It dawned on me when I looked at this photograph that we humans are quite absurd creatures. This is a gigantic tomb in the middle of a vast desert created thousands of years ago.
What kind of person or persons says: “I’d like to be buried in the desert when I die and I want half of this hill to be chiseled away by hand so it looks pleasing to my eyes.” Of course lots of people said that throughout history. From Pharaohs to emperors, from kings to priests, from chairmans to party secretaries. We humans want to desperately hold on to a piece of immortality by making others gaze on our last place of rest. No other animals does this. Most of them just die and becomes food for others to consume.
The reason why it is so hard to make people recycle is that it is not in our blood to do so. We don’t recycle our bodies when we die so why should I be concerned about that wooden fork? We are born to this world to make a loud noise and we want the world to know us even after we are gone.
We’ve been taught to leave the world a little bit better than when we found it. But better how? Better according to whom? Lenin thought he did his best as he brought in socialism. Mao thought he excelled because he started the cultural revolution. The guy underneath that rock in the desert thought he did the world a favour by transforming a natural looking roundish rock into a squarish tomb. Straight lines and right angles! That’s the way to make the world more beautiful!
These are legacy projects. Most of them are grand, some are pleasing to the eyes, others are ghastly, some are considered brilliant, others are inherently ill-conceived and mis-guided. We may not be the best judges to their merits. Time may not even be the best judges. They are just simple there. They simply exist for some purpose or no purpose at all.
In the end, I only hope no one is forced to work on another person’s legacy project. I hope no slave labour is used to create that tomb in the desert. I wish we all live as individuals with as much free-will as we can handle.
In modern times, if a super rich billionaire wants to colonize Mars he and his followers can go do that. No problem. If another computer geek believes we need to vaccinate 100% of humanity against future super viruses let him and his followers do that. If a super elite old guy believes the only way for humans to survive is to merge with AI and become a super bionic organism with 100% connectivity then let him and his cronies do that.
Wait a minute! did those last two guys say 100%? That means me! I am not onboard with that! Their legacy projects should not depend on my participation. That is the whole point of free will! Even God cannot violate that. This is why I am against universal controls, universal vaccination, universal connectivity, etc., because they are someone else’s legacy projects.
Let all of us find our own legacy projects. Let’s make sure they do not infringe on other people’s free will. Live and let live, easier said than done.
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