From Frogs to Camels: Unveiling the Pace of Change
We humans can only tolerate so much change at once before our resistance takes over
One of the most useful metaphors is the frog in boiling water. I think of it often, refer to it, even write about it. Except it’s not actually true. A frog dropped in a pot of boiling water will die immediately, while a frog in a pot of water slowly heated will at some point jump out.
While the metaphor strongly resonates with the human condition of adapting to gradually worsening conditions, nobody wants to actually drop a living frog into a pot of boiling water to see what happens. We just accept the metaphor and go from there.
We humans are an interesting lot. We are unlike any example from nature. While there are some examples of insect species that wage war on one another, that war would never be waged upon an insect of the same species. Only humans do that.
And while there are examples of animals killing each other, rarely is it of the same species. Usually, almost always, when animals kill each other it’s strictly for the purpose of food. And when they do, when a lion hunts a zebra, they don’t seek the strongest fastest zebra but rather the old and the weak — thus culling the herd so it remains strong.
Most importantly, when animals take the lives of other animals they take only what they need to sustain themselves for the next few days.
We humans on the other hand, stockpile and amass. We take as much as we can and pull out all the stops to find a market for our bounty so we can make as much money as possible. This doesn’t occur anywhere in nature.
Well, maybe the chipmunks and squirrels who hide nuts away for hard times. Or maybe the bees who amass honey to get them through the winter. Or the grizzlies who gorge on salmon to build as much fat as they can to sustain themselves through hibernation. But the difference is that the squirrel won’t cut down the tree to get all the nuts, the bee won’t build machinery that grinds up every living flower to harvest the pollen, and the bear won’t throw bombs in the river to kill all the salmon at once. Only humans do that.
We’re unique from nature. Not even the unwitting frog in the pot of slowly heating water is like us.
So what sets us apart? Is it our cerebral cortex? Is it our soul’s journey? Or is it simply a genetic defect? What drives us to destroy the very environment that sustains all life in the pursuit of greater efficiency and profit? What motivates us to wage war against each other, even in the modern world.
There’s a clue, that relates to the MAGA movement.
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