The Very Stupid Man

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, there lived a very stupid human. He was stupid because he didn’t know any of the things that we know today; things that make our lives easier. He lived simply, taking only what he needed.

The stupid man had sons and daughters and they had sons and daughters and with every generation the sons and daughters became less and less stupid.

They were able to build things and make things that enriched the lives of the descendants. They took things from the earth and the air and made very useful things. Every time they did so however, they failed to notice that they depleted the world around them.

Generations of increasingly clever men made increasingly useful things like bombs and weapons of mass destruction and chemical weapons. They made chemicals that got their clothes whiter and brighter but that killed the fish and polluted the water. Whilst they created medicines that could save and extend life, they drank and ate foods that had been contaminated by plastics and that made them fat and lazy.

Finally, generations of very clever men started to realise that the earth was dying. It began to dawn on them that the stupid man was simple rather than stupid and that generations of men had failed to consider the consequences of their short term thinking and actions.

The stupid human did not to realise that his children would have the power to destroy all life on this planet. The question we need to ask is whether today’s very clever men will have the intelligence to put the health of the world ahead of power, wealth and short term prosperity.