Are we what we really think we are?

Ok.....if you are reading this post, I expect you to leave your opinion on this matter in the comments section.

We all want to believe that we are a better-evolved human race and a progressive civilization. But are we really so?

I was just wondering that everyone says we are living in 21st century in a highly evolved civilization. But are we? We have super-computers and high-end electronics et al. But should these be the criteria to judge if we are in an evolved race/civilization? Technological explorations are important but they aren’t the be all end all when one has to define the yardstick to measure evolution of race.

My friend articulated the point of evolution in one discussion, saying:
Evolution is the biological and all encompassing sense of the word is defined as: A process of formation, growth or development of an individual or collective in a manner better suited to ensure its existence, sustenance and longevity.
Evolution is a growth achieved out of necessity. Giraffes evolved to be able to eat leaves higher up on trees. The snow leopard evolved to be able to blend in with the snow.

Lets introspect. We are still barbaric in nature...that too fighting not for survival but for supremacy of ideas, beliefs, faith and other such cerebral creations of man that were suppose to aid in social comfort!! Only a lunatic can think of carnage as a way to social well-being!!

I think we are just more selfish than ever before and we have found newer and better tools to fulfill our selfishness!!!
I am not cynical; I am just calling a spade spade!!

Lets talk about India:

21st century Indians:
- Congress, the oldest and the largest political party, thrives on any Tom, Dick and Harry who comes from "Gandhi" family.... their political intelligence not withstanding. And even stupider is the fact that this party wins public votes by leveraging the "Gandhi Sympathy" among the masses!!

- Political parties run on vote banks which are formed by seducing people with temporary satisfaction of needs and the masses accord with the manipulations of the political leaders. Where is the "evolved-thinking-man"?

- Warring outfits kill people to liberate another group of people.....they call it some freedom fight, (with the help of some local leaders endorsing their viewpoints) and it becomes a "struggle" and not the case of mass murder, which it actually is.

- We preach unity but we elect government that works by exploiting the diversity and incongruity in religions/ caste, creed etc.

- We talk of equality but we force reservation without assessing its need and applicability.

- We cry for gender equality and hence demand reservation for women. For over 60 years reservation has failed to achieve its purpose; what makes one think that it will work in the next 5 years?

So much for evolved thinking!!!
Why only India, such absurdities dominate the social fabric across the globe.

Lets look at the larger picture...
- A super-power bombs an oil rich country saying they need it for their prosperity...the bottom-line thus being “kill men to alleviate their sufferings”!! Yeah right!!
To top it all the man who leads this campaign is re-elected as the leader of the super-power!!

- People across the globe are going fanatic over the spread of their religion, forgetting that man created religions and never did religions create men.

- Nations compete for explorations of moon and mars. I have one question: even if you find water there (and even probably a McDonald's outlet) and feel that life can exist there, who will actually board a satellite and relocate to another planet? Not me nor my family. Will you? Thirst for scientific explorations is, no doubt, the key for the progress of the human race; but hey what about those scores of people who are actually dying on this planet for the lack of food and water. If comparable efforts go in this direction, I think then we will push our race on the progressive track!!

- We have even messed up this 3rd rock from the sun. Without listing the obvious details let me sum it up....we have screwed and sucked this planet to death.
Of what good use is all this invention/research if this is what we are eventually going to end up with?

- To compare the scientific progress of different civilizations (in the temporal sense) is easier said than done. I don't think today's race has brains that are scientifically more evolved than the counterparts of previous centuries. Let us not fool ourselves by citing the contemporary scientific expeditions. Look at it this way:
The scientific study and explorations started centuries back. It is only because the studies of previous centuries were available to us that we could progress ahead. Just imagine what if in every century we were reset to the start and had to begin with inventing fire and tools??
We wouldn't have had satellites in this century but for the invention of gravity (/gravitational forces) in the 19th century (or 18th century...I am confused :)) ).
The point is: the scientific progress was started by the minds of the previous civilizations/race and we are only building on it. If anything, those civilizations were definitely not inferior to ours, keeping the relativity of time and the scientific progress in mind.

In fact, the scientific explorations made by older civilizations, then, hardly posed any threat to our eco-system as compared to what we are busy doing now.

We have definitely moved from where the older civilizations were and at a pace that was never imagined. But have we really moved in the direction of becoming a better-evolved race/civilization?

To sum it all, we have ended up in a present where a diminishing future is staring right back us; all this because of our unwarranted and irresponsible screw up of our eco-system. We can't even take care of our eco-system and our immediate social surrounding and we boast of being a higher evolution! We have endangered our own existence in the future!!!

These all leave one question in my mind: Are we evolving or degenerating?