than we used to be - oh -
several thousand years ago.
Language allowed us, on the one hand,
to be more co-operative
within the small group or band,
but, on the other, separated us
from other groups which we perceived
as alien, foreign competitors. So,
having invented the word 'enemy'
we cut off 'enemy' heads
and scooped out the brains
into antique skull-bowls
and dined with due ritual.
This was our humanity.
But go far enough back,
and we must have been no more aggressive
than our cousins the chimpanzees
(who are not noted for their genocidal,
speciecidal tendencies)
even if males sometimes kill
other males' babies.
So, in order to get back where we started
we will have have had to erect all this,
and yet more, social structure;
institute a million institutions, write
a billion Wikipedia pages, invent
millions of gadgets and tools,
create all the stuff and data we're choked by;
pillage the planet until there are
no other animals left but our only
now-moderately-murderous species.
What a waste of A Beautiful World!
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