![]() ![]() For Bronowski the Ascent of Man was the story of man's freedom-his gradual emancipation from nature. We may look up at the sky through the lenses of a scientific world-view, but the brain which receives the signals is an organism imprinted with several million years of evolutionary terrors: of animals, strange signs in the skies and the omnipresence of imminent death. As homo sapiens, we are the product not of one millennium, but of at least a thousand. ![]() Only this creature achieved language, and this gave him mastery of himself and nature. There were an unknown number of hominid competitors, which were gradually reduced to two and then-100,000 years ago-to one: homo sapiens. This released their hands to use tools, increasing their food production capacity, their brain size, their superiority over other ape and animal competitors. It began over 4m years ago with the emergence of hominid species in Africa-furry, ape-like creatures who began the human ascent, about 1m years later, by standing on their hindlegs. For Bronowski, the Ascent of Man was the story of human evolution. That great educator and scientist, Jacob Bronowski, made it the title of his famous BBC documentary. The Ascent of Man may be an idea we had better do without. What do you mean, Man? What about Woman? And which Man? Surely not the European conquerors? And Ascent? Surely you're not implying that western civilisation is superior to everything that's gone before? And so on. Modern political correctness has lodged a suspicion in our mind about the Ascent of Man. Do we still believe in the story of progress? It sits in the attic of our minds like a glorious Victorian antique, as magnificent as a stuffed moose head and just as useless. We now live in ironic, anti-heroic times. The narrative of human progress was understood to be both a material and a moral process not just changing our technologies, but altering our instincts-and for the better. The thinkers of the Enlightenment wanted to replace the Biblical account of time (Genesis, Creation, Fall, Redemption) with a myth which put Man, not God, at the centre of the story. Progress became a theme in European thought in about 1750. These are works of grand humanist affirmation they affirm an idea of human progress, of man becoming master of himself and the world around. The theme allows us to see the lineage which connects, say, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Mahler's Second and Tippett's The Mask of Time. Prompted by these millennial and celestial conjunctions, the BBC is taking the Ascent of Man as the theme of the last Prom of this millennium. Come 31st December, most of the human race will be like children in the back seat of the family car, peeking over their parents' shoulders as all the nines on the speedo suddenly turn to zero and we find ourselves racing along the road of a new millennium. ![]() A time for still larger thoughts is looming. It was a moment for large thoughts-about how far we had come since our ancestors ran away in fear at the darkened sky, about how science has changed the way we feel about nature: panic turning into wonder or into that quintessential modern emotion, disenchantment. On 11th august, hundreds of millions of people, from the Caribbean to the Bay of Bengal, stared skywards to watch the sun go dark. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |