Chapter XXI
1. At the time we picked up the first rock to use, either as a protection or to access our food, the moral and ethical question of using tools was not a relevant consideration.
2. As we evolved and our ability to use and make tools developed, our tools became more than just tools.
3. As a natural evolutionary consequence of developing these tool making skills we started to use them for what is called Sexual Selection.
4. In nature the principle of Sexual Selection seeks out mates that have attributes which will increase the ability of our offspring to survive.
5. Tool making is a major evolutionary development and so as a natural extension to that, those who are able to make the best looking and most effective tools are going to be more attractive as a prospective mate.
6. Better tools equals increased chance of survival, and the aesthetic element is the additional distinguishing feature.
7. Although still unable to apprehend the concept, the moral and ethical imperatives for the Hominid that would develop into us begins with the ability to harness fire.
8. Although not from a moral or ethical position, the first inkling of responsibility dawned on those first active fire users.
9. This realization of responsibility stemmed from the waste that occurred whenever fire was used for hunting. Those that were able to make this connection survived, and those that could not, did not.
10. As our tools and weapons developed, and we evolved further into Homo Sapiens and then into Homo Sapiens Sapiens, our understanding of responsibility also evolved.
11. With the exception of care of our children, regard for others in the tribal group, and the conservation of resources, responsibility for consequences was not a feature of our early innovation.
12. Moral and ethical considerations cannot develop in the constant struggle for survival, but the conservation of resources consideration in our struggle to survive gave us a solid foundation out of which to develop these things.
13. As we entered the pre-dawn of settlement, about fifteen thousand to twenty thousand years ago our responsibilities grew. In this time we began to think in moral and ethical ways, but not much and rarely.
14. With the development of Agriculture and the methods and innovations to improve speed and production, we spend more time developing our views on responsibility and this leads to the establishment of morals and ethics.
15. As with everything related to human thought, things develop according to what we want and not necessarily to the way they should, or what some would call Right thinking.
16. We can trace the beginning of our still developing Humanist morals and ethics to around this time.
17. With our communities getting larger, the responsibility to have regard for all in the community when making innovations dropped away to a small extent.
18. This low regard for others when developing innovations continued to move in the wrong direction as communities grew into Civilizations and Civilizations began to make war on each other.
19. At this same time Religion was influencing our moral and ethical ideals, and far from the religious ideals of today, the safety and concern for the individual was reduced even more.
20. After we were introduced to money and after money took hold, this regard for others when developing innovations dropped away even further.
21. Around the same time as we were introduced to money we were also introduced to The Greek Philosophers.
22. The Greek Philosophers can be considered as the first to clearly define moral and ethical issues, the highest of which that were defined in their time we are still struggling to attain.
23. As our technology is getting more dangerous, and as we can see the future holds a lot more dangers, it has only dawned on us recently that we shouldn't only be thinking from the point of view of Can It Be Done.
24. At the end of the twentieth century, although a big noise is occasionally made at the same time, we only view things from the point of view of Can It Be Done, and part of this stems from our desire for others to see how smart we are.
25. The first step in adopting any code of behaviour is the adoption of the rhetoric behind the behaviour, and we reached that step in the twentieth century.
26. And it is important to differentiate the individual from the entire society.
27. Throughout history individuals of high morals and ethics have often asked the question: Yes it can be done, but Should It Be Done? Leonardo da Vinci, and many leading Scientists of the 1940s who turned down the opportunity to be involved in the Manhattan Project are well known examples.
28. Should It Be Done as a moral, ethical, and even sensible question, is not one that the human race is ready for in its society.
29. Despite the dangerous innovations ahead of us, there is no question that we will make it through to the year 3000 and beyond, and the ideology of Should It Be Done will develop over this time.
30. The big question is how long it will take for it to become the principal innovation ideology.
31. A lesser related question is what will our society be like in the year 3000 if it takes us too long to get there.
32. What will be the cost of arriving at a view that we already know is the right view?