Lascaux Cave paintings Pablo picasso painting inserted

It seems unlikely that a writer would begin their expressions of a belief without leaving space on the page for doubt. My perceptions of humanity are presented in that way. I do realize that I, like countless others that are sufficiently foolish, bold or brash, to point out one or two of man's shortcomings will forevermore be reviewed as 'misanthropes' and become the subject of endless ire, memes and trolls: I give you my personal assurance I wouldn't do this if I didn't believe even that could be fun.

On having very often skirted the borders of 'Misanthropichood' I would on such occasions painstakingly research the most recent definitions of the 'title' misenthrope. Having done this for more than 55 years I am happy to report we have finally reached a milestone of having more definitions of a misanthrope than we have actual misanthropes. To my knowledge this is an achievement unparalleled for us or for any other presently known species.

As in all thought, balance is an ally. Contrasts in human ex- perience are legion. For Good we have Bad. For complex - simple: I shall confidently leave the reader in command of countless other antonyms. I have bought antonyms to the minds that might, without seeing, imagine that the images I present have satisfied what I believe to be the entirety of humanity. Before contemplating 'The Paradigm' image below which I most sincerely hope you will, Mark Twain, by divine right gets the first observation.

HUMANITY ... The Bad, the really bad, the good and the hurt.

HOMO SAPIENS

a person of interest .....

HUMANITY DENIAL

As a starting point of my efforts to better understand Homo Sapiens-sapiens it was essential to go beyond reading the nonsensical scribbling produced by the Anthropological Institute of Wild-Eyed Guesses. For this reason and a drive to get more personal insight to our species true nature, I began the Civilization Collection.The collection, now comprised of 400 or more exhibits, represents Man's oldest known civilizations - somewhat before humanity's first writing then onward.

Times prior to the civilizations of Sumeria and those of the Indus Valley could be thought of as proto-civilizations that began around 10,000 BCE. with the Civilization Collection tapering at around 750 ACE. Of principal purpose the collection represents a path of artifactual breadcrumbs: A path when followed gives a sometimes uncomfortably higher resolution of mankind and the bumpy ride he has had through to civilizing.

Antiquities as data, do accurately reflect the evolving stages of a civilization. Through its written records, its conflicts and art there are intriguing periods in an evolving civilization when cultural transition are wonderfully visible in art, style, color texture and form. It may be surprising to know the gifted artist Pablo Picasso would be comfortable dashing off a 'bull or two' in the 20,000 year old gallery in the Lascaux caves in France. Not averse to publicity he would definitely snap a selfie.

In reading even this limited applause of what might be thought prosaic objects of the past, archaeologists and anthropologists of all stripes are choking back tears of professional despair as they ponder the spectacle of an otherwise seemingly 'educated' person uttering such ill-informed banalities. What neither of these admirable professions will confess is how special they feel about being among the few that will actually hold the artifacts of antiquity: To smell them, (many have odours) to touch them. How many of our increasing billions of fellow humans have never had or will ever have that experience. It is unfortunate to my mind that billions will never see such wonders let alone feel them.

It has always seemed apparent to me that the seeds of all answers lie in the question. Of the first of many questions that have mattered to me is one that would reveal a way to reconcile ourselves with the stark reality of what presents as Man's true nature. There has always been a need to challenge how in light of my own childhood, family tragedies - mine and others, later personal experiences and the torment of knowing of the suffering experienced by hundreds of millions of innocents through interminable wars and man-made tragedies I or any caring other could not arrive at the conclusion but that Mankind is an immutably flawed species.

On cue the cry misanthropy! goes up in hopes of diminishing the implication that Man is anything less than divine. The underpinnings for the first knee-jerk reflex is the religious view holding Man to be made in the image of his creator: That first misconception is faithfully followed by the use of any word or belief that would divert suggestions that an all-embracing criticism of Mankind must by default be a censure of every representative of the species. That cannot be true.

Decades have passed in the ongoing search for thoughts and words that I could form in an order that would capture the complexity of us as a species without either shrinking from the horror of man at his worst or to wrongly blend in the good and arrive at the error of seeing mankind as some collective degrees of iniquity.

There exists an almost overwhelming number in our population highly critical of any effort to ‘capture’ humanity in this way on the grounds that the enigma of Man is beyond any ‘parochial’ arrangement of words: Perhaps words more acceptable to those with this view should be elevated, more ethereal perhaps in their embrace of the 'flawless inscrutable divinity of man that is ineffable’! Wow ... I'm feeling more and more superior by the minute.

Many of the naysayers could find it instructive to examine why they feel so compelled to resolutely oppose any acknowledgement of our own reality: It may feel to some, that admitting to our flawed selves is a perilous thing being fearful of seeing themselves in the definition. Since my childhood Man has never seemed remotely close to flawless, enigmatic or inscrutable – in any direction.

This conclusion, is a belief that to continue as we are, offers no more or less than we have ever had or will have. Defensive counter-punching is understandable but will occur on the wrong assumption that a 'flawed species' means the wholesale condemnation of every member of the species: this unthinking reaction seems impervious to evidence showing countless humans capable of selfless life-giving sacrifices, breathtaking heroism and fathomless compassion. Equally inescapable is that an overwhelming percentage of us are fully capable of the most extreme cruelties and evils of which other species known to us are innocent.   [Chimpanzee excluded]

I have found in more recent years I quote others less: Richard Leaky - author of ORIGINS and ORIGINS REVISITED so captured the simplicity of Man's existence I can't resist:"Man may yet prove to be the greatest biological blunder of all time"

It is a relief - after more than 50 years of seeking out the immutables of Homo Sapiens, to now ask others to accept what seems unacceptable. As I have long believed, the answer was in the question: In this case it was in the need to ask the question at all. Setting aside the intervention of science or non-human-intelligence, one cannot alter the nature of a species. The encouragement that keeps my spirits up is a certainty that the science of genetic re-engineering is creeping closer. I wish to record here that my own contribution on the human path of a practical kind included the invention of the world's first Neurocomputer (The Richter Paradigm Computer) modeled on the human brain, the invention of the Solid State Drive (SSD) of computers that became the world standard, the invention of the USB or 'thumb-drive' and five books analyzing the way in which a far too large a part of our human population live in physical uncertainty, poverty and fear. Each book attempts to show ways or to provide any method, awareness or means to help, in even the least way, to dig a pathway out to a more 'humane' existence.

Anthony J Richter October 2024

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