We’re starting this week out with a special treat – a guest post from a fellow aniblogger! Kai has been aniblogging at Deluscar for over a year, and today we’re happy to present an article that Kai submitted through our guest post section.
Admin Note: Coming from a different religious belief as that of Kai, note that the writers here at Beneath the Tangles don’t share some conclusions that Kai draws, nor some of Kai’s beliefs. Still, we and Kai felt the topic appropriate for this blog. Please avoid any flaming in the comments below, though intelligent and engaging commentary is certainly encouraged.
According to the creation myth, Adam and Eve are said to be the first humans to ever land on the planet. They are basically the parents of all living human beings. From then onwards, humanity has grown on an unthinkably large scale. Currently, the estimated world population is around 7 billion people. Indeed, tracing back, the first humans to land on Earth were assumably Adam and Eve, but even if it were, what happened before that? Before they even landed on Earth, the Earth itself had probably existed way long before them. Was the planet completely inhabitant at that time? What if there were some other living beings?
In Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, a new kind of species had dominated the planet; faeries. In one of the episode, these cute, tiny creatures were stranded on an island and while originally not used to it, they were able to craft simple furniture at first, after that, houses, and after a while, they managed to obtain usable electricity and water and not long, a new settlement had been made. This also explains the learning speed of a child, since as they say, kids learn fast. And indeed, the fairies had incredible intelligence and adaptability, probably the manifestation and even an extreme exaggerated personality shared from the humans. It was interesting that the fairies and humans share similar traits; even despite having great intelligence, the fairies had to obtain knowledge from the humans themselves. It was as if the humans are actually the parents to these creatures.
To the eyes of the fairies, they probably think of Watashi as an “Eve.” From all the humans, Watashi was the only one who spent the longest time with the faeries, she was pretty much the human representative when acting as the mediator between the two races. Even though she was only doing her job so that the humans and fairies could coexist, probably to the fairies, Watashi was like a mother to all of them; spending time with them, having fun messing around and having fun, exciting adventures along with them.
I would like to think there probably exists another kind of race before the name Adam or Eve even emerges. After all, Earth existed for around 4.6 billion years long and it was unthinkable that Adam and Eve was created even before that long time ago. However, even with that possibility, it may be difficult to know just what kind of race took control of the land at that time but as depicted from anime and games, there are no doubt very powerful beings with an incredible amount of intelligence and knowledge. No doubt Adam, Eve and even most humans from that age learned everything needed to survive from them, and from then onwards, humans kept on surviving and as more knowledge begun pouring in, humans begun evolving and evolving and had finally reached the level of evolution they are at now. Being the intelligent and adaptable beings humans are, the level of growth humans can reach can still attain even higher levels then they are now, their growth are indefinitely limitless.
However, it still doesn’t change the fact the reign of humans on Earth might one day end, be it 1,000 years from now, or perhaps 10,000, or perhaps even 100,000 years from now. Will another creature take over when that happens? Will an “Adam and Eve” of a new type of race appears?
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita plays on the assumption and speculation that there will be a new race in the future; the setting was created at the time when humanity was soon to be declined, with new beings ready to take over at anytime. The fairies however lacked common sense and other things which is required for survival and it’s up to the more experienced-in-life humans to teach these little creatures what it means to live. Similarly with humans though, the fairies possess incredible intelligence, creativity, adaptability and skill; allowing them to craft buildings the size of a metropolis in days.
Truthfully though, is there really possibility of a new race in the future as depicted in Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita? No matter what theories scientists can come up with, no one really knows for sure and it’s one of those mysteries that all of us had to deal with.
To read more from Kai, visit Deluscar.
I remember those episodes! I think you’ve made some really interesting points — how do we know what the future holds for our race? In the island episode, we witness, on a small, time-condensed scale, the rise and fall of our civilization. And it seems to be pretty accurate. With the world we live in today, it’s not hard to believe that humans will in fact be the factor that ends humans.
In Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, I’m not totally sure what started the humanity’s decline (I believe they mentioned declining birth rates at some point), but I think that episode was meant to tell us what happened.
But unlike the faeries and the Mediator, we can’t just leave our own world to begin anew. Yet. Like you say, who knows what discoveries and inventions scientists will come up with to keep our race on top and out of danger. Or maybe there will be a new race that we are meant to father, like the humans and faeries.
Maybe there was something before Adam and Eve. I’m no expert on anything like this, but I always think about a few things in the Garden of Eden. Like why was Satan there in the first place? We are told Lucifer is a fallen angel, but when did he fall? When were the angels created? With the heavens, “days” before Adam and Eve? And what exactly is a “day” in that time? It it actually 24 hours, or something different? It makes my head spin, just like thinking about what might happen to our race in the future does.
(On a side note, this keeps making me think of that bad Nicolas Cage movie,The Knowing. Then again, most of the movies he is in are bad.)
