An Ecology of MInd (12 page)

"A system of indentured European servants was common for a labor source in the North. In this system, immigrants had their way to America paid for in
return for a number of years of service. In the South, indentured servants were far fewer and the predominant source of labor was black slaves brought over
from Africa."

"Why was there a difference between North and South as to the use of slaves? There were some differences in which religious groups settled in the two
areas, and it is often put off as a moral weakness on the part of the Southern landowners. Adam Smith, was a Scottish economist and philosopher who lived
from 1723 to 1790. He wrote the famous landmark book in economics, The Wealth of Nations. He did a comparison of the cost of using indentured servants and
other sources of labor versus purchasing black slaves and concluded that it made no economic sense to use slaves. "

"I am not an advocate of slavery, and I am not suggesting it is a good thing. There are, however, some facts that I think are interesting and are not part
of the general population's world view of slavery in the South. First, the popular image is of evil European slavers hunting down and capturing happy
villagers minding their own business. Most slaves in Africa were captured by other African Blacks. Slavery in Africa has an extensive tradition in the
native cultures that goes back long before the coming of Europeans, and it was the common practice for victors in wars and raids to enslave the losers.
Those slaves not used by the victors were sold off. The Europeans and Americans did provide a demand and a new market for the sale of black slaves, but it
was a system in place long before Europeans came along."

"Let’s go back to our map of the Eastern United States. Now we will superimpose this on the map." A blue shaded area appeared on the map. "This marked
region on the map is the area that the mosquito that caries malaria was found in the United States. If you notice, the northern extent of the habitat for
this mosquito happens to follow the Mason-Dixon Line almost exactly. You don't hear about it much in the states anymore, but the historical death rates
from malaria were extremely high in the Southern United States, especially among those of European descent. Again, they did not have the modern
understanding of disease being caused by bacteria and viruses but instead blamed it on things like "Bad Air.""

"Blacks who are from areas of Africa where malaria is prevalent have a natural resistance to the disease. It was difficult to find enough people to provide
the labor needed for agriculture as the death rate from malaria was high. Indentured European servants and even the families of plantation owners
themselves died at an elevated rate. The fact that black slaves had a natural resistance meant they died at a much smaller rate. With the death rate from
malaria factored in, it was more cost-effective to buy slaves in the Southern states. This was not the case in the Northern states."

"This gives a reason besides moral weakness for slavery in the American South. You can definitely argue that allowing slavery for monetary reasons was
still wrong, but it still shows economics were a large factor in driving the practice. Malaria was the reason behind the economics of the situation."

"Contact between Europeans and the natives of the Americas and the introduction of the new diseases triggered the single largest killing off of members of
the human race in history to date. It was not the first incidence of disease affecting human history, and it won't be the last."

"The general population is aware of the term "The Black Death" and know it was a plaque during medieval times but often doesn’t know much beyond that. The
Black Death was responsible for the death of an estimated forty percent of the European population. Death in the Americas was far higher at ninety to
ninety-five percent, and the population of the Americas was much greater than that of Europe. Still, in terms of Europe, it was devastating."

"Some written accounts from the time referred to it as the end of the world as many doubted there would be any survivors. It had a variety of effects on
society. In our earlier discussion of the fall of Constantinople, I pointed out the fall was caused by attacks by first the fourth Christian crusade and
later by the Ottoman Turks. Constantinople during the period between the years 1348 A.D. and its fall to the Ottoman's in 1453 A.D. was struck by The Black
Death eleven times. While it may not have been the final nail in the coffin of the Eastern Roman Empire, it had to have been one heck of a contributor.
Tiny little viruses and bacteria have been major factors throughout human history."

"It took me a while to get to it, but you are wrong if you are thinking that I forgot our earlier question. Is history shaped by great men and women, or is
it the result of political and cultural trends within the society? I think I have convinced you that viruses and bacteria have had major roles in affecting
the course of human history. They do not fit into either the great man or woman, or cultural and political trend's category."

"Contrary to popular belief, neither history nor the world revolves totally around humans. Thinking it does is another form of bias, a bias in favor of
your own species. Even with all the headway in ecology and a better understanding of the planet, we are merely scratching the surface of understanding how
we are linked to other species and organisms in the world ecosystem. We still have a form of tunnel vision in our thinking that insists humans, are the
only things of importance affecting our history and our destinies."

"Other species traveled between the ecosystems of Europe and the Americas that were not as dramatic in their results or didn't affect humans as directly as
diseases. The lowly earthworm is one example. Most of you here in North America have seen an earthworm, especially after it rains. They are not indigenous
to North America, but came from Europe, probably in the soil of plants that were imported to North America by settlers."

