Much as we like to celebrate the fact that all humans are essentially the same, our reactions show that we are not. Homo naledi holds up a mirror not to unchanging human nature: it would reveal very different things to a southern creationist, a Victorian bishop, and a secular 2015 Guardian reader. These bones remind us that it is our nature to change, and that what the human species becomes in the future is at least in part in our own hands.
ReadI’m not suggesting that we should prioritise the preservation of artefacts over the saving of human lives. If I had to choose, I’m sure I’d pull a person from a burning building before a Picasso. But that does not mean to care about the destruction of our heritage is to care about things more than we do people. Rather, it is to care about people as more than just biological things.
ReadI’ve written a PhD thesis on the self and later a book, and whenever I talk about it I go on about how the most credible and widely accepted theory (among philosophers, at least) is counter-intuitive and hard to grasp. Then some cartoon comes along which makes the key points intelligible to children. Inside Out has turned my world upside down.
ReadOur reassurance that we have lived life to the full should not come from being able to list an impressive number of exceptional experiences. It should come from knowing that we have appreciated as many moments as we could, as deeply as we could.
ReadIf we don’t think about it too much, we are easily deluded into thinking it’s obvious and unproblematic what life after death means. We all know what it means to be alive, so surely life after death simply means that we carry on living like this on the other side of the grave. But if you think about for more than a few seconds, this quickly becomes nonsensical.
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