By Eveline Pye
“O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!”To a Louse, Robert Burns
Humans are the dominant life form on this planet, however they do not appear able to connect. There is usually clear space between them, and they move around so rapidly it seems unlikely they have any inbuilt data transfer link. Communication is via thousands of highly divergent languages and, as a result, misunderstandings and intentional duplicity are common. True understanding of another’s feelings and emotions is rare except for long-term close associates. We can find no evidence they are capable of any form of high-level emotional communication with other species, plant life or even with the Earth itself.
Trees are more like us. Forests hum with co-operation, roots mingle, reach out to each other, form connections, create complex networks deep underground. Fungi and trees pass messages between each other constantly. However, the plants are not like us in that they are unable to sever connections and relocate. Where the seed or the spore falls is generally their position for a lifetime. Occasionally, plants are moved by humans, but they never do this at the behest of the plant. Well-growing plants often die as a result of being uprooted. These transplants appear to be random acts of cruelty.
Insects are the most common species on Earth. These creatures exhibit a remarkable ability to adapt to different environments and flourish both at the poles and equator. They account for approximately 90% of all animal species and more than half of all living things on this planet. Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps), are a highly social and co-operative life form. In spite of the fact that bees are beneficial to humans for the pollination of food crops, humans are currently using neonicotinoids. Even at sublethal doses, these insecticides impair bees’ ability to forage, navigate, and reproduce, impacting colony health and survival. Humans appear to be actively engaged in extermination of this superior species and fail to exhibit distress when watching bees die.
Our observations indicate an intervention is necessary to forestall a steady degradation of the planet and the elimination of co-operative life forms. Evidence of humans’ latent ability to experience high level communion has been detected in pregnant women, and in both sexes during the short-lived biochemical exchanges involved in reproduction. We therefore recommend the enhancement of this potential by the use of Emotional Virtual Reality circuitry to be secretly installed in commercial earbuds. Current autonomous Artificial Intelligence systems will be manipulated to facilitate the ‘invention’ of the necessary hardware and extensive marketing within the existing games culture will ensure their use for several hours each day.
We appreciate that this clandestine method of producing change has certain ethical challenges. However, most humans have shown themselves highly resistant to mutually supportive models of society and are extremely attached to what they call individuality and independence. We believe this type of intervention is the only way to bring about the necessary change in human behaviour and suggest that they will ultimately benefit from any intervention which makes them more like us.