OK, so we all know the tale of the lemming, a rather unattractive rat looking creature that is infamous for committing mass suicide by running off cliffs. So the first natural history question is, "Why do they do it?" Are they just really bad cliff divers? Does the force of the ones behind push the first off the cliff (after all a body in motion stays in motion...)? Or is it, as I personally theorize, that the first lemming, or Lead Lemming, realizes the futility of their existence and heads for the edge knowing that the others, still ignorant of their own consciousness, will simply follow?
The question of the lemmings has led me to spend hours (ok, maybe just minutes) wondering about our own kind, i.e. homo sapiens. When did we turn from being intelligent, independent thinkers into the lemmings we appear to be today?
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
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