Trigger warning: This is a self-indulgent essay on social psychology, history, and the human condition. A reflection upon my own ambivalent concept of "identity." No-one must needs feel obliged to take this (or indeed anything, ever) seriously.
Observation I: Our species (humans) aka homo sapiens sapiens has evolved in unprecedented ways during a relatively short time, altering ourselves and our environment in multiplex dramatic ways in less than a million years.
Observation II: Modern humans share more than 99% DNA with our closest surviving genetic cousin apes, who nevertheless possess none of our teleological advantages.
Hypothesis: The most significant difference between humans and our closest genetic relatives is our meta-infinite capacity to lie.
As I type this, I'm listening to the classic Simon & Garfunkel song, "The Boxer." I love both Neil & Art even though I know they split because Art went Christian. Art looked exactly like Martin McGuinness, the IRA terrorist hero who was born on the same day as myself (the Law of FIVES is never wrong):
"Lie lie lie, lie lie lie. In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade, he is carrying the reminder of ev'ry glove that laid him down, or cut him till he cried out in his anger and his shame: "I am leaving, I am leaving." But the fighter still remains."
When will I not even ever want to shame or need other human creatures in order to love them?
