Preface
Earth is an uncommonly lovely planet. Though subject to sporadic mass extinction events, Earth has hosted a lushness in life seldom seen. This watery, rocky orb about the Sun is truly a rare jewel.
The availability of freshwater regulates the diffusion and diversity of animals on land. Whereas moist times abet dispersal of terrestrial species, aridity sprouts spurts of speciation.
In one episode, an ape came down from the trees and pursued a global diaspora. We watched with fascination. This creature was unlike any other. It seemed an awfully odd experiment in obfuscated mind construction: setting the bar to self-realization too high.
A tragicomedy, humans. As quickly as they could, they wiped themselves out. The wry irony is that they considered themselves an epitome of intellect and reason.
The story of men is a tale of hubris. Education, wisdom, and comity should have been their abiding priorities, as they were when these apes were descending into humanity.
Instead, exploitation, profit, and power over others became the chief concerns of men. Compounding their error, men took liberty from women, their brightest jewel.
Our chronicle begins with the biology that defined the Earther experience. The plethora of ape races that converged to call themselves human adapted physically and mentally to the habitats they faced, and to each other.
The physical adaptations that crafted Earthers are remarkable. But they pale in comparison to the cerebral constructs which set the vector of their existence.
Human mental limitations were an incongruity to the physical power which Earthers garnered, via technologies, to alter their world. This disconnect is especially jarring considering the arrogance of men. What men considered their unique strengths were instead their worst weaknesses.
Like baboons, dominance hierarchies defined how human sociality worked. Civilizations emerged late and ossified into a primitive form.
Plutocracy ruled political economy throughout history. The collective discipline that would have ensured equity and prosperity for endless generations eluded Earthers.
Modernity added a chimeric gloss of justice in the guise of democracy. Popular elections provided a frustration vent but altered societal dynamics in only token gestures. Unknowing to the end, Earthers elected to kill themselves off.
Despite the temporal brevity of their existence, the archive of Earthers is extensive. They did love to show off.
What we have done in this brief volume is to distill the human chronicle down to a sketch of what transpired, with emphasis on the psychology – the ‘why’ – of what happened.
~ The Scribes of Sculptor (Planet Signore of Beta Sculptoris, Galaxy NGC 253)
