You're Just a Stupid Monkey

Imperfect. Fallible. Irrational. Emotional. Wasteful. But most of all, just plain stupid.

Who am I talking about? Well, you obviously... But also me, and everyone around us. We're not the smart, confident, knowledgeable people we pretend to be - we're all just stupid monkeys living in a world constructed by other stupid monkeys.

The worst part? We don't even think that it's true! We don't acknowledge our own shortcomings or the shortcomings of our species. They're hidden from our view, obscured by overconfidence and buried deep in our subconsciousness.

But in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king - and in a world full of stupid monkeys, the monkey who realizes his or her own ignorance is maybe not king, but at least an informed stupid monkey.

What makes us stupid?

First, we have no idea what's going on or how the universe works. We live on a temperate rock flying through cold, uninhabitable space. Everything we do is based on assumptions and habits, coded into our genetic profile through thousands of years of evolution. We're machines made for survival, not for understanding or discovering meaning. (Hint: there is no meaning.)

Second, we mindlessly spend the precious little time we have on this planet pursuing things that - in hindsight - will be pointless. The 9-to-5, social media, watching TV, complaining about this-or-that political party, or social outrage. What's the point? Is this truly what thousands of generations of our ancestors have prepared us for? To live in a mindless blur of existence?

Third, if there's one thing that's clear from history is that we are consistently wrong - about almost everything. New religions replace old religions, new ideologies replace old ideologies, new priorities replace old priorities, new thoughts replace old thoughts. The only constant is change and the fact that we are generally incorrect.

Finally, we're not just wrong in our thinking and about the things and institutions we build, we're also wrong about ourselves. Our ape brain steers us through a fog of emotions and hidden motives - things that we are not consciously aware of. We think we have good reasons, but we don't. We think we're rational, but we're not. We think we're in control, but to a large extent, that is false.

So what to do?

If there's one redeeming factor for us stupid monkeys it's the fact that we can try, and we can keep trying. We can make an effort, improve ourselves and our surroundings - even if we fail. Or better yet: especially when we fail, and when we keep on failing again and again.

And to try better and to keep trying we need to know what we're dealing with. We need to understand our ignorance, shortcomings, and to see ourselves as a product of nature. Imperfect, fallible, driven by emotions, destined to misconstrue, misunderstand and misinterpret.

This is not an easy message, but it is a needed one. So keep it close - stop sabotaging yourself and others, try to transcend your primate origin.

Remember: You're just a stupid monkey following your stupid monkey brain.