"How can you justify living so close to humans?" A human living in the town of Span asked me this after discovering that I fought alongside General Bonaparte in the Beast Wars.
I do not justify living among humans. I just live among humans.
Man is genetically engineered to need answers. From an evolutionary standpoint, this makes sense. The cave man who investigated the cave before bedding down for the night lived longer than the one who assumed it was safe.
Man is weak. A predisposition for caution coded into his DNA must be forgiven. It is unfortunate, though, that this safety mechanism has metastasized to engulf his social traits as well.
To a man, every fact is viewed as a consequence of some prior action, itself a consequence of a previous action, ad infinitum. This speaks to the unique nature of Man as the world's first truly social beast.
Shortly after Man discovered fire and came out of their caves, the world showed them they were prey. They are soft. Their meat bursts with flavor. Their flesh yields so readily to tooth and claw. They found protection in the ideals of the herd: grouping and vigilance.
Expanding the herd became their prime genetic directive. Breeding can only take a herd so far. Ne, fresh genes are needed to keep the group strong. So Man becomes a master of being social. I postulate, cities, commerce, entertainment, even conversations are products of this imperative to expand the herd.
The problem with overly successful genetic tactics within an ecosystem is that one creatures success upsets the balance of the entire biome. When this happens, the ecosystem tries to self-correct.
Man becomes the most successful prey animal in social history; socialization being its key to success. Evolution corrects by introducing social predators: liars, schemers, deceivers. Man bolsters its defense against these enemies in its own ranks through the introduction of its single most powerful invention: Philosophy.
This never-ending search for truth is, at once, a weapon and a safeguard. It is, also, ultimately useless. Before embarking on the long quest for truth; one must remember that this "Love of Wisdom" stems from the genetic needs of an inferior species.
Had Man been a predator instead of prey, he would not have the need for skittish curiosity. Had he evolved to be bigger, stronger, faster, he would never have needed to weave the social web, in which the truth of the world becomes subjective, making Man defensively, justifiably, incapable of trust.
Had Man been born a predator, had he evolved along normal evolutionary lines, he would have the ability to live in the now and have no reason to cast about for reasons for every single event in the universe.
I live among humans because they live where I live. I fight beside them because there is a battle. Justification is unnecessary.
The truth of the universe is this: That which is, is. Animals respond to the threat before them. Man navel-gazes, wondering what is the true threat and grasping at possible futures that will spin from every possible action.
Inaction is what separates predator from prey.
-Brigadier S. Jack, Army of Bonaparte (Ret.)
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