Brittany Douglas-External Reading #2

“Ishmael”

In his book Ishmael, Daniel Quinn shares his beliefs on the human race via the words of a giant, telepathic gorilla. One of the most remarkable points he makes is that man has stopped the process of evolution. Most humans believe man is destined to rule the earth. Quinn says we formed this view following the development of agriculture. He believes man used to “live in the hands of the gods;” however, we now believe that we are the gods that rule the earth. By developing the ability to sustain ourselves by creating surpluses of food, we no longer have to faithfully depend on nature to feed us daily. Because we have taken matters into our own hands, we have been unable to evolve. But what if we did evolve further? What would we look like? Would our mindsets change? Men and women from a century ago look recognizably different than the average person does today. Both clothing style and facial structure are different. What will humans look like a century from now? What if the human did evolve? What if we became bigger, stronger, more intelligent creatures? Will the world exist long enough to foster this? We will never know.