artist’s statement

What might be the current status of life on earth if our species had begun civilization with every person judging their every action by the question Does my action harm earth and life? From the beginning refilling a hole if it is dug, planting a tree if it is cut down, etc. Considering our intelligence, couldn’t we have developed a “comfortable" life for ourselves while not harming other life?

It would be interesting to know how this would have progressed. Homes might be “in and of earth,” multiple half-sphere clay or rock set in random patterns creating no continuous shock lines, by nature the strongest hollow form, intersecting rooms built around centerpoints with a rotating, swiveling rod to guide construction, then covered with topsoil dug from a swale surrounding the house to catch rainfall and become a garden for the occupants. From a birds eye view the home could hardly be noticed. That sort of living could have led over millenia to - where?

We became superstitious, concocting religions, business, and government and ownership to benefit certain sections or individuals of our species while harming others. We encrusted the lands and poisoned the air, water and lands. We deforested and plowed the topsoil. We tunneled and removed the minerals, purified and changed them and returned nothing, abandoning the mines and their detritus. We killed most wildlife and our harshly-treated farmed animals outweigh all other animal life. We became an infestation covering the planet. Now we have invented AI and I wonder if it can tell us how to heal ourselves and the planet.

Is there a return to balance possible for humanity and the planet? Or are we simply a terminating parasite? A suicide species? If so, we are doing a bang-up job, but is species-wide metamorphosis into non-harm of earth and life possible? Is this even a question that can be answered?