What Nature Teaches Us About Humanity

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

My partner, Eric, and I took a road trip to the Olympic peninsula for my birthday. We kept it pretty simple, booked an airbnb, brought a daypack and hiking boots. We planned to keep it low key, walk on the beach and do a day hike at the Hoh National forest. After a quick bathroom break, we got on the trail and like any good couple does, we started in on various controversial topics: politics, sex, life purpose and what it means to be human.

The Hoh Rainforest is an immersion into a Paleolithic era. Drooping moss clings to thick trees, and the air is reminiscent of thick southern summers. The river peeks through the trees as the trail winds further, and I’m caught in this powerful sense of gratitude, a physical churn of wonder at the human experience.

I vocalize this romanticized ideal to Eric, and he replies with a nonchalant shrug. I imagine I narrowed my eyes at him, a look of incredulous intrigue on my face. It makes me wonder how the cogs in his brain turn and what he must think of the floral symbolism that runs through mine. This drug that keeps pulling me back to wild places, the humbling grandeur of nature contrasted with Eric’s quiet indifference and simple joy. I am a scream from the mountaintops, and he is the trail itself, continuously moving a quiet contented step.

After I convinced myself that I wasn’t dating an emotionless sociopath, our conversation veered from romanticized moments to clones and the definition of humanity. With the emergence of head transplants and artificial intelligence capable of beating a four time world poker tour champion, the question becomes even more intriguing.

We take a short detour from the main trail, and I dip my fingers into the rushing river. The cold water laps at my skin, The hot sun and warm air have me smiling as I inhale, and I remember what being alive truly feels like.

Eric has this look that speaks louder than his voice ever does. It’s a slight narrowing of his attentive eyes and tight line of his lips. I’m unable to stand still when he lights me with that stare. It means he sees something that he doesn’t know how to vocalize without making me feel bad, but honestly, it just makes me feel ignorant. I see that look often as we continue this route of conversation.

Well, to answer if clones are human, you have to answer what makes a person human, and what if Artificial Intelligence merges into a reality where human consciousness can be downloaded into an artificial body? Again, that leads us back to what makes us human.

It’s hard to discuss humanity without spiritual undertones, and I personally believe that my consciousness makes me the personal brand of Jordan that I am. Not my body, but the processes of my brain and all the ramblings that happen because of it. Call it a soul or call it consciousness, but that is what I believe. Eric is of a different mindset, lamenting that being human is both a mind body connection. In essence, there is a loss of humanity without the flesh of the body.

Eric is the most realistic person I have ever met, a direct contrast to my idealism, but he is also one of the kindest people I have ever met with a genuine desire to help those he can and work hard to help those he can’t. His liberal view on politics and people juxtapose the scientific realism with which he views the world. Spirituality and higher consciousness hold little merit, and when prompted about his purpose in life, he responded with “biological obligation.”

As a passionate creative with interest in eastern medicine and open to broad spirituality, this was an impossible pill to swallow. It’s still lodged in my throat, causing all kinds of discomfort. How could you possibly motivate your experience on the dispassionate notion of biological obligation?

By this point, we had reached our turn around point, seeing as most of the trails on the Olympic Peninsula are either .6 miles or 60 miles, we had to make our own day hike with 3 miles in and 3 miles out. Moisture beaded across my skin, soaking through my shirt, and Eric had taken to giving me that look again.

“Agree to disagree?” I acquiesced, aware that today was not the day for winning existential arguments.

We made our way back to the trail head, easily meandering over fallen logs and gnarled roots. It was a busy summer day, and we passed several groups with a smile and a well wish for a good day. I was haphazard in my gestures, the majority of my brain busy digesting this notion of humanity and life purpose.

What if Eric’s right, and there is no reason to exist? That could be a liberating notion to some people, but maybe he’s only half right. Maybe there is no one size fits all. Maybe nothing changes if I were to disappear forever, but life should be viewed through both a macro and micro lens. The power to decide is a singular choice, and humanity, purpose, joy, they are all dependent on what you choose to believe.

For me, that’s the vibrancy of an overgrown trail and a beautiful view.