apes iṋ a labcoat: biological devolution

ϑ’last 300 years or so ago, ϑere was a movement towards a new value system, on̅e ϑat moved away from rigid social hierarchy, religion, regressive tax systems, unchallanged torture, in favour of utilitarianism, capitalism, reason, technological progress, individualism. itꝬ a movement ϑat has spread so globally we take it for granted, ⅋ut put beside ϑ’rest of human history, we can see how radical & unnatural ϑis project really was. as Marxists we’re always looking forward, pursue a better future, we døn’t often ϑink to lꙭk back. Project 2025 America seems to give us a glimpse of what seems to be our primal instincts slipping ϑrů ϑ’cracks of the machine, integrating iṋto it. on ϑ’scale of animal & industrial, there is said to be a secondary axis of socialism & barbarism. and itꝬ clear which on̅e has made a comeback. maybe humanity was never meant to be. maybe it was always just an act. apes iṋ a lab coat, apes running a factory, ԙ we really apes ϑat ԙ able to be whatever ϑey decide? ϑ’class conscious have loŋ declared fascism to be a reactionary movement ϑat reflects capitals decay, ⅋ut ϑis conclusion requires us to accept ϑ’Marxist idea ϑat humanity is in flux, iṋ a feedback loop w/ ϑ’environment & class conditions ϑey engineer. for ϑ’last century ϑis has checked out, ⅋ut in ϑis new embrace of what can only be described as religious fervour, our assumptions ԙ yet again brought iṋto quæstion. if we understand other animals to be limited by ϑeir biological instincts, acting only on ϑeir neurons preprogrammed by genomes, structurally organized by nature, who ԙ we to declare we ԙ any different?

this is the question that Different by primatologist Frans de Waal asks., he finds the implications of biological determinism are defeatist and cursed. lucky for us, they are also wrong. Frans says we ԙ just as much bonobo as chimpanzee. sure, we are primates, ⅋ut

We are, in sum, incomplete or unfinished animals who complete or finish ourselves through culture—and not through culture in general but through highly particular forms of it. — Clifford Geertz

even if we return to a purely biological basis for understanding ourselves, zoologist Adolf Portmann wůld point out from a Darwinian perspective ϑat as our need for narrow hips for bipedal walking got iṋ ϑ’way of our brains growing larger, we had to be born “early.” ϑis wůld entail ϑ’idea ϑat our brains are uniquely unwired (for about a year) outside ϑ’womb.

ϑis iꝬ both our biggest strength & weakness - our neurological malleability. just as ϑere iꝬ nø limit to our collective intelligence, there iꝬ nø limit to our idiocy. ϑ’call of barbarism represents a biological devolution… and to Waal’s quæstion of gender - man & woman ԙ animal. humanity lies somewhere iṋ between.

iꝬ ϑis biological cultural link what we felt iṋ our earliest influences? iṋ our teenage years? cůld ϑis be ꝡ music & ϑeir respective scenes end up making up so much of our identity? “ϑere will never be anoϑer album like Icedancer” my ass. yes, my unenlightened twin, music iꝬ sacred!