Our Cosmic Potential
“Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman- a rope over an abyss. A dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what is lovable in man is that he is an over-going and a down-going.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
I have a very particular interpretation of this passage. In many ways, humanity feels in its infancy. On a cosmic timescale, we have barely risen up from our animalistic past and have yet to voyage far outwards beyond our planet or inwards into the space of possibility. Humans are warlike, short-sighted, reactive, and moved by herd mentality. Yet our potential is so great!
Only humans have the capacity to spread life and complexity throughout the dead universe, creating and appreciating endless beauty. Only humans have the power to end the violent, vicious cycle of ruthless Darwinian forces that wrought millennia of suffering in the natural world. Only humans can peer into the depths of physics and potential mindspace to uncover the secret truths underpinning our world. Only humans can fulfill the deepest wishes of our ancestors for eudaimonic safety, love, connection, and transcendence. But we will never fulfill our cosmic potential if we wipe ourselves out too soon!
“A species had been armed too heavily – by spirit made almighty without, but equally a menace to its own well-being. Its weapon was like a sword without hilt or plate, a two-edged blade cleaving everything.”
—Peter Wessel Zapffe, The Last Messiah
We are in the Time of Perils. As a species, we possess the means of our destruction or salvation--technology--but our power dangerously outstrips our wisdom. AI, nuclear weapons, “mirror life”; all pose enormous threat. If we are to ever realize our potential for growth, beauty, or sentient flourishing, then we need to survive this century. Our world is vulnerable, but we have the power to build it safer and stronger.
The future is unimaginably good and it is waiting for us; I hope to see you there!