Humanity is Beautiful

Conventional wisdom tells us that human minds “max out” somewhere around the time we reach 25. However, over the last several decades this conventional wisdom has been seriously challenged.

Albert Einstein called Piaget’s insight “so simple only a genius could have thought of it.”

Saying “I am intelligent as I ever will be” was wrong when I was 12. And I know now that it would have been wrong when I was 15 or at 20.

The process of a child’s mental development has happened billions of times now throughout human history. And yet it still feels miraculous.

This is the moment some group of Homo Sapiens or Neanderthals or Homo Habilis or Australopithecus became human.

If the fire Prometheus stole perhaps in part represents the notion of genius, the capacity of forethinking – the ability to peer into possible futures – is a fundamental aspect of that genius.

On a literal level, Prometheus gave us all the practical benefits of warmth, cooking, etc. that go along with fire. On a metaphorical level, Prometheus also gave us the fire of invention.

Imagine you could go all the way back to the first instance of life on Earth. Imagine you could watch the entirety of the project of life on Earth unfold until the present day. From that view, how would you define humanity?

My experience in San Sebastian was one of genius. Experiences like this are not unique to me, but they are unique to humans.

We are inherently connected to, flow from, and are dependent on all life on Earth. We could not be here without it. And yet, we do not just grow as with other life. We create.