HIPPOKRATIS KIARIS
The book “Culture, Evolution, and Menopause” focuses on the crossroads of anthropology, the history of civilization, and evolutionary biology. Culture and biology appear to have antagonized each other since the earliest stages of human history. Is this actually the case? Once the reproductive age is past, does nature have any “purpose” in prolonging life? A prominent biologist examines how humans have always tried to overcome the burden of biological limits by developing science, technology—and communities. By now, humans have defeated the typical logic that guides evolution by canceling the translation of potential differences in biological performance (fitness) into differences in reproductive success. This disruption of the link between biology and fate results in an existentialist crisis; to resolve it, people must re-examine their position in the world and their individual and collective goals.
Civilizations can be perceived as living human beings that are born, mature, age, and ultimately die and disappear, passing their legacy to the future generations. These transitions may be projected to the different stages of cognitive development of children. The Western Civilization, which embodies our current state of cultural advancement from the Classic Greek to the modern period, can be paralleled by the gradual transitions of human beings toward adulthood. From this perspective, the ancient Greek era resembles the toddler years of humanity at which the first “why”-type questions are being asked. The theocratic period that followed until the Renaissance can be seen as our childhood, when people lived their lives under the tight boundaries set by religious authorities. The period spanning from the Enlightenment until almost the end of the 20th century can be considered as our teenage years when people rediscover their past, are liberated from superstition, and set the path forward based on reason by a manner at which the distinction between plausible and feasible is vague. Within this scheme, postmodernism also finds its place in our teenhood. The last few decades, from this perspective, signify our entrance to adulthood at which major questions are considered answered, or at least settled, and the only path forward perceived as feasible is the one that is followed already, a state that is bringing us closer to our intellectual aging and its inevitable death. Some signs of aging-related pathologies are already manifested in today’s technology-intensive society. By identifying our intellectual age and by appreciating our health status, we may be able to proactively delay or even avert our intellectual aging and death.
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(.....In 2020, the world experienced the COVID-19 pandemic, the deadliest event of our lifetime. The development of a vaccine was announced in late 2020, but deaths will continue increasing, and it will take a few years until normality, as we knew it, returns. As of December 2020, more than 1.5 million people died from COVID-19 worldwide. In the U.S. alone, the most advanced technologically and the world’s wealthiest country, the death toll approached 300,000 cases. In China, on the other hand, in which the pandemic originated, COVID-19 related deaths were about 5,000. The difference is even more striking if numbers are expressed as fractions of the total population. In the United States, with approximately 330 million people, COVID-19 deaths accounted for about 1 in every 1,000 people. In China, however, with a population of 1.4 billion, deaths by COVID-19 were less than 1 in 300,000 people. The two countries responded to COVID-19 differently. .........) (....... a leader in one domain of life is a follower in another. One can be— and most of the times actually is—a military leader and an economic follower at the same time, or concomitantly a political leader and a religious follower. Thus, the number of available leadership roles is high. This way, the attraction and tendency for leadership of the most possible people are being satisfied, the society operates smoothly, and turmoil is minimized.)
