Inevitable Fate

Are we heading toward a dead end? No one knows!

By Dr Rajagopal Soondron

Could we ask ourselves: what were our ancestors of 40,000 years ago like? Or more fittingly, it would be interesting to wonder… did they believe in God? Were they gifted with altruism? Could they reason like we modern people? Surely, to all these questions, we would be right to answer in the negative; if the answer were “yes,” then we would be wondering why it took their descendants 40,000 years to replicate that same mindset today.

No. Surely, they did not believe in God, nor were they altruistic or reasonable. And the obvious question to follow is: why were they not as smart as us?

Dead end. Pic – Coder’s Errand

Suddenly and unashamedly, we must admit that our ancestors emerged from the deep jungle as savages driven by primitive impulses. But still, why were they so different from us? Inevitably, we come face to face with a hard reality. We cannot blame these ancestors, who had not had enough time to undergo the “culturing” processes of socialization and civilization. Mentally, were they immature? Yes. They lacked the necessary mental apparatus to behave, think, or believe differently, simply because their brains were inadequately developed. That brain, lacking the efficiency we are gifted with today, was anatomically and functionally less mature.

So, we may ask — what happened between 40,000 years ago and now? Current science suggests that time has gradually favoured the development of more branching axons and synaptic connections, which ultimately became more efficient — all a consequence of the risky adventures and experiences gathered in the jungles and savannahs of the world. Their deeply hostile environment and the inevitable daily struggle for food and shelter conspired to stimulate their neurons to react differently. Those were the inescapable action-reaction processes that would mould their brains and behaviour, spurring the primitive forms of rationalization that allow us, their descendants, to reason, feel, and act more smartly. Had they been shunted overnight into our modern world, would they fare as well as us? The answer is obviously no. Homo sapiens are children of biological evolution, which seems to impose limiting and restraining factors on rapid mental development.

Yet nowadays, we get the impression that this process is adopting an exponential trend. Is our brain evolving more rapidly as we change our environment so quickly? Some believe so. Is Artificial Intelligence proof of that new capacity? Are we heading toward a dead end? No one knows!

Fast Forward

Let’s suppose we fast-forward to the year 42,026. Is it possible that some of our descendants — more saintly, intelligent, peaceful, and altruistic than us — will ask the same questions we are asking now? Will they wonder why their ancestors of the year 2026 were not like them? Will they ask why we were not as peace-loving or tolerant, and why we were so frustratingly obsessed with grabbing others’ land — as figures like Putin, Netanyahu, and Trump did around the 2020s?

Why, in spite of considerable knowledge, medical progress, and a scientific way of life, could we not solve our conflicts peacefully? Why could we not conceive that our egoistical behaviour caused so much unhappiness to poorer people and nations?

A wise one from the future may answer: “Maybe their brains were not yet so evolved; perhaps in the 2020s, the majority of people simply could not think differently or more wisely — however much they wanted to.” Meanwhile, a “smart” one may respond: “There was a minority of wise people, but unfortunately their heads of state and policymakers were not up to par. After all, in 2020, their brains had not yet acquired the anatomical and physiological processes to make the majority of them noble. Evolution was still going on — for it is never over, just as it was still on track 80,000 years ago when our ancestors were emerging from the jungle.”

The Possible Truth

Whatever we may think, it is clear that not all people are on the same wavelength at different times — or even at the same time in history — because they are at different stages of mental development. Some think of the welfare of the individual; some think about the good of the majority or the planet. Others think only of their own clan. Billionaires are busy becoming richer, while some religious people are dying for others — and yet others are ready to kill in the name of God.

It is clear that some form of conflict will continue at all times in history. We never share the same frame of reference from which to judge others — a capacity we may only acquire after millennia of further mental adaptation.

The Challenge

Suppose we experience a planetary catastrophe around the year 10,000. Will we be wise enough to realize that our petty nationalism and egoism are insignificant in the face of a universal threat to human survival? Will that external “shake-up” stir us out of our narrow-mindedness and infuse our minds with more noble, empathetic feelings to set a new trend in biological evolution?

Will that universal threat itself be part of a new experience, triggering new learning processes that stimulate the dormant potential of our grey cells? Is this the way Homo sapiens progress down the ages? However much we try to think ahead and decide to do better, our interaction with the ever-changing environment will play the major role in deciding how our life unfolds. Finally, will the majority of people be wise enough to think in the same general direction — just for the sake of peace and the survival of our species?

We don’t know.

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 17 April 2026