Title: A Scully Journal Entry May 19, 1999
Rating: G
Disclaimer: She is Chris Carter's
***********
Time is but a luxury that man has given unto himself- a measure of the short existence that he enjoys. He has created it and named it to suit his purpose, twists it and changes it to allow the exploitation of it. It is used in mathematical equations as a constant, universal in its ability to be recognized across the boundaries of space and position. And yet, for its extensive use, the definition of time to those living within it is unattainable. It slips past our grasping minds, and we simply call time -time.
Once, though, time was immeasurable and irrelevant. Existence was simply existence. The rising and the setting of the great star, Sol upon the landscape of the third plant was not a mark of a passing day, but rather an occurrence that happened with regularity. Seasons were simply the mechanism by which nature exerted pressure on those that existed under her influence, not recognized as a passage unable to be reattained, but rather a portion of the great circle of the orbit and the tilt of the planet. Years were not understood, nor were they celebrated. Life and death, birth and decay marked existence instead. Without time, existence was grand, a circle, and a winding path.
Charles Darwin theorized that the power of nature, or evolution, took place in this timeless existence. The changing of the seasons, the landscape, the climate worked to create a system by which no life forms was above. That system was one of survival of the fittest, survival of those that were able to exist long enough to procreate. From the primordial soup of biochemicals arose the first organism that was able to survive in the destined environment. One cell became several; one organism containing simply a digestive tract in nice wrapping became one organism with several systems. Fins became legs or wings; birth became live instead of laid eggs. Eyes moved from the side of heads to the front, four legs became two. Man. The birth of a species the likes of which this world has never seen before. Fate? Destined plan? Nature's perfect design? Possibly.
The question has remained in several scientific circles. Maybe evolution does not work in a constant state of change, but rather fits and starts in times of crisis. Maybe evolution does not follow a straight line. There have been evolutionary dead ends before in the history of the world.is humankind a dead-end? Is man a dead-end that is destined to be wiped clean on the slate of world history, only to be replaced by a more fit organism? Have we as human beings created the ecological and climatic change that would be our demise and leave the pressures of natural selection on those species left behind? This is not our decision. It is not within out ability to comprehend or change. Nature works on her own time, her own plan; one of which we have no way of measuring or experiencing. But are we on the brink of a timeless, relentless change that will remove man from this world?
Journal, Dana Scully, May 19, 1999
Rating: G
Disclaimer: She is Chris Carter's
***********
Time is but a luxury that man has given unto himself- a measure of the short existence that he enjoys. He has created it and named it to suit his purpose, twists it and changes it to allow the exploitation of it. It is used in mathematical equations as a constant, universal in its ability to be recognized across the boundaries of space and position. And yet, for its extensive use, the definition of time to those living within it is unattainable. It slips past our grasping minds, and we simply call time -time.
Once, though, time was immeasurable and irrelevant. Existence was simply existence. The rising and the setting of the great star, Sol upon the landscape of the third plant was not a mark of a passing day, but rather an occurrence that happened with regularity. Seasons were simply the mechanism by which nature exerted pressure on those that existed under her influence, not recognized as a passage unable to be reattained, but rather a portion of the great circle of the orbit and the tilt of the planet. Years were not understood, nor were they celebrated. Life and death, birth and decay marked existence instead. Without time, existence was grand, a circle, and a winding path.
Charles Darwin theorized that the power of nature, or evolution, took place in this timeless existence. The changing of the seasons, the landscape, the climate worked to create a system by which no life forms was above. That system was one of survival of the fittest, survival of those that were able to exist long enough to procreate. From the primordial soup of biochemicals arose the first organism that was able to survive in the destined environment. One cell became several; one organism containing simply a digestive tract in nice wrapping became one organism with several systems. Fins became legs or wings; birth became live instead of laid eggs. Eyes moved from the side of heads to the front, four legs became two. Man. The birth of a species the likes of which this world has never seen before. Fate? Destined plan? Nature's perfect design? Possibly.
The question has remained in several scientific circles. Maybe evolution does not work in a constant state of change, but rather fits and starts in times of crisis. Maybe evolution does not follow a straight line. There have been evolutionary dead ends before in the history of the world.is humankind a dead-end? Is man a dead-end that is destined to be wiped clean on the slate of world history, only to be replaced by a more fit organism? Have we as human beings created the ecological and climatic change that would be our demise and leave the pressures of natural selection on those species left behind? This is not our decision. It is not within out ability to comprehend or change. Nature works on her own time, her own plan; one of which we have no way of measuring or experiencing. But are we on the brink of a timeless, relentless change that will remove man from this world?
Journal, Dana Scully, May 19, 1999