We are a species addicted - History is a process of metamorphosis (Terence Mckenna)

This video is simply amazingly insightful, and the message extremely pertinent.



Our unhappy addicted ego driven condition has become not simply the source of our own unhappiness that was bad enough but now its the source of great discomfort and dislocation for all life and human society on the planet. We are out of control. We are basically severely addicted to things, and cant not stop ourselves. And we know, or we should know, that there is not enough petroleum or heavy metals in the planet to give all the thing addicts all the things that we know they must have in order to be happy

We have spread this intellectual virus from pole to pole, from Turkmenistan Borneo, to the upper amazon to the Himalayas, what are we going to do about this? Well so far we've been treating this like an endless garden party, there's no serious plan on the table to deal with this at all.

Culture is a shabby lie. Well at least this culture is a shabby lie. If you work like a dog you get 260 channels of bad television and a German automobile, what sort of perfection is that? Religion is completely devalued, and consumer object fetishism is the only value that we collectively recognize. I'm sure you've seen the T-shirt that says 'he who dies with the most toys wins' That is in fact the banner under which we are all flying here. And the level of unhappiness is immense, I mean the level of unhappiness between the poor they've always been miserable, but we've created something entirely new in the human history, and utterly miserable ruling class!

Where is life carrying us? What is this all about? its is carrying us towards extinction so the rest of nature can heave an enormous sign of relief and get back to the business of whatever they are doing out there, or is it in fact carrying us towards some kind of transition?

No one of us, I think, can imagine that history could go on for another thousand years. I mean, what would it look like? At the current rate of population growth, spread of epidemic disease, rate of invention, connectivity, depletion of resources, the atmosphere… it is impossible to conceive of another thousand years of human history. History, then, is ending. History is a kind of gestation process; it’s a kind of metamorphosis; it’s an episode in the life of a species.

If you think of the simple example of metamorphosis – that of caterpillar to butterfly – we all know that there is this intermediate resting stage where the caterpillar is, for all practical purposes, enzymatically dissolved, and then reconstituted as an entirely different kind of organism, with different physical structures, different eyes, different legs, a different way of breathing; with wings, where no wings were before; with a different kind of feeding apparatus – this is what’s happening to us! History is a process of metamorphosis. It’s a pupation stage. It begins with naked monkeys, and it ends with a human machine planet-girdling interface capable of releasing the energies that light the stars! And it lasts about fifteen or twenty thousand years, and during that period the entire process hangs in the balance. It’s a period of high risk. It’s like what a butterfly is doing in a cocoon, or what is happening to a child in the womb: it’s a gestation process, where one form of life is being changed into another.

Op Link went dead, it's been re-uploaded:

History is a process of metamorphosis.

Actually history never changes, it happened its done.

There is no process involved with it.

Originally posted by HopechestActually history never changes, it happened its done.

There is no process involved with it.

The process is an ongoing one. History is merely documenting it. It starts with naked monkeys on the planes of Africa and it ends with a human-machine planet girdling interface capable of releasing the energies that light the stars, able to launch an extra-steller superconducting device with all of humanity on board being run as a virtual simulation in circuitry.

Ok I'm paraphrasing the video completely there, but that seems to be Mckennas point.

Originally posted by ZeuZZ

Originally posted by HopechestActually history never changes, it happened its done.

There is no process involved with it.

The process is an ongoing one. History is merely documenting it. It starts with naked monkeys on the planes of Africa and it ends with a human-machine planet girdling interface capable of releasing the energies that light the stars, able to launch an extra-steller superconducting device with all of humanity on board being run as a virtual simulation in circuitry.

Ok I'm paraphrasing the video completely there, but that seems to be Mckennas point.

The video is basically just a Doom & Gloom video. This man is taking the human condition and simply applying negative connotations to it when in fact, it is that ego centric view that has led to wonderful breakthroughs in medicine and technology that help humans everyday.

Certainly there are negatives but there are also positives yet the narrator chooses to ignore the positives. He also doesn't acknowledge the fact that humans have a major survival instinct and will not wipe themselves out. They are smart enough to endure.

If we use up our current resources we will find new ones or simply move to another planet. By the time we actually run out of resources or ideas we should have that technology available.

Originally posted by Hopechest

Originally posted by ZeuZZ

Originally posted by HopechestActually history never changes, it happened its done.

There is no process involved with it.

The process is an ongoing one. History is merely documenting it. It starts with naked monkeys on the planes of Africa and it ends with a human-machine planet girdling interface capable of releasing the energies that light the stars, able to launch an extra-steller superconducting device with all of humanity on board being run as a virtual simulation in circuitry.

Ok I'm paraphrasing the video completely there, but that seems to be Mckennas point.

The video is basically just a Doom & Gloom video. This man is taking the human condition and simply applying negative connotations to it when in fact, it is that ego centric view that has led to wonderful breakthroughs in medicine and technology that help humans everyday.

Certainly there are negatives but there are also positives yet the narrator chooses to ignore the positives. He also doesn't acknowledge the fact that humans have a major survival instinct and will not wipe themselves out. They are smart enough to endure.

If we use up our current resources we will find new ones or simply move to another planet. By the time we actually run out of resources or ideas we should have that technology available.

I starred that post as I agree with it. I think the point of the video is not quite what you are making out though, even though the first few minutes are negative it ends on a rather positive note for our future.