gift us with cookies that are not sweet but are
electronic spies into our personal lives; Big Brother is watching over you a thousand-, nay a
million-fold. George Orwell is spinning in his grave and envies at the propagation of evil that he
had not foreseen in his novel, “1984”.
5
Rudloff, Winfried, “The Two Faces of Janus: Where is High-Technology Leading Human Society?”, published in “Advances in SocioCybernetics and Human Development”, Volume IV, pp. 92-97, Ed. George E. Lasker, IIAS Publication, Windsor, 1997. ISBN 0921836-55-4. See also hyperlink at: http://www3.govst.edu/w-rudloff/publicat/janusfaces.pdf
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Genetic Engineering: Homunculus or a way to improve our
quality of life?
Homunculus or “little human” was the dream of the alchemists. They wanted to create human
life from the basic ingredients of alchemy. The story of Frankenstein’s Monster as the creation of a
human abomination has been told over and over again in literature and movies. Based on the
galvanic effect on human tissue, the monster was coming to life in Frankenstein’s basement
laboratory.
Karel Čapek, the famous Czech-Bohemian author of fiction as well as of non-fiction, wrote a
science fiction play in 1920 about “R.U.R. Rossum’s Universal Robot”6. In this play, artificial people
are manufactured that serve humans as slaves. Based on a suggestion by his brother, Josef, the word,
“Robot” was coined as derived from “Robota” in Slavic languages, meaning “forced labor”. It is an
irony of history that his brother died in the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp as slave laborer of the
Gestapo.
Genetic engineering has its roots in domestication of animals and cloning of plants over the
millennia of humans on earth. My uncle who was a professor of botany directed my curiosity towards
genetics when he created “Busch” tomatoes that were grown like potatoes and had no vines to grow up
on sticks. He suggested that I study the research of Nobel Prize Winner Thomas H. Morgan, an
American evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Morgan had manipulated fruit flies (Drosophila
melanogaster) by subjecting them to irradiation. He was able to create mutations of the flies that had no
wings. Upon further research such wingless flies were found to have survived the strong winds over
Pacific Islands; an instance of natural mutation. Based on Gregor Mendel’s theory of inheritance, he
demonstrated that genes on the chromosomes could be affected by external influence.
In the early fiftieth at the University of Hamburg, I had the opportunity to hear Pascual Jordan
lecture on Quantum Biology. In Gottingen, he had been cooperating with Max Born, Werner
Heisenberg, and Wolfgang Pauli on Matrix-Based Quantum Mechanics.
He elaborated about how the macroscopic world is influenced by what happens at the microscopic
level; how quantum-based interactions such as with cosmic radiation can lead to genetic changes and
mutations. He contemplated how electrons are individual entities whose influence on the macrocosm
can only be assessed in statistical terms. With tongue-in-cheek he suggested that electrons may,
perhaps, have sexual feelings.
Today’s genetic engineering has evolved into a powerful tool in theoretical and applied biological
science. “Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of
an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or
synthetic genes into the organism of interest. The introduction of new DNA does not require the use of
classical genetic methods, however traditional breeding methods are typically used for the
propagation of recombinant organisms.”7
At the market, genetically engineered plants are common place. Our tomatoes are now bigger
than they used to be and genetic engineering has made them more resistant to disease. Bacteria
have been genetically altered to produce medicines (e.g. insulin) and human growth hormones.
Unfortunately, these technologies
6
7
Čapek, Karel (Rossum's Universal Robots) (Rossumovi univerzální roboti), 1920
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_engineering#Definition
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Programming the mind for good or evil?
People have been indoctrinated ever since humans have populated Earth. Mind control begins at
birth when we try to educate our children. Programming the mind through education can be
beneficial if the goal is to enhance our knowledge that is applied to improving our individual as well as
collective lives. We should teach our young to appreciate the value of a true democratic society.
Unfortunately, demagogues of all persuasions have distorted the minds of not only the young but
of the ignorant and innocent. Hitler and his Nazi gangs had convinced the majority of the German
people that their racial ideology would lead them to power and prosperity. Instead, it led to a world
war and mega murders.
