Netanyahu reportedly goes all in and decided to take Gaza according to the Jerusalem Post. “The Prime Minister’s Office conveyed the message to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir: If this does not suit you, then you should resign.” The Israelis may not find any more hostages alive, but perhaps that possibility has simply been accepted as a fact. We think of ourselves as civilized, but underneath the veneer of culture a million years of savage nature lurks.
Some mammals we often regard as slightly below us on the evolutionary chain show signs of training for combat in a manner disturbingly similar to human special forces. “Footage from the BBC’s new nature series “Parenthood” shows orcas practicing an important blue whale-hunting technique on each other … Orca moms teach their young how to pretend-drown each other, first-of-its-kind footage shows. The brutal training session teaches orcas the skills needed to kill the largest animal that has ever lived.”
The relationship between entropy and intelligence is counterintuitive but straightforward. Disorder, unlike perfect order, allows for many more possibilities than one with complete regularity. Most of these possibilities will be useless or harmful. But one of the accidental outcomes will be a miracle. Civilization consists of recognizing the miracle and imitating it. It’s there only if we see it.
We stand on chaos, but we are not of it. The light shines in the darkness, and we hope the darkness will not overcome it. Someone may survive and something may be learned. We find and lose but we never lose everything.