"Earthworms actually changed the existing ecosystems in the forests of North America to a significant degree. They made changes to the soil that altered
which types of trees would grow better in the forests. Their effects, however, were hardly noticed by European settlers."

"There were lots of species moved from the Americas to Europe as well, especially food species. Tomatoes, potatoes, corn, squash, and several others became
very prevalent as new food sources in Europe. These additional sources of food sources greatly reduced the recurring famines that affected Europe. It
allowed for a large increase in the population due to the greater prevalence of food. The potato alone had a major impact on food supplies in Europe but
there were other important species. It is difficult to imagine Italian food without tomatoes, but they originally came from the Americas."

"Any time that two different ecologies come into contact for the first time, there is the potential for a large upheaval within both of those ecologies."

"If humans ever do come into contact with aliens from another planet, the largest potential for disaster will be related to the effects of two totally
different ecosystems having contact for the first time. The risk of viruses, bacteria, some form of parasite, etc., causing a disaster on the scale of
Europeans coming into contact with Native Americans and affecting the entire planet, is very likely. This will be the biggest threat, much greater than the
aliens might want to eat us or use our bodies to breed in, like you see in science fiction movies."

"Although, the act of aliens eating us or breeding within our bodies would merely be a specific form of ecological effect. Furthermore, the effects or
potential threat would not be limited to one or two species. It would also be unlikely to be in only one direction. Earth bacteria or viruses, etc., could
potentially cause massive problems to the alien species and their ecosystem as well."

"But let's leave that sort of speculation and return to our current reality, which right now is that it is time for lunch. So we will break for an hour,
and then we'll continue when we come back."

HE SAT BY THE CAMPFIRE COOKING a small deer. He had discovered that he no longer needed to eat, but he enjoyed it just like he enjoyed lying in the sun, so
he still ate most of the time. If he was around other people, it had the advantage of making him seem less strange. It was also part of being human, and so
he tried to hold on to that. As a result, he got very good at cooking. He had also gotten better over the years at pretending among other people that he
was just human. He was quite good at it now, for short periods of time anyway.

Gradually, over the years, he had discovered a number of things. For example, he no longer needed to breath, and could stay under water indefinitely. He
had discovered that by accident when he had fallen into a river and the turbulent water had disoriented him, and he had panicked thinking that he would
drown. When he hadn't, he had experimented and had so far found no limit, to how long he could go without breathing.

When he tried to do something new with his abilities, he still felt as if his mind was reaching out to something, but he still had no idea what. No god or
anything else ever contacted him. He also never got any reply to any attempts to talk to whatever the something was. Using abilities he had set in place
did not have the same reaching out feeling in his head, but doing something new did.

He had found nothing that could stop him if he did not want to be stopped. Even stone cliffs would only slow him down. If he decided he did not want to
move, he had found that nothing seemed to be able to move him, absolutely nothing. He could shatter trees and boulders with a single blow. He had yet to
find anything anymore that could hurt him, not physically at least.

Loneliness bothered him sometimes and the loss of his people could still, occasionally, after all these years, feel like a knife to his heart. The pain and
anger though, was nothing like it had used to be, having faded over the years.

He still continued his war on the No Chins, but more out of a sense of obligation and stubbornness. He had destroyed the tribe of No Chins that had
slaughtered his people long ago and had moved on to hunting down and killing any other No Chins he could find. He knew from occasional contact with certain
tribes and from watching generations pass that several lifetimes had passed since he had started his war against the No Chins. The time mellowed his hate,
but not enough to make him stop.

He learned the speech of the No Chins years ago, picking up the occasional word or phrase a bit at a time. He had kept prisoners occasionally in order to
learn more of the language before he killed them. It had originally been a way to help gain information for his hunt. He knew the No Chins had a name for
him. They whispered it late at night, in fear. They called him Uwandah Kwallagh which in their tongue meant "The Death of the People."

It was an apt name. There were very few of the No Chins left and soon, he would kill those as well.

He did not know what he would do then. He did not really think about it. His quest for vengeance consumed most of his thoughts for all this time. He would
think about what to do when his self-appointed task to kill all the No Chins was over.

WENDY’S BROTHER DON WAS TRYING to think of a plan to get him out of the situation; he found himself in. He worked as a cop in Baltimore and was used to
dealing with force and violence. He had always felt that he could take care of himself. He was a cop and had a 4
^th
degree black belt in Tae Kwon
Do. None of it made any difference.

He had been shot with a tranquilizer dart when he was getting out of his car at home after getting off work. He had felt the dart hit, and his first
thought had been that a bee had stung him. The fact that it was night and no bees would be out, did not register until his hand knocked the dart out of his
leg, where it had hit him. He had looked around confused, but whatever the drug was; it had already been making him dizzy. He had passed out just a few
seconds after that without even seeing who had shot him.