Sanjay Paudel
It seems we are still in the process of evolution- either biologically or physically. For example, an earthquake shakes the earth to balance the moving plates beneath it. The geographers believe that the earth is going to take a new shape, and probably to create a new mass of land a la the size of a continent. Although human beings enjoy all the social, political and scientific wonders, they are very fragile and vulnerable to the unpredictable reactions of the nature. One of the important things is that the software (higher conscience) of the universe is peculiar. The software produces the coronavirus like it generated a unicellular organism for the first time in the history of evolution on the earth planet.
Survival of fittest
The unicellular creature further developed into many species, with Homo sapiens being the most advanced one. The Homos lived on through what Darwin calls the survival of the fittest. For the software of universe, all creatures – be it humans or animals or insects – are the same for the universe that operates mechanically without any goal or certainty. So philosopher Bertrand Russell offers agnostic arguments regarding the nature of universe. He says:
“Almost all the questions of most interests to speculative minds are such as science cannot answer, and the confident answers of theologians no longer seem as convincing as they did in former centuries. Is the mind divided into mind or matter, and if so, what is mind and what is matter? Is mind subject to matter or, is it possessed of independent power? Has the universe any unity or purpose? Is it evolving towards some goal? Are there really laws of nature, or do we believe in them because of our innate love of order? (Page 13, History of Western Philosophy)
It is yet to see as to who – humans or powerful virus – will emerge winner from their battle. History has shown that different human races succumbed to the virus. Millions of people vanished from the scene but the Homo sapiens continue to exist on the earth.
In his book “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,” Yuval Noah Harari writes that there were many kinds of human beings along with Homo sapiens. They were: Australopithecus, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo erectus, Homo soloensis, Homo rudolfensesis, Homo denisova, Homo floresiensis, and Homo sapiens. Out of them, only Homo sapiens survived and others suffered mass extinction. The spread of deadly virus is one of the factors causing their extermination.
Take a look at the COVID-19 pandemic from another perspective. The global warming may produce new virus that is more dangerous than coronavirus in the future. If the human immune system does not develop robustly, the people are subject to total annihilation in distant future – say, after 100 years. The immunology tells us that if a certain part of the earth develops the immune system, it certainly spreads out worldwide. For example, if the immune system is developed in Chinese, it suddenly spreads to the places as far as South Africa and Brazil. The software of the earth works with free association. On the contrary, the earth, as my hypothesis argues, is about to change its course for human is one evolution or say a trial. The earth is going to give birth to species that is more competent, powerful, generous and cleverer than Homo sapiens.
Theological line
There is also theological interpretation of the ongoing crisis. As per the Hindu mythology, we are heading to a climax of Kali Yuga marked by the rise of all sorts of sinful acts committed by human beings. So sinners are bound to mass destruction through the tandavanritya of Lord Shiva. This is the third powerful software. According to the Mass Destruction Theory, I believe, Homo sapiens are likely to disappear. In the coming future, as Harari claims, a new clan of human beings will emerge on the earth. They will be superior to Homo sapiens. I will admit here the fourth truth that I would like to address the theory of anitya that is a principle of discontinuity which is now a long overdue. And once again the biological history of evolution revises itself as we see in the transformation of fungi into amoeba. Now from amoeba comes a new and different clan of a human being that is of course not the Homo sapiens.
