Microsmos

“Homo sapiens has no natural rights, just as spiders, hyenas and chimpanzees have no natural rights. But don’t tell that to our servants, lest they murder us at night.” These are lines from the bestseller ‘Sapiens’ by the famed historian and author, Yuval Noah Harari. But this article is not a review. I’ll pen down my thoughts and leave the rest in your hands – well, minds. What is ‘bad’? What is ‘wrong’? So, I’m not asking for examples of bad or wrong events but to pause and think of what these two words mean. And, I think, most of you as well as some dictionaries would be of the opinion that these words essentially centre around the same meaning, to use another synonym – ‘incorrect’. But, of late, I’m beginning to realise that there is a wide chasm of difference between these words. Let me explain. What is bad? It is more of a qualitative parameter to an event or a person. ‘Bad’ represents a subjective opinion than an objective one. (But then is there anything that is

Pre-Script: Anyone without a good sense of humour for satire – please don’t proceed. It was the year 3018. There is nothing significant about the year, except that it is a perfect thousand years from now, and it kind of takes a lot more time to type, ‘it is one thousand two hundred and thirty five years ago’ every time. I’ve got to work on my report, you see. Right, so its 3018. Huge skyscrapers lining the skyline. Small private jets zooming around like our cars of today. We could add some robots taking out dogs for an evening walk. A hologram theatre with new shows of ‘Spiderman – A kid like Aunt May’ and ‘X-Men: The Lastest Stand’ running. The latest texting app to hit the stands – one that could translate the thoughts of the sender via his brain waves. “No more thumbs needed. Just think to send!” – if you’d like to go the ‘Black Mirror’ way. The bottom line is, conjure a future in which the humans are still idiots. Trust me, given the huge line up of dystopian novels, it