Are we the last living souls?

[sechan19]

In an amusing case of synchronicity, both NPR and the Washington Post ran articles today on creatures that are the last of their kind. NPR brings us the story of the loneliest plant in the world: encephalartos woodii, commonly known as the cycad, a South African plant whose one remaining specimen resides in the Kew Gardens of London. The Washington Post, by contrast, relates the situation of Lonesome George, the last remaining giant tortoise on the Galapagos Islands.

Both articles concern the issues surrounding mating--impossible for both species without the presence of a female--and propagation of the species, and while WP points out that it's difficult to know if George is really lonely, NPR goes so far as to draw parallels between the cycad and the ents from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.

This tendency to anthropomorphize these creatures--living certainly, but not actually possessed of the same kind of emotional parameters as human beings are--is interesting. I think it says a lot about human anxieties regarding not just death in the specific sense, but in the abstract or general senses as well. It's no secret that we all agonize, either seriously or casually, over the great unknowable that is death. What these stories show, however, is that we also worry about the death of our species as a whole as well, and more tellingly about the idea of what it would be like to be the last of our kind.

Popular culture reflects this fear as well: just sit down and watch Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men or any episode of the new series of Doctor Who and you'll see. Indeed, the Doctor Who example is quite pertinent here. In the old series he was estranged from his people, yes, but not cut off from them. In the new series, the pain and loneliness of being the last of one's kind is a dominant and recurring theme of the show.

Perhaps, then, our greatest fear is not death, but rather the prospect of outliving everything that we love.

Comments

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Is it possible to clone the cycad, though? That's far more readily employed an option for plants than it is for animals.

George could have a mate; it would just entail importing another tortoise. I'm sure there are purebred Galapagos tortoises elsewhere, in collections - it's just that he's the last fella on the islands.

The anthropomorphizing tendency IS fascinating, though, you're right.

I find the Doctor Who thing telling, especially as Moffat is including so many children. It rather drives home the point, no?

[reteva.livejournal.com]

The cycad has been cloned, a fact that makes the characterization of "lonely" even more interesting. Clearly, plenty of people don't consider clones of oneself sufficient company. As for George, he is the last of his particular species. They've been trying to get him to mate with closely-related species but--thus far--without success.

Moffat definitely has a thing about children. I just watched "The Empty Child" from series 1 last night. Early Moffat; all about a scared child looking for its mommy.