The Dead End of Evolution
You must admit that a painting rarely has sculptural properties but, luckily for us, this painting does: the shirt sculpted by Sergey Shnurov, a well known musician and lesser known artist, can be perceived not as an image, but as a monument to material goods. Its monumentality and arrogant terseness make you shy away, and only the famous D&G logo, which looks like graffiti left by mountain climbers to commemorate their names at the summit, allows viewers a sense of pride at belonging to the same population as the conquerors of this mountain called Dolce & Gabbana.
Such a monument could be put up as a tombstone on the burial site of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution because manmade objects contributed to the end of the evolution of species by natural selection – that is by means of strengthening the useful intraspecific variations that increase the species’ chance of survival. For fairness’ sake, material objects also aided in the ape’s evolution to Homo sapiens: prior to the appearance of material values, apes had very few primitive desires, so it is even possible to say that demand as such didn’t exist – only instincts existed. But with the advent of material values, human demands began to grow, thus launching the mechanism of progress.
At the same time, material values made Homo sapiens the dead-end branch of evolution in the animal kingdom. Because of material values, man lost the need for his personality to evolve, as it is much easier to differentiate yourself from others using material objects than to change yourself inwardly. One can expect that, in the long run, people won’t differ much from each other physically, and it will be possible to tell the difference between them via the material objects they possess.
Little by little, what used to be helpful objects have turned into the meaning and ultimate outcome of the human life, a source of pride for the ability to either manufacture or possess things. Finally, material goods have become a major criterion for man’s success. Even the notions of sexual appeal have changed: at the dawn of human society, the strong and tough possessed the highest sexual attractiveness; during the Renaissance, sexual appeal was a function of physical beauty; and nowadays it is a symbol for those who have achieved social success – having acquired many things. As man’s dependence on material objects grew, man, as a biological species, evolved into a ‘man with material values,’ and the material component in this duet is gradually moving to the forefront, as man attracts interest only as the user and manufacturer of goods.
Today, humankind can only evolve in virtual space, where physical reality is not important, giving pride of place to the games of imagination and intellect. In this case, life and relationships on the web are not the result of the computer industry development, but rather a natural attempt on the part of evolution to circumvent the barricade of material objects which block its progress.
Hats off, people: here is a monument to the material object, awesome and terrible. Charles Darwin has died – long live Sergey Shnurov!