A deranged Arab, Osama Bin Laden, sent his followers out to commit suicide and kill thousands of
innocent people in the name of Allah, the Merciful, with virgins waiting for them in heaven. As
revenge, a mediocre, “born-again” president invaded foreign countries sending thousands of his own
soldiers and hundreds of thousands of innocent others to their deaths.
History of mankind has shown that organized religions contributed often to murder and mass
killings, all in the name of God; “an eye for an eye”. Religious fanatics burned “witches” at the stake if
they just happened to have red hair or behaved unconventionally. Irish Catholics kill their Protestant
neighbors for what? Low-tech suicide bombers kill themselves and innocent bystanders and are
revenged with high-tech weaponry.
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The world: Clashing of the cultures or a melting pot of humanity's
ideas?
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Epilogue: Is there a Future for the Human Dinosaur?
Humankind is at a decisive crossroad; can we ever get from a culture of war to a culture of
peace? Observing today’s politics and the machinations of our politicians, we have considerable
doubt. The inherent plutocracy in our capitalistic system where we are governed by money and
greed has destroyed our sense for social responsibility. Indoctrination, be it religious or mundane,
has lead to mistrust, fear, and “clashes of cultures”. It has brought about terror and overbearing
financial burdens to the populous at large.
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Beyond Technology: High Technologies and Their Social Impact.
Scientists all over the globe are trying to find appropriate solutions to current economic, resourcerelated, political, social, biological, and other problems. As cases in point, here are some themes of
current urgency:
1. Identification and promotion of economic alternatives to deforestation of the rain forest
2. Rewarding families for having fewer children or heavy fines/taxes for more than one child (China)
3. What are the issues and problems of genetic engineering?
4. Searching for alternatives to resource distribution
are a few of those problems that have to be solved on a global scale. The following topics reflect some
of the concepts of future-oriented significance that can be researched by our students as part of the
integrative studies curriculum:
 The study of current research in science, technology, and medicine: Beyond the Club
of Rome: The Gaia Hypothesis (Lovelock, T. & Margulis, L, 1996).
 The emerging science of self-organizing, evolving, complex, adaptive systems: a
brewing intellectual revolution; from chaos to order or from order to chaos?
 The Mind-Body Problem from the viewpoints of computer science, cognitive science,
philosophy, and modern physics.
 Science and mysticism.
 Science and art.
 Mathematical and computer modeling in the humanities and social science
 The past, present, and projected future of science and society: Technology assessment,
technological forecasting, and futurology.
 Social implications of information technology.
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The Problem of Space
As far as we know, humankind evolved in an environment that is unique in our galaxy. This
environment is very sensitive to man-invoked changes as our recent studies of the ozone layer, and
more generally, our biosphere has shown. Desertification of our arable lands is progressing at an
alarming rate.
This part of the core curriculum is designed to make the students aware of the potential of an
avalanche effect that may flip-flop our environment into a global catastrophe if we continue to destroy
our biosphere with unchecked growth and exploitation of our resources. Our students should be trained
to think globally but act locally to shape the future of our children. Here are again some intriguing
themes:
 Humanity's impact on the environment: What have we done to mother Earth!
 Are we polluting our lives away: Poisons in the atmosphere, in our waters and our
grounds.
 Overpopulation, expansion of arid lands through unplanned deforestation. Is world
starvation at hand?
 Our resources are finite: Recycling as one solution against waste and the squandering
of our resources.
 The Club of Rome and world models of the future (Meadows, D. H. et al., 1972;
Mesarovich, M. & Pestel, E., 1974; Tietenberg, T., 1992)
 The chance effect of galactic destruction: Can life on Earth again be destroyed by a
collision with a heavenly body? What can we learn from the recent asteroid collision
with planet Jupiter?
 The ecological balance (or imbalance). Let’s keep it intact.
 Resources from the seas: Mining the bottom of the oceans; aquatic biology &
chemistry.