The Four Mutations of Man - an essay

Hominum Simplex - Simple Man

To appreciate Hominum Simplex it is necessary to appreciate his host.? Not a planet, but a marvelous skin upon the surface of a planet.? Like the shell of an egg or the skin of an apple but, in this case, the thing of wonder is not the contents, the egg or the apple, but rather the living, breathing, self-sustaining skin.? This is Gaia and the question of where she came from, though fascinating, is not of current concern to us.? In the same way that your doctor does not need to know where you were born to diagnose your illnesses, we currently need not concern ourselves with the origin of Gaia.? Likewise with Hominum Simplex.? It is not necessary to concern ourselves with his origin in order to identify his first mutation to Hominum Avarum - Greedy Man.

Hominum Avarum - Greedy Man

Some will say that Hominum Simplex is a legend that never existed, that man has never been a symbiote living in harmony with Gaia, his host.? Whatever the case, the relationship of Hominum Avarum (HA) to Gaia is most definitely parasitic.? The net effect of his actions is to damage and disrupt his biosphere; however, at this point in history Gaia would be given a clean bill of health if she were to visit the doctor.? In the same way that a few malignant cells cannot be detected within trillions of body cells, the activities of Hominum Avarum left no trace upon Gaia.? However, the lack of a diagnosis could not change the fundamental truth that a potentially erterminal disease was beginning and Gaia was, in all probability, doomed.

Hominum Avarum Urbis - Greedy Man in a Town

The first symptoms of disease appear with the second mutation of man.? Though Hominum Avarum was not contributing to the health of Gaia, his activities were easily within her power to heal.? He was a low-grade infection that could not be eradicated, but she showed no symptoms of illness.? The mutation of some of his number into Hominum Avarum Urbis (HAU) however resulted in the first visible symptoms of disease, acne.? This does not sound too serious, but since Gaia is, in many respects, a two-dimensional organism, no blemish can be said to be merely skin deep.? The first visible sign of HAU infection was the appearance of large settlements that were not self-sustaining in terms of the provisions needed for their functioning, or the disposal of their wastes.

These settlements drew supplies from a wide area and were incapable of processing their wastes without damaging the environment.? As is common with skin infections, scarring was caused along with an offensive discharge, sewage.? As settlements grew larger their area of influence grew, with adjacent lands being cleared and downstream waters being polluted.? At this time in history however, the ratio of HAU mutations to HA mutations was relatively small, with the majority of the population still living outside of large settlements.

The effect upon Gaia was largely cosmetic at this point in the illness but, over time, more and more inflamed pustules began to appear.? The effect on the HAU mutants was striking though.? Over time they became completely habituated to life in settlements and, as a class, lost their link to the land, being completely ignorant about how their needs were supplied.? The largest of these settlements soon took on the characteristics of tumors and there was now no possibility of the mutation from HA to HAU to be reversed.

Hominum Avarum Urbis Capitis - Greedy Man in a Town with Capital

The regrettable growth of multiple tumorous communities was massively accelerated by the next mutation of the Hominum culture.? Gathering large numbers into one geographical location inevitably resulted in a concentration of damage.? This was true when the organisms were content to service only their immediate needs.? The abstract notion of stored value however massively increased the natural resources that were consumed.

At first value was only stored in the work that was necessary to build homes and make artifacts, and the work represented by stored non-perishable foodstuffs; grain for example.? Since the benefit of the work that is done today may be enjoyed at some time in the future, it would seem that objection to the concept of stored value lacks merit.? However, even in the two examples mentioned above, it must be admitted that the stored value is subject to arbitrary change.? Even if the valuable items can be safeguarded against loss or destruction, their value in the future is entirely dependent on the whim of the principle of supply and demand.

In regard to non-perishable foodstuffs we identify the seed of the mutation that produced HAUC.? Since these foodstuffs were thought to store value, the natural result was a tendency toward deliberate over production.? HAUC mutants that grasped this concept became fixated on accumulating stored value, or capital.? In the agricultural model this resulted in excessive cultivation and the exploitation of HA and HAU mutants by HAUC mutants.? The effect of the tumorous settlements upon the surrounding areas was exacerbated, all to no avail when fire or rot destroyed the grain that had been stored.

