“As the Human Race Innovates, It Defies Natural Selection”

In a darkly practical sense innovation in technology is a sped up means of death biologically if we are to believe natural selection to be inherent. I feel that innovation is a good thing, but it challenges our concept of evolution and natural selection. All of innovation’s purposes are to bring pleasure. It doesn’t matter if it is a lollipop a form of dance or a nuclear bomb, someone will always receive some form of pleasure from it. The pleasure can range from a relief or to a gain, but in the end it will still kill them. Innovation in every sense through a ripple effect is meant to bring pleasure which is supposed to both compensate and also endlessly fight the death that it causes for itself. Though this idea which opposes common logic, and rightfully so, can be applied virtually anywhere in history, the 1800s will be where this argument will start. The very first industrialized electrical grid was turned on in the year 1882, this was when american’s started killing themselves at a higher pace via electrically boosted innovation. Electricity has made life awesome, but at a cost. There are six general sectors of life that will be focused on here, entertainment, health, energy, transportation, information processing and cultural/social aspects all having something to do with innovation and it’s theoretical dealing of death.

Entertainment has been greatly influenced by innovation and electricity. The human race has gone from puppet shows on the side of the road to IMAX movies and virtual reality video games that blur the boundaries of fact and fiction. But, sadly, entertainment and its innovation cannot come without a heavy price. Almost all of innovative entertainment does not involve very much physical activity, but it does involve a lot of sitting and gazing. The american national average for hours of video games played in a week on the low end is 22 hours as of 2014. Video games have proven continually to cause poor posture in gamers as the usual stance is hunched over for long periods of time. This generational wave of bad posture causes muscle stiffness in the back, the upper neck and the eyes. In the back, arching can occur that is almost impossible to reverse without great measures being taken. In the neck, herniated disks can cause permanent forward facing neck posture that if altered, is extremely uncomfortable. The eyes focus on objects at different distances using small muscles to expand and contract. When the eyes focus on screens and static objects for extended periods of time, the strain that is felt is actually a form of eye work out, the only problem is this workout is making the muscles stronger in only one position. This over strengthening of the eye muscles can make different distances blurry. Macular degeneration is a serious problem among repeat computer users.

After thousands of physical ailments are gained by the use of entertainment. The habits formed from that lifestyle translate directly into the health sector of life. At home, Americans have diets that reflect a lot about themselves. Those who are very much into being entertained often spend more money on snack foods that have decreased nutritional value and plenty of sugar. A 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew is not an uncommon ornament in a gamers lair. The absolutely horrid diet that emerges from a lifestyle bound to entertainment translates into serious profit for the medical industry. As more and more people seek professional, innovative medical assistance more and more symptoms are subdued and even cured. The problem is that the mindsets of these people have not changed from problem causing to problem preventing ones. So, while those who have nearly died or technically should be under their conditions remain in a medicated state, the less likely the next generation is to be much different than them. The negative impacts that inherited mindsets and habits have on the next generation compound much like money in a bank. So as the elderly unchanged in habit continue to remain living on medical innovations that simply keep them alive only to use “merciful euthanasia” in the end continue to grow in numbers, the young deplete. There is a shift called a “demographic winter” that occurs when the population of the elderly exceeds the population of the young, it is very difficult for the young supporting the elderly who cannot support themselves, to start families and produce the next generation. So, in short, innovation in the entertainment industry lands lives into a dependent state in the medical industry. Those in the medical industries registry of dependents rely on the very thing that got them there, innovation.

Once entertainment, and medication create dependently weak generations who can neither support themselves nor the previous ones, energy begins to be a serous concern. As if innovation has not already produced amazing forms of energy production already, society will eventually reach a point that energy production will require almost no effort at all. Going from splitting wood, to coal and then nuclear power plants has demonstrated the lengths human beings will go to shed a little light and warmth on the everyday tasks of life. However, as a side note, consider what the benefits were of the cardio a man or women would receive after splitting wood on a daily basis. Next consider how that small amount of cardio contrasts with flipping a light switch or turning on the stove. While we have medication in the 21st century that can halt the flu and the common cold in their tracks, the average person today is physically less robust and enduring than that of previous generations. The pursuit and finding of simple and easier energy solutions causes major ripple effects in the amount of energy and therfore the amount of small gains the human body receives from doing things. There is a ripple effect that protrudes from every action an individual and a generation takes.

Along with energy production and its many alterations to a generations destination, transportation methods are also changing and the people along with them. Though the lack of sunlight may be unhealthy, in large cities where many people opt for bikes instead of cars, consider the health benefits. As electric cars become a reality, and all of the pleasing luxuries along with them, health rates will decline. Don’t get me wrong, electric cars are amazing and are in no way worse than conventional automobiles. However As an illustration, as transportation becomes more innovated, the level of human output and thus human health benefit depletes dramatically. After a movie and corndogs it is not normal to go for a 5 mile jog. After spending 10 years getting the same machine coffee before work with the same breakfast sandwich, it is difficult to switch the habit over to a healthier alternative. Similarly, the habits formed in a generation and in an individual after each innovative change in each sector of life, are very difficult to deviate from.

When society is in a steady state, a state in which all of its survival needs are readily met, it begins to focus on things like innovating the way it learns. Information processing is a big deal in the 21st century, but who is doing the processing? Just like a bank account compounding with interest, innovation does the same. When calculators were introduced in bulk to elementary schools children retained math differently, no longer did they have to remember times tables to the fullest extent. Now those children could calculate things they had never been able to before, but they lacked the mental historical record of how they got there. I experienced this immensely all through grade school and it has hindered me up until I was nearly 17. In 4th grade my classmates and I were given calculators and we never once had to memorize times tables, we spent a few weeks learning how to do the functions of math on paper and thats it. The ripple effects of not being able to do things without aid are not so much of a problem until the aid disappears. Information processing in relation to innovation and how they hinder mankind are relatable to foreign aid. A country has just been saved from dictatorship and a serious earthquake that has caused death leading to diseases  and cultural meltdown. While under dictatorship the people were not “in the know” and could not control any aspect of life without those “in the know” approving it. Now they are free but do not know how to take care of themselves. Technological innovation is an addicting and pleasurable dictator that causes death while it is depended on, but also when it is missing. There is a very delicate balance between innovation and death that may never be understood.

If our understanding of natural selection is true then innovation is a problem. There are many causes for innovation leading to death (according to natural selection), human beings are inherently smart and will always seek to make things easier and more attainable. But the easier the lifestyle passed down becomes, the weaker and less motivated the next generation will be. Innovation is a two edged sword. The weak are not a problem, the sick are not a problem, the innovation that cannot be changed that will eventually lead up to struggles is a problem.