The Stupefaction of the Species

A surreal scene at the White House, described as reminiscent of a David Lynch film, has prompted deep reflection on the state of humanity. While Donald Trump appeared to be asleep at a historic desk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., labeled a "health denier," trembled as he announced the discontinuation of a vaccination schedule meticulously developed over decades by scientific consensus.

Beside them, activist Jayme Franklin, founder of The Conservateur, a brand aimed at shaping young Christian conservative women into mothers who embrace sexual modesty and reject feminism, fidgeted with her pregnant belly. This tableau evoked the author's memory of Brazil's former president Bolsonaro's March 2020 dismissal of COVID-19 as a "little flu," a stance that contributed to over 716,000 official deaths. The author questions how society has reached such a point, where many seem to choose a path backward, toward ignorance, boorishness, illness, dehumanization, and the belittling of women.

Seeking answers, the author turned to anthropologists and geneticists regarding human evolution. They found that genetic evolution lacks a predetermined direction. Historians and sociologists point to past civilizational and cultural regressions, such as the end of the Bronze Age, the collapse of the Maya civilization, the European Dark Ages, and the 20th-century horrors of the Holocaust, Stalinism, and the Khmer Rouge.

The author concludes that while technological progress, particularly in digital and artificial intelligence, accelerates at a dizzying pace, humanity itself is becoming coarser and more foolish. This trend involves a self-inflicted disregard for fundamental interests, suggesting a loss of self-preservation instincts as humans distance themselves from nature. The article poses a stark question: what other animal species would choose the most unprepared, selfish, and ignorant individuals as leaders?

Reflecting on her own four children, aged 12 to 23, the author expresses concern about their future. She contrasts her own youth, when the world seemed to be progressing towards peace, democracy, knowledge, and economic development, with the current era. The author, identifying as a progressive woman who takes her role as a mother seriously, finds no contradiction in this stance, but rather a deep concern for the direction society is heading.