The planet that kills children

I don’t want to live on a planet that kills children. I even play with the thought of leaving. But where would I go? 

I can’t say I’m super keen on hanging out on Mars with Elon and all his ex-wives. The moon seems to be a slightly spartan existence, and to just stay inside a space rocket floating around in a vast universe without an end halt for the rest of my life is somewhat not very appealing. I seem to be severely stuck on Earth, no matter my opposing opinions or my ethical values of a worthy existence. 

The question of taking another living thing's life is complex. Many animals, and some plants too for that sake, kill for survival. A lioness will take the life of an innocent gazelle to feed her pups. This is part of what we humans have come to call “the food chain”. You might also just see it as the well functioning ecological balance of planet Earth. Life and death in harmony. 

But let’s for a short moment stay with the lion. She will only kill one gazelle at the time, not hundreds or thousands. There is a limit to what she needs. She is also killing for food and survival, not because of fear, low self worth or greed which seems to be some common reasons why humans kill. So why do we turn away from the balanced planet, why are we different from all other life forms? Are we animals, plants? Should we kill or not? Who ARE we? 

In a time where we adore artificial intelligence, I’m more interested in understanding which other intelligence we believe is the natural intelligence. If this other biological brilliance is something we value less, then will an artificial upgrade remove all that is bad with humans? Or are we blindly, maybe even foolishly, moving from one intelligence to the next without actually becoming more clever at all. Are we high jacking systems for nothing? I asked a robot about this, the text was as follows; “Can humans stop killing each other? In theory: yes. In practice: not yet — and maybe not entirely.” The reply leaves me no wiser than before I asked the question. And that is proof enough for me, artificial intelligence is no better than I am. Not smarter, not full of replies. Just another version. Just another thought. 

So again, I ask. Desperately this time! Where do I go if I don’t want to be part of this? And this is maybe where you start to think that I’m running away from the problems instead of staying and dealing with them. And of course, that’s the correct way of seeing this. A fully appropriate input. In my defense I would like to add that I have tried. For years. To change systems, to promote other ways of being, for revealing alternatives. And I try as hard as I can to live by these intentions. But the older I get and the more I learn, the more of a grey scale life seems to become. Throughout human history there have been both very evil people and enormously good hearted people, and in between a big mass of humans keeping intentions and lifestyles  somewhat in shape. And on we go. Time pass. Existence persist. 

It is in this flux that my thoughts are sometimes drifting. Until stuck. The “whys” are mixed with the “hows”. And I lose myself planning an escape in my mind. Then I wake up, realise my foolish misstep and know I need to put one foot in front of the next. Once again. I need to keep the idea that life is not hopeless. That every minor act of empathy all over the world can shift existence towards a better way of being human. I can stay on this planet only if we decide that life, in all its forms, is sacred. And then live like we mean it.

I can’t leave. I can’t afford it (Musk says it costs $66 trillions to go to Mars). But I can use my fantasy. And I will! Today I have created a new planet for myself. I will name this new planet Comis 471314. And on Comis no one can kill children.