Evolution is beyond incredible. The fact that homo sapiens, our species, as a whole (or regionally divided), morphs to fit the needs of the times we're in is fascinating. But while reading a book on the subject, I've come to a dismal conclusion: an overwhelming amount of tweaks we've made to our species have been a result of our rapidly increasing tendency to be impatient and lazy.

We are wildly intelligent creatures. Innovation used to run thick in our blood. It's been in our nature, and every other species' nature as well, to come up with solutions that arise. But people have gone a step further; we've come up with ways to solve problems that our genetic composition didn't account for. We've managed to trump the natural, slow physical evolution, and our minds have followed suit.

As a species, people used to have thick, coarse hair covering our bodies like apes. But somewhere along the line, we've evolved out of having it coat us because we no longer weather the outdoors in harsh conditions. Man decided that it wasn't ideal to live outdoors, so we found shelter. Then, we created an even more comfortable shelter with things such as animal pelts as blankets, because we didn't want to brave the outside world for anything we needed to survive. It was easier to stay in one place and have what one needed. Now, we're living in a society where you could literally never leave your shelter. We can have food and drink (and nearly anything else) delivered to your door, we have warmth so that we can wear T-shirts in the dead of winter, and we can connect with other people and earn a living while we're sitting on the can.

Innovation is our mental fur: something to keep us warm if we found ourselves weathering the storm. But we no longer exist in a world that requires us to utilize it. We don't know the feel of a desperate, arctic wind, because we're cocooned inside a world that cradles our neediness. Everything is satisfied — most people in North America go their whole lives without feeling truly desperate for anything. Not food, shelter, water, love… it's all created for us and handed out in sizeable doses.

Inventiveness is a product of necessity. You're not getting what you need from what already exists, so you're forced to come up with your own option. (I'd venture a guess that's how fire was discovered. Someone was cold or needed to cook their meat, so they set out to see what they could conjure.) So where does the innovation go when you're always getting everything you need? Creativity was deemed no longer a muscle we need, so our societal organism phased it out.

In a much more literal way than ever before, homo sapiens are manufactured. We're born and bred in a system that expects us to act flawlessly and in a premeditated manner. This is determined by the people who have come before you, who were bred and raised by the people before them (and so on, and so on), to believe that there is one purpose to a life: to be comfortable and to do as little as possible. But, as always, times are changing, and we're on the cusp of a new phase of evolution that will move us from focussing solely on greedy efficiency, and into concentrating on the bigger picture.

It's about time to dust off our brain's unexercised, shrunken right side and see what kind of gusto it has left. Creativity is the opposable thumb of the mental realm. Art and invention isn't just about painting a canvas or composing music, in a broader scope, it's about finding a way to live or make a change towards what you believe to be the best thing for the world. It's about creation: thinking about how you want the world to look, and then raising your hand and beginning to compose your life to look like it.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.