Earth, 21st Century

With a risk to sound silly or blunt, I am really, honestly amazed by human capability of doing something like smoking tobacco. It’s not that, by smoking, I do something completely unnecessary, I do something utterly ridiculous. But, it seems that is a step in evolution of an living form.

I won’t start a list of bad things that this nicotine stick does and/or can do to me and the environment. Those have been said enough times to make us all deaf. But I love that kick in the brain that the first couple of inhales make. And I love the taste of it. That is, in the case of a good Dutch blend that you have to roll by yourself, and not some industrial, over-advertised, additionally poisoned shit.

But, the question remains, why do I do it? It does taste good, but the taste wears off after a while. And I know much better ways to kick my brain. Though not so available and not so repeatable. I am not going to answer the question why do I do it. If I knew that answer, I wouldn’t be in the nasty situation most of the smokers are.

No matter how intelligent and special specie we like to think we are, we, humans, are just another form of life. Just another complex set of chemical processes. Sure, our intelligence helped us finding out that inhaling the tobacco smoke does something to us. Our developed fingers help us roll the cigarette. But that’s it. The rest is just the kick in the brain. The same kind as lab rat pushing the button to receive the tasty ball of food or some other pleasant stimulus. And you know, give a good enough stimulus and the rat will jerk that button until self destruction.

Have in mind that rats are an intelligent specie too. That’s why they make a connection between the button and pleasure. Fish won’t get into that trap. Fish is protected by its own stupidity. Before you draw any conclusion, let’s say that, most probably, fish would get into any pleasant self-destructing habit, if only was smart enough to find it.

There is a story about where the idea for Alfred Hitchcock’s Birds came from. (My memory fails now so keep this on the level of urban myth.) At some areas of USA, there is a river plant that blooms every several years. Trick is that, while in bloom, this plant produces some psychedelic chemical. While birds in the area eat the plant all the time, when the plant goes blooming, birds go wild. Not as aggressive as in the movie (it’s a triller, not the educational program, after all) but disoriented, reckless and… well, you know… like birds on drugs. We’ll probably never know if they like the drug. Is it a nice surprise that mother nature put something funny in their food? Or they don’t know what’s happening but don’t like it? Hardly so. Over the centuries, they have learned what else not to eat to avoid poisoning. And, those that survive the crazy ride come again the next season. No matter how small the brain is, it’s fun to screw it.

So, here I am, lighting another cigarette. Smart enough to do it. Not smart enough not to do it. An another example of the specie that enjoys its own self-destruction.