The ABC of the Human Condition: Introduction

This is an attempt to document my thoughts on the state of Human Condition: its past and the future, if it exists. The human species is only about 2-3 million years old, nothing compared to the mighty dinosaurs, which lasted 160 million years, or the super successful trilobites, that ruled the earth for 300 million years. And even with that short history, the human species has experimented with an astonishing range of materials and ideas, an achievement that does set us apart from the rest of the living world. But alas, there are many things where we are not set apart from the rest. And this continuous conflict between our core animal instincts (the gene effect) and the achievements of the extraordinary human mind (the civilization effect). So should we save as much as we can for our children or should we also believe in social justice which would ideally mean that the birth condition shouldn’t determine the course of a child? I will try to pen down my thoughts on all these issues, the ideal human state, the relevance of political ideologies, the utility of religion and family, and may be even the meaning of life. Ambitious, of course, for someone whose most significant intellectual contribution was to edit over 500 slides for a corporate report. But then, the blogosphere can’t be the space where the mighty intellectual dominates over the meek.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I will write snippets on various issues with the major focus being on using simple language, distinct from words like “plutocratic syncretism” so popular among Marxists. But I will also attempt to not go as far as the American travelling salesman type delivery by Alexander Berkman in “The ABC of Communist Anarchism”. And that reminds me that it is possible to smell a leftist bias in whatever I may pen down. So let me clarify upfront, that I am not a Marxist, just that my distance from the Marxist extreme will be shorter than that from the Reactionary extreme. And this awareness of my position, I believe, will make me conscious of not getting dictated by any particular ideology.

So, readers of this blog, please feel free to comment and argue for or against my analysis propositions. You will be doing one human being, myself, a favor in getting some meaning out of a seemingly pointless life.