I just read a philosophical essay that was described to me as “one of the darkest philosophical essays ever written”. I found it fascinating because I don’t think its author is right but because I think he’s spectacularly wrong. I would like to explain it for you, but that requires you to know the contents of the essay. Naturally, I don’t want you to have to experience “one of the darkest philosophical essays ever written” on your own, so I’ll give you the gist and I’ll make it as light hearted as I can. So relax, you’ll be fine. Just imagine yourself tucked into bed and the following being read to you as a bedtime story by your weird but ultimately loving uncle.
The “Irish Elk” was a species of deer (not Elk) with giant antlers. Male deer showed off these giant horns that could span over 4.2 meters and female deer loved it. Unfortunately, carrying around these giant structures on their heads made it difficult for the poor deer to flee through the forest and all the nutrients that went to growing them could really have had better uses. And so the deer died out. “Homo sapiens” on the other hand was a particularly strange species of naked monkeys with giant minds. They loved their minds, for it allowed them to outsmart predators, use tools and even invent technologies. Unfortunately, that much understanding of the cosmos made them suffer from insufferable existential dread which could easily lead individuals to take their own life if they were not careful. And so the monkeys … didn’t die out because, unlike the deer who were unable to cut off their antlers, the monkeys were able to dull their mind. They used four methods to do this. The first was ignorance, where they would simply refuse to think about facts that reminded them of their existential dread. The second one was anchoring, where they would hold on to constants such as culture or religion. The third one was distraction where they would pursue ultimately useless goals. And the fourth one was sublimation where they would use their existential dread as inspiration to create artistic pieces, such as the one you are reading right now. And so the monkeys lived happily ever after … But that’s a bad thing for some reason. Because they are not true to their nature and it would probably be better if they died out. The end.
Yeah. You probably already spotted some criticism in that last part. But let me explain a few other things first. What you just read was my summary of “The Last Messiah” by Peter Wessel Zapffe, a Norwegian philosopher and … mountaineer, apparently? At least that explains why, in the original text, there is that whole part about planes being a selfish invention because exploring by plane robs people of the opportunity to explore by foot. Seriously, I’m not making this up. Anyways, if you are a frequent reader of my blog, now would be a great time to stop reading and try to predict what my criticism will be, which I’ll explain in the next paragraph.
It’s the abyss again. That terrifying place in our minds that I call the abyss is exactly what Zapffe is quoting as the reason humans are unfit for life. He correctly observes that most people try to stay away from it and does a good job of classifying all the means by which they do it like the busy scientist bee he was … well he was a lawyer but I guess you can’t go mountaineering without picking up at least a little bit of the scientific method I guess. Where Zapffe went wrong, and I’m sure you saw this coming, is that he was afraid of the abyss himself. For some reason he thought that only insufferable pain lied in that direction and refused to go there, as the fear of death that becomes apparent in his work seems to have convinced him that surely he’d commit suicide if he did. And so he stayed away from the abyss like all the others, but the little peek he took led him to become an antinatalist. Seriously, he was too afraid of death to kill himself, but thought it’s best if our entire species dies out. What a bizarre man.
In case you’re not a frequent reader, let me reassure you again that you can safely cross the abyss. I know this because I’ve done it. It’s a pretty unpleasant process and I wouldn’t want to recommend it to anyone, although I really wish more people were on the other side. I don’t want to be as dramatic as Zapffe and claim that you’re a deer with sawn off antlers if you haven’t gone through the abyss, but I think there is the possibility to gain something. You just need to make sure you’re well prepared, know exactly what you are doing, stay focused and abort if necessary. Also, you need to meet certain criteria so it definitely isn’t for everyone. It really has a lot in common with mountaineering, which makes it even more tragic that Zapffe never attempted this expedition. If he was still alive I’d encourage him because he seemed like someone who could have done it.
But before I conclude this post, I think there is more we can learn from the “Irish Elk”. The theory that they died out because their antlers were too big is very unlikely and it’s more probable that humans drove them to extinction by hunting them and destroying their habitat. It’s fine to forgive this biological inaccuracy for the sake of a philosophical simile, but there’s also a beautiful irony in that. The antlers might have been a factor as to why the deer were unfit for a rapidly changing environment. But that rapidly changing environment was humans. The fossil record shows that the deers’ antlers were getting smaller already, but the deer were not adapting fast enough. Biological evolution was not fast enough for the rapid evolution of human technology.
Maybe Zapffe was on the right track with the whole antinatalism thing if his goal was just to save the deer. Nevertheless, I’m not an antinatalist. Maybe that’s something for a future blog post. In any case, I need some form of appeal to end this blog post with so … please don’t kill yourself, I guess. And have children if that’s your thing.
