Back in the nineteenth century, in France, an inventor named Chardonnet, working closely with Louis Pasteur (best known for avoiding tuberculosis), developed a method of making a material called Rayon from wood. He was trying to create artificial silk, and to cut out the tricky involvement of silkworms feeding on White Mulberry trees in production of natural ‘organic’ silk.
In the general scheme of things, making things industrially in urban environments instead of the complicated and messy business of gathering harvests from rural fields of agricultural activities seemed to be a good idea. Human civilisations have always preferred to find ways of imagining nature can be controlled and improved upon by humanity
In this month of Valentine’s Day, we speak of the ideal of natural love. Red roses, blue violets (actually they are violet, but let’s not quibble about that right now) and the consequent and vital result of the survival of our species: the making of children. We make quite a fuss about the symbols of love and marriage (Horses and carriages no longer being essential) such as hearts, and flowers, diamonds and pearls, and even poetry and perfume.
Just as we can manufacture art (ificial) silk, we can get AI (artificial intelligence) generated love poems to accompany synthesised perfumes, cultured pearls, zirconium imitation sparklers, plastic and permanent flowers, we can, it seems, improve on almost every aspect of the world of which we have not yet mastered our control.
We have known we can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, just as making gold from base metal (though possible using advanced nuclear physics) is not worth attempting. What seems most significant is what we consider our best endeavours can turn out to do us the greatest harm.
In this shortest month of each year, we have tended to focus upon having children. What else is the most common outcome of heterosexual interaction? It is true of plants, of humans and of other animals. Not only do we depend upon our offspring to secure our long-term future, but – particularly in human civilisation – we need the newer generations to care for their elders who are no longer able to work to support their own needs.
It is truly a crisis when we see – around the world – women are having fewer children and doing so later in life. Of course, it makes sense that in today’s circumstances it is more responsible to build up resources to support children, just as a farmer fertilises the soil for plants and develops pastures for grazing, which goes beyond the need to think of generations of our families into the future. And it’s not just for humans that there are challenges facing life on our planet that threaten mass extinction. Whereas the old notion that a Western family was Mum, Dad and two point four children, it is now more common that women will, on average, have less than one point four children, we are reflecting a worldwide trend towards falling birthrates. Animals too are showing lower fertility rates.
And for almost two centuries we’ve rejoiced at the inventions humans believed put us in control of everything. Unfortunately, since Chardonnet and Rayon, our plastics and laboratory-developed miracles have filled the world with ‘forever chemicals’ which interfere with hormones and vital aspects of our planet’s atmosphere. Male and female animals, including humans, are heading towards extinction through infertility.
But don’t worry. We’ve developed the technology to create laboratory grown meat. Animal flesh without consciousness. Lamb leg-steak in a Petri dish. You can’t bleat it.
And tomorrow? The artificial human heart.
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