The Type of Human We Must Become: Homo Bene

Although human, as it is called in classification science, “Homo sapiens (aware human)”, emerged anatomically in Africa 200,000 years ago, it took a long time (about 150,000 years) to regain its modern behavior. Together with these modern behaviors (thinking and speaking), today’s humans began to be called “Homo sapiens sapiens (human aware of awareness)”, one of the subspecies of Homo sapiens. After becoming Homo sapiens sapiens, human development was relatively rapid, and his relationship with nature and his environment began to change negatively.

As you know, primitive early humans survived by hunting. These people, who have become better hunters with each passing year, have become quite adept at hunting by making valuable tools and equipment thanks to their skills. With this mastery, solid, healthy animals with reproductive potential were easily hunted by humans, and large game animals began to go extinct.

With the decrease in hunting and the gradual increase in population, the transition to agricultural activities became inevitable. While this situation caused the population to explode in a short time, it accelerated the attack of man on natural resources. As a result of cutting trees, wrong agricultural practices, and the destruction of grasslands one by one, green areas in the world began to decrease rapidly. In short, as the number of Homo sapiens sapiens rapidly increased, many formerly forested areas disappeared. Until the 1700s, Anatolia was a region covered with larch forests.

The Industrial Revolution that followed unfortunately continued to increase, let alone reduce, the damage done by humans to nature. In 1830, the human population was 1 billion, but only 170 years later, in 2000, it exceeded 6 billion. This meant a rapid increase in consumption and rapid exploitation of natural resources.

The destruction we have caused to nature in an ever-increasing manner has reached gigantic proportions today. So much so that global warming, which is accelerated by human activities, is shown as one of the biggest problems in front of the world by many scientists.

As I mentioned above, it is evident that we are the species that causes the most damage to nature and the environment. We all know that it cannot go on like this forever. Before it’s too late, we must firmly question ourselves and our values and redefine our species. So, we must now transcend the self-interested Homo sapiens sapiens into Homo bene (good, useful human).