Mechanization and Human Nature

What is the nature of our species? Can it truly ever be known? Many fields of study have attempted to narrow down the inherent from the programmed. Philosophers, theorists, psychologists, biologists all study forms of human nature. From all of these fields only one thing has been confirmed: We have the capability to study and speculate on the way humanity has and will evolve away from that unknown capacity of the natural. The first question I would like to consider is whether or not the idea of the natural is far too abstract for conceivable human reason. Could it not be true that this concept falls far outside the reach of our systematic study of things? We have no proof that a single universal natural state existed, let alone determining what it might be. Considering that, how can we even begin to look backward to determine how the natural capacity for human understanding truly worked when we can barely grasp it now?

Examining the functional capacity in which people exist today is definitely a poor starting point. With the world seeing more structural existence then ever before, we face a well trained species in which we examine. The layers in which our species have been morphed into the utter submission to systems of power, training, and thought make it impossible to know whether or not any remnants of our natural selves are prevalent in culture today. We have seen through our own experimentation that a mind can be trained into mechanical compliance. Our mind only acts in ways that reflect our prior training. There is no thought outside the realm of what we see as existence. Everything is seen in worldly terms. This is a product of our condition. Our condition of only experiencing that which we can sense. Thus our thought is shaped by that which can be comprehended by our senses. But is our nature that of pure mechanics? One could argue yes. We tend to act mechanically in modern life. If there is an empty room only containing a chair, it could be assumed that almost every westerner would mechanically take a seat. Though mechanical, this is not nature. There are structures that create strong influence of power over how we conceive a chair and its purpose, structure not seen in nature. By nature here, I mean the existence of one. The day before civilization. The day before the realization of sustainable reproduction as a family activity. The chair has been morphed into an expectation for modern humanity the first humans would not comprehend. Therefore this is not evidence of mechanization of humanity’s natural being.

Maybe to first conceive of this natural state we must first remove these mechanical inclinations form our lives and see the very first concern of a natural species: sustenance. For humanity that is food and water. But is the pursuit of food and water mechanical? Some may argue yes. Certainly such natural needs make freedom to be impossible for any species, but this idea of freedom is for another rough essay at another time. Mechanized things exist in themselves. They need not to be sustained by constant consumption (of resources etc.) to exist. A car is undoubtedly mechanized. Even though it requires fuel to operate, it does not require fuel to merely exist. This is untrue of humanity. Without our fuel there is no existence. This seems to lean toward the idea that initial human sustenance was not abused by the circumstances of mechanism.

Though I have claimed that human nature, while unable to clearly defined, is not one of knee jerk mechanism... It has been the sphere of society that has turned us into mechanical workers. As such we act accordingly in such situations. As human capital we are trained and altered from our natural state to consume and obey, work and to worry. One last interesting thing has claimed my mind when determining human nature. In the state of evolutionary science when were we considered to have definitively developed the capacities in which we have now? Can this ever be determined? If not this greatly adverts any attempt to claim one human nature can apply to all.