Neanderthal man speaks after 30,000 years

If you ever wondered if the human race has made progress in 30,000 years or not, try listening to the sound of Neanderthal man that has just been reconstructed:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/04/16/neanderthal.sound/index.html

Its interesting what a factor “speech” and “language” plays in social progress.  It fascinates me that the scriptures of the Bahai Faith mention three specific “signs” for the maturity of the human race, and one of these is that all the people in the world will be able to communicate with each other using the same language (that is everyone would still learn their “mother tongue”, but we would also learn a language that was common to everyone on the planet — either one of the existing languages to be agreed upon, or a new one).  I saw an entire country change by applying this principle — I grew up in Singapore which, a few decades ago, had different races of people speaking 4 different languages.  The government then introduced into all the school systems a policy of teaching children English as a common language for everyone in the country, as well as mandatory education in another of the 3 languages spoken (usually the “mother tongue” of the child).  Anyway, no need to comment on the progress Singapore has made in the past few decades   I’m sure being able to understand each other was one among many factors but surely an important one.

Now we can only hope that whatever common language the whole human race  may eventually adopt is not as frog sounding as the Neanderthals

The link between belief and behavior (Case Study: global warming)

CO2 is the exhaling breath of the global economy. Changing this will require an unprecedented and united global effort. Which, in turn, will require a higher level of global consciousness. This is the inevitable direction we’re heading, and we should be privileged that our generation has the opportunity to achieve it.

That’s my best summary of the message in Al Gore’s new slideshow. The question of how belief and behavior are linked is a central one for this blog, and we’ll have more to stay on it, and look forward to your comments, in the coming posts. For now, here’s Al:

So how do we go about achieving a new level of global consciousness? In Gore’s 1992 book, he points out various philosophies and Faith movements that could inspire us in this direction, including the Baha’i Faith:

One of the newest of the great universalist religions, Baha’i, founded in 1863 in Persia by Mirza Husayn Ali, warns us not only to properly regard the relationship between humankind and nature but also the one between civilization and the environment. Perhaps because its guiding visions were formed during the period of accelerating industrialism, Baha’i seems to dwell on the spiritual implications of the great transformation to which it bore fresh witness:

“We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world. His inner life molds the environment and is itself deeply affected by it. The one acts upon the other and every abiding change in the life of man is the result of these mutual reactions.”

And, again, from the Baha’i sacred writings comes this:“Civilization, so often vaunted by the learned exponents of arts and sciences will, if allowed to overleap the bounds of moderation, bring great evil upon men.”

What do you see as the role of religion in addressing climate change or other global issues?