HOW MUCH IS HUMAN?
IN a recent Science News article by Tina Saey entitled “Most human DNA is not unique to us,” I read that “only 1.5 percent to 7 percent of the collective human genetic instruction book, or genome, contains uniquely human DNA.” Eh? So, in spite of my artistic-humanism sense of being wholly human, I’m actually only less than 10% human? Maybe 20% animal? Or 20% plant (I don’t look green though I do enjoy the sun). Or, as touted in a 10 April 2018 BBC article by James Gallagher entitled “More than half your body is not human,” “human cells make up only 43% of the body’s total cell count. The rest are microscopic colonists. … bacteria, viruses, fungi and archaea.” Double Eh? I mean, okay, but what’s left? And if so little of what makes a human human is human, then what are we, really?
That led me to re-wonder about the odds that other “humans” exist in the universe. If, in fact, less than 10% of what we are genetically contributes directly to our being human, then the evolutionary contributions of other organisms must be quite hefty, and if, as some are wont to say, our existence depends on an apparently unlikely sequence of cosmic moments, then I suspect the odds of meeting another intelligent (or as intelligent or unintelligent as we?) humanoid are quite slim indeed. It would be far more likely that any intelligent (or as unintelligent as we) life would be quite dissimilar in virtually every aspect, making effective communication unlikely. Hey! We haven’t yet figured out how to, or even if we are, effectively communicating with other apes, much less whales, elephants or dolphins, and even less so plants and, horrors, bacteria. Do I really want to hear about the tribulations of bacteria fighting to survive in my sore throat?
The topic of what is human, is at the very core of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, as is the concept of effective communication at mental, emotional, physical and spiritual levels. Now these are topics I personally deem worthy of a Sci-Fu (Science-Based Futuring) novel where plausibility further begs the question and the characters are constantly acting based on what little or great they actually know. Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese left off, NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
Purchased for manga, animation and cinematic treatment by K. Simmons Productions
That led me to re-wonder about the odds that other “humans” exist in the universe. If, in fact, less than 10% of what we are genetically contributes directly to our being human, then the evolutionary contributions of other organisms must be quite hefty, and if, as some are wont to say, our existence depends on an apparently unlikely sequence of cosmic moments, then I suspect the odds of meeting another intelligent (or as intelligent or unintelligent as we?) humanoid are quite slim indeed. It would be far more likely that any intelligent (or as unintelligent as we) life would be quite dissimilar in virtually every aspect, making effective communication unlikely. Hey! We haven’t yet figured out how to, or even if we are, effectively communicating with other apes, much less whales, elephants or dolphins, and even less so plants and, horrors, bacteria. Do I really want to hear about the tribulations of bacteria fighting to survive in my sore throat?
The topic of what is human, is at the very core of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, as is the concept of effective communication at mental, emotional, physical and spiritual levels. Now these are topics I personally deem worthy of a Sci-Fu (Science-Based Futuring) novel where plausibility further begs the question and the characters are constantly acting based on what little or great they actually know. Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese left off, NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
Purchased for manga, animation and cinematic treatment by K. Simmons Productions
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