To: dtletters@telegraph.co.uk |
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Dear Editors,
I liked very
much indeed
what you wrote
in Monday's
leader, "Naked
ambition",
about "it
[being] the
exercise of
free will, in
opposition to
our baser
promptings,
that makes us
human". Which,
you go on to
say, "is why
the rest of us
admire the
Edwardses and
Cracknells and
Fogles. In
transcending
their animal
instincts,
they elevate
and ennoble us
all".
Despite most
of us paying
lip-service to
Darwin and
what he taught
us about man's
animal
origins, we
are not facing
up to the
profound
implications
for
understanding
individual,
social and
economic human
behaviour.
There are very
powerful
forces -
within us and
built into the
system
- keeping us
from doing so.
It should not
surprise us
that our
socio-economic
order is deeply rooted
in our animal
nature. How
could it be
otherwise? But
we are loath
to face up to
the vitally
important
implication
that this
makes it
fundamentally
unsustainable
on a planet
with limited
natural
resources and
a finite
carrying
capacity -
despite it
staring us in
the face and
already
impacting on
our lives.
If we want our
children and
coming
generations to
survive (and
prosper), we
all - as a
society - (not
just a few
individualists)
have to "transcend
our animal
instincts" and
create a
sustainable
socio-economic
order rooted
in our more
enlightened,
human nature.
It is the
biggest
challenge that
mankind has
ever faced.
Our children
and coming
generations
depend on us
rising to it.
At the moment,
however, we
are still
struggling to
remain in/come
out of denial.
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