There are few elements in our lives, that we take as granted as water and soil. But if you actually spend more than one thought about them you will quickly realize how wrong you can be. But first things first:
Water. All terrestrial water we have today has extraterrestrial origin. This fact alone is crazy, considering the sheer quantitude of this substance we can find, either preserved as ice, liquid as water and gas like as steam or condensate. It is also the only known element that allows these three states, not just in general, but also very conveniently in a range of about 100° of Celsius, which is not too much in our physical framework. It’s furthermore interesting, that life itself seems to have originated in water conditions in an early stage of our planetary development. Even more interesting, that you can almost preserve simple organisms, deep-frozen in ice, for a very long time, if not almost infinitely long. The assumption, that ice-like structures with deep frozen organisms on board directly aimed at our position is therefore not even half as crazy, as you would normally think if you speak it out loud.
Life in Water is hardcore. Conditions in deep sea are even more extreme than in space. Almost no light, freezing cold and pressure beyond good and evil are just a few physical preterminations waiting for you down there. It is therefore highly interesting that not just one branch of our genetic tree adapted to these conditions in particular. An example is of course calmari and octopi, jellyfish and even more curiosity wakening, whales. Why are whales and dolphins adapted to life in water in general? Technically they are mammals, warm blooders with lungs, while Crustaceans and spineless animals like jellyfish and octopi even branch out much further than one ecosystem that extreme would usually make you assume. In other words: Former land going animals decided, that after breaking up with their first ecosystem, growing bigger and stronger on land over a span of time that wasn’t probably even that short, going back there and betraying their second ecosystem to live like kings was a way of life. For those animals who stayed there after their first creation, like crusticians, jellyfish but also octopi and sharks this must seem very alien, almost treasonous. The differences between those animals are also anything but small, considering the rather small diversity between mammals and insects, maybe birds too, living on land.
But these oddities are not even that crazy, considering what happened after our ancestors decided to leave this place. Plants, as common we may perceive them sometimes, meant a major step in creation of a whole new ecosystem, with all pro and cons. There are few people who know that trees almost managed destroy live in general on this planet. Major overpopulation, lacking natural enemies and not yet invented waste procession were tough nuts to crack. At some point there was so much biomass with bound hydrogen elements, that new trees wouldn’t find new spaces to exist, other plants must have experiences a tough time time too with these neighbours. When the molecule was finally able to be processed the amount of gas created with this process, meant a major change climate conditions. Most living entities could not adapt in time and died out. The first gas chamber with genocide on top took it’s casualties.
But crazy coincident don’t stop there. Our own development, especially those we perceive as culturally important, are very well connected to water, soil and plants. The invention of hydration systems in agriculture was a milestone in population numbers. Was early life still limited by hunters and their ability to work in groups or tribes together, meant having farming as an addition, if not substitute, that more humans than ever were able to survive under early conditions. This meant major changes in tribe culture and hierarchies. Further steps or layers had to be implemented to organize and coordinate work efficiently. It is therefore even more interesting that those first super culture were connected to pyramids, which would not only represent the new hierarchal structure in politics, religion and business, but also food supply and agricultural hydration methods.
Our historical knowledge of that time, while being a major milestone in collecting and archiving knowledge and information, is still limited. But what we can say for certain is, that several major religions align that major events shook these early high cultures by surprise. The pharaoh was plagued with insects, destroying important farmland and crops, causing major parts of the population to die out in a very short amount of time. But other cultures, like the Mesopotamian empire, the byzantine empire and other, at first highly successful agricultural empires experienced similar events, maybe not as well preserved and delivered from generation to generation over span of millennia, but still historically recognizable. What we do know is, that even in early byzantine times it was common knowledge that the “new” generation had issues with traditions their predecessors implemented. It is therefore, again highly curious, that so many generation saw fit and necessity to deliver this knowledge in particular to the next generation.
But mankind’s culture and civilisation furthermore adapted into more and more empires, dynasties, kingdoms and god knows what. Greek and Roman Empire were also known for highly advanced agricultural techniques and aqueducts, seemingly coincidently copying mushroom like lifeforms. And i can only presume with the limited knowledge i have about other civilisations, meaning the native american (as a whole continent), but also Asian, to have had similar experiences with the rise, bloom and fall of empires connected to farming crops.
To this day agriculture is a major part of our food supply, income source, merchant ware and stock portfolio. It is connected to the chemical industries, providing herbicides and fertilizer, the automobile industry, providing farm equipment, the oil industry, fueling both previously mentioned industries and their predecessing industries like mining, providing rare earths and metals, as well as transportation and infrastructure. You could rightfully assume that they are, still, on top of our hierarchical pyramid. And now with tensions rising again, probably the engine of recent developments.
Let us therefore hope, that they haven’t lost interest in their own pet project and carry the gravity of their own responsibility with the expected dignity and wisdom.
Laeyzii's Leftovers 