HUAC mutants overcame the problem of the destruction of grain capital by coming to a mutual agreement to store value in abstract tokens known as money.? Overproduction was still required to generate the value to be stored, and this system fueled the rapid spread of HAU across the face of Gaia in the following way.? HAUC and HAU mutants traveled to areas inhabited by HA mutants and set them to work extracting materials and cultivating virgin areas in exchange for money.? Any symbiosis between the exploited HA mutants and the land was quickly destroyed as they no longer cultivated it to service their needs, but rather according to the demands of the HAUC.

In time the majority of HA mutants died out and settlement tumors became pandemic.? In some areas multiple tumors fused so that no clear skin could be seen at all.? All HAU mutants became enmeshed in the money system and were now obliged to destroy resources, not only to fill their needs, but also to create the value coveted by the HAUC mutants.? The waste involved in this system started to seriously deplete Gaia's biodiversity as HAU and HAUC mutants succeeded in obliterating whole species for the first time.

Hominum Avarum Urbis Capitis Machinariis - Mechanised Greedy Man in a Town with Capital

At this stage there were indications of the problems to come, but the rapid decline of Gaia that followed the fourth mutation, HAUCM, was truly spectacular.? The harnessing of energy had been a constant advantage in the hands of all members of the Hominum culture.? Their use of fire had enabled the exploitation of alternate food sources and had also provided a means of survival through periods of cold.? Soon they came to understand fire-power and used the propulsion of small projectiles to intensify their assault upon their biosphere and one another.? The watershed moment occurred however with the creation of the heat engine.

HAUCM mutated fully from HAUC with the development of heat engines that used fossil fuels to cause the expansion of gases providing thrust.? These heat engines, in the form of petrol, diesel and jet engines, served as force multipliers, enabling a far faster processing of natural resources into capital.? This development served to hasten the inevitable decline of Gaia, concentrating an ever greater amount of resources, or rather the Capital produced from the exploitation of these resources, within the tumorous settlements.? At the same time, this explosion of combustion introduced a new waste product into the biosphere, carbon dioxide.? Until this point the majority of combustion produced by the Hominum culture had been sustainable since demand for sequestered carbon, coal oil and gas, had been negligible.

Now HAUCM's desire to fully exploit the biosphere was facilitated and the mechanisation of capital growth was too great a prize to be ignored; however, this came at an immense cost.? Firstly the mega-tumor?of HAUCM became global and, due to the almost total eradication of HA and a shortage of unexploited raw materials, the production of capital began to slow.? Secondly the release of many billions of tons of carbon, sequestered over hundreds of thousands of years, caused Gaia to develop a fever that continued to grow in severity.? Thirdly it became impossible to undo the mutative process.

Because HAUCM supplanted the previous Hominum mutations, and lived entirely in a mega-tumor of its own creation, outside of which its survival was impossible, there was no turning back.? The environment of the tumor was now completely alien and bore no resemblance to that of Gaia herself.? Its rapid growth diverted resources from Gaia's own organs, that began to atrophy, and vast areas of the planet became denuded and lifeless.? Since the surviving Hominum mutations were no longer able to sustain themselves outside of their artificial environment, and since the growth of that environment progressed exponentially, making ever increasing demands upon Gaia's resources, the inevitable crisis drew ever closer.

Gaia's condition was serious, possibly terminal.? She had a fever, her temperature continued to rise.? This proved to be her salvation however, in the millennia before the appearance of Hominum Simplex she had often?tolerated elevated temperatures without permanent damage.? In a human patient a fever is a remedy of last resort as the body attempts to 'cook' the pathogen. Similarly, Gaia's fever was destined to eradicate a large proportion of the Hominum culture.?

Gaia is now in remission. Though the HAUCM infection has caused massive scarring, regrowth is taking place and her short-term survival is assured. Small HS infections remain, similar to the Chicken Pox virus that goes to ground in the nervous system of a human patient, only to re-emerge periodically as Shingles. This is a cause for future concern as the previous mutative cycle of HS through to HAUCM may recur, only time will tell.