To me, the word I often associate with renewable is rejuvenate. There's an element of mystery with the latter, in my view. Consider the fact that anything that's created progresses towards death or destruction, both natural and man-made objects. But the progression can be quite varied depending on a myriad of factors.
For example, natural creations tend to have a less clear-cut or straightforward progression. Sometimes, they seem to be suspended along their journey towards deconstruction.
Other times, they move at rapid speed towards that destination or even seem to be going backwards, as if delaying their inevitable end.
Of course, the actual example I'm hinting at here is the human body, this intricate system that every now and then loves to defy the normal order of things.
Man-made objects, on the other hand, are more predictable, especially when you know the basis of their creation. Besides, I think we humans are quite simplistic in that regard. Most of the objects we've created are designed to make our lives easier.
Mechanical Intervention
An example could be a car. It's engineered with a lifespan in mind; parts can be replaced, and the vehicle can undergo maintenance to extend its utility. And its design dictates a predictable cycle of use, wear, and eventual obsolescence or recycling.
Unlike the human body, which unfortunately can't be recycled although it might rejuvenate or heal in mysterious ways, a car's parts are straightforward in their function; they either work or they don't, and their repair or replacement is a matter of mechanical or electronic intervention.
In a way, we're almost completely rational in our creation process, although we always take into account certain conditions, which when exceeded can lead to an abrupt end to our creation.
A car can be built to last for many years under normal driving conditions, but unexpected variables like accidents or extreme weather can abruptly change its lifecycle.
If we contrast that with nature's resilience, then there's an interesting gap of difference, in that the lifecycle of natural entities is always influenced by an array of unpredictable or unseen factors.
If you spend a long time doing something, you're bound to be good at it. I wonder if fire is the first thing humans learned to create or is it the wheel?
Evolving Evolution
We've come a long way since mastering these basic elements, and now our creations are much more sophisticated, yet they still reflect our initial ingenuity and our ongoing quest for control over our environment. Have we ever changed at all?
At first glance, it definitely seems that our fundamental drives and methods of creation have remained consistent over millennia.
In that, we still seek to control, predict, and improve our environment to make our lives easier, just as our ancestors did when they harnessed fire or invented the wheel.
The difference however is that now the scope and sophistication of our creations have evolved dramatically. We now create systems that mimic and even surpass natural processes. An example is Artificial Intelligence(AI).
I think this relatively new invention brings us to a fascinating point in our creation journey, our technological prowess has landed us on uncharted territory and one of the realizations we had is entertaining the possibility that our creations could reflect a consciousness of their own and we might be mere catalysts on setting in motion processes that we cannot fully comprehend or control.
So now we're more or less at a cusp that's quite similar to having a child that begins to be a teenager and has a mind of his/her own, making them less controllable and more autonomous compared to before when they were just a child.
What challenges and opportunities lie ahead?
P.S I started this post with "Renewable Money" as the meta, but the flow of words that trickled led me somewhere else....
Thanks for reading!! Share your thoughts below on the comments.
