Humanity’s fascination with its own demise
Over the last few decades or so, an apocalypse, worldwide disasters, zombies, and the destruction of the human race have been prevalent themes throughout popular culture. Movies like World War Z, Zombieland, 28 Days Later, the Book of Eli, and TV shows like The Walking Dead have no shortage of epoch-shattering destruction. Popular literature, music, and video games all present us with the scenario of a zombie apocalypse and how we should equip ourselves to survive it. All these products of popular culture have two things in common: the end of the world and violence.
In North American culture, and perhaps developed nations more generally, we seem to be fascinated with the idea of our own demise. I would argue that this fascination, paired with violence, is more apparent in Western, developed nations due to their disconnect with most of the violence and conflict that occurs in the world, and also the fact that many poorer, developing nations do not have the same large scale media outlets as developed nations do. Therefore, on a macro level, I think humanity’s destruction is a concept that most nations and peoples contemplate.
This is apparent not only in fictitious cultural products, but in reality as well. Dec. 21, 2012 held the world in a panic with the end of the Mayan long calendar. The millennium in year 2000 did the same. Perhaps more interesting is the Svalbard global seed bank, an initiative to preserve plant seeds in an attempt to insure against the loss of seeds in other gene banks during a potential large-scale regional or global crisis.
Why is humanity, to a large extent, so concerned and utterly fascinated with its own destruction? Does this fascination tell us anything about human nature and reality, or is it simply entertainment and nothing more? I tend to think the former. As human beings, we are fascinated with our origin and our destiny. We are, as far as we know, the only species on earth that questions our own existence. This truth in itself is very profound and thought provoking. We ask questions like, “Why are we here?” “How did we get here?” and, “What is the purpose of life?”
When I take a look at popular culture and see the prevalence of violent, apocalyptic themes, I can’t help but wonder if humanity somehow feels that history is leading to some ultimate conclusion. Upon this thought, the question that immediately comes to my mind is this: is it possible that human beings are more than material beings? I think most of us would like to believe that there is some part of us that is eternal. After all, this view would grant us the things we most truly care about: justice, peace, and seeing our loved ones once more.
However, many philosophers and scientists alike disagree with this proposition. What we desire does not in itself make it so. However, if humanity does exist for some purpose, and history is not simply an amalgamation of past events, but rather a process that is heading towards an ultimate conclusion, it would then make sense that we would be concerned with the fate of our lives on a personal level and as a species. Furthermore, it is apparent that this universal concern is evident in our personal lives, popular culture, and even ancient cultures.
Perhaps intrinsic to us all is an innate sense that there is something more to life, something beyond just the physical and the material. And perhaps this intuition manifests itself in various ways – such as our deep curiosity with the world and strong desire for answers – but more specifically in the violent and destructive visions of apocalypse that we construct.
The ultimate question then becomes, “What is the conclusion to history?” From the materialist perspective, it most likely is a bloody and violent end as a result of disease, a comet, or possible self-destruction. From a theistic perspective, the conclusion of human history is something more meaningful and purposeful, something that ultimately answers the deepest questions that humanity has struggled with over time. Perhaps there is nothing more to life than what we can see, and maybe that would make life easier, exempting us from any moral or divine command theory that would be in effect should a god exist. Even considering the materialist and theistic explanations of life, I find it hard to dismiss the strong desire and search for truth that all of humanity has shared throughout its entire history.