It was funny how Watashi unknowingly became the queen of the faeries civilization 😀 I guess every civilization needs a leader of sort. Ahh, it was interesting to make that episode a reflection of our own civilization’s rise and fall. I guess it does seem kinda accurate, especially in the way they overused their own natural resources.
Humanity had started declining but indeed, the only thing I heard is declining birth rates, I don’t think they are even particularly focusing on that, lol.
If it really is a possibility, humans are still far off from being extinction. Scientists can either provide a solid theory to proof a possibility of a new race, or they could continue discovering and making new improvements in medicine, technology and science to further improve the longevity of humans. After all, humans can still grow.
I always find that these are always so vague. They are real, maybe, but there are no definite proofs, though I guess proofs are always science’s speciality instead. I don’t think it’s possible that they even had a proper time system, they are using old methods like checking the direction of a shadow. Hmm, if perhaps 10,000 or 100,000 years after, when a new race had begun, we humans might became a cultural icon for them *takes out names dictionary*
And I believe I didn’t watch that. Even if I did, I might had forgotten about it D:
These are all important questions you bring up – thanks for the discussion!
And yes, I thought of “Knowing” as well! I kind of hated the movie, but it brought up a number of interesting ideas.
Maybe a race that can breathe pollutants, and can withstand incredible heat, that is, if the planet still exists.
Highly-resistant race eh. Indeed, humans aren’t the strongest so it would be great if the new race are a bit more stronger and illness-resistant.
Pssh…let our kids worry about that. -_-‘
Reblogged this on deluscar and commented:
A post I wrote for Beneath the Tangles, about Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, and the possibility of a new race.
“There were giants in the earth in those days.” (grin)
Not Christian myself, but I want to mention most religions attempt to explain the where and how about humans, and Kai’s talk about Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita above could more or less fit in with many of them, as long as folks don’t get their underwear up in a bundle about it. However, the is a key element missing.
What Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita never “explained” was the where and how about the fairies. I don’t find that a flaw about the show – it was not meant to address that, and I personally didn’t need that to thoroughly enjoy the show. There are a few hints, particularly when a couple things other than fairies are mixed into the episodes, but the stories are, as Kai points out, about how the faires and Watashi interact and where that leads. The details of what came before are left to the viewers’ imaginations.
..xD How interesting that the statement could relate to the faeries.
Indeed, I just touched upon the “outer shell” of the discussion at hand. I’m sure my post, even though is about a specific point, could still be freely interpreted. Besides, the topic at hand is already a vague one.
I didn’t mind about it either. Like the faeries, they never give much thought about why they are there, what they are doing, and what’s their name. It’s like, they are just “there”, which just kinda suits them.
I always related the faeries to Generations Y and Z while the humans were Generation X. It really fits into a lot of the stories, and it even explains why the faeries are referred to as neo-humans.
Maybe it’s just me, but logic and science seem to have become much more prominent in the past few decades. These changes in culture have lead to a disconnect between newer and older generations. I don’t know if it was purposeful, but Jinrui certainly worked as an analogy for this generation gap.
As far as the end of humanity goes, I think it will take a hell of a lot to knock us out. We’ve gotten to the point where we’re so adaptable, nothing short of the destruction of the planet would be able finish us off. Sure, we might see a massive decline in population but nothing near an extinction. Maybe I’m being overconfident, but humans have done some incredible things during our brief existence in this universe.
I think that’s what the show intended to, and that’s practically the theme of the show. Humans (X) are soon to be declined and new generations of races, faeries (Y and Z) are taking over soon.
Science is an especially important aspect in the evolution of humans. Indeed, especially how skillful and adaptable the faeries are.
That’s right too, but it’s still hard to say as years gone by. Humans “tend to enjoy” strife sometimes so it might even be possible for humans to end their own kin. Well, if that happens, I sure hope to see some faeries pop up out of nowhere.
I think that’s quite a complicated subject. Indeed, humans have done a lot, they evolved, constantly improving on science, medicine and technology, but it’s only through wars and conquests that developments on these made major progresses. This concept had been in existence since ages ago, and it seems like the same now.
Humans are inherently competitive and this leads to conflict. War is still the primary outlet for competition, but we’ve been seeing a move towards more intellectual areas.
People now don’t (usually) have to worry about surviving military conflicts. Instead, we focus on maintaining our current standard of living which is something that war virtually never improves, at least in the short run. For this reason, advances are driven more by economic competition than military engagements.
The military-industrial complex still has a huge amount of power and influence, but they aren’t the origin of these technological advances. The private sector produces a lot of this new technology which is then re-purposed for war.
Physical security is the top priority of any society, but after this issue is adequately addressed, we immediately move onto the next task. Of course the biggest issue is the existence of a financially bloated military-industrial complex. As long as this exists, the line between national militaries and economies will continue to blur.
[…] on Beneath the Tangles which were also quite enjoyable: Lessons from the Decline of Humans and Possibility of a New Race. […]