There is a lot to be said about the damage that the enormous human population numbers are doing to our ecology. In terms of our impact on the climate, on forests, even on the deepest trenches of the ocean floors — we have a lot to worry about.
But there is another aspect of our huge numbers that gets talked about far less — the dwindling value of the individual.
Now, I am not someone who romanticises the ‘good old days’, but hear me out on this — when communities were smaller in size, each person was ascribed greater value in terms of the visibility of their contribution to society.
For instance, a local community teacher may have actually been the luminary in the lives of all her students, a doctor was someone of value and responsibility, a potter could have been a close friend, and a farmer could have been someone whose life’s story we all knew.
But now, under the multiplicity of human institutions and expressions, not even a philosopher (what one might consider a rare choice of profession) can ever expect to really stand out or be remembered. Michelin-rated chefs will struggle to feel like achievers. There will soon be more space-rocketing billionaires floating among us than we have true friends.
As a result, what can anyone do to feel important or to be seen? I can spend my entire life perfecting my writing, but I can never get published. You may practice your music eight hours a day without ever landing a serious gig.
A devastatingly large number of extremely talented people with much to contribute will never get to stand in the spotlight because there are just too many already vying for our attention.
I mean, if there are eight kings called Henry, even a few amongst them would have felt ignored.
And I know, this set-up may appear to completely erase the injustices of race, gender, caste, and so on. Those are definitely more systemic reasons that many people of great value get ignored. But, if we were to look at each marginalised community as a community nonetheless, I feel this assessment would hold true within it. Most women CEOs will not get featured on a magazine cover, most Dalit scholars will never win coveted awards, even though each one of them will have resounding reasons to be given that attention.
So many talented people, and we can barely remember a handful, let alone value them. What does that do to those of us who fear we will never get to feel a sense of achievement for who we are and what we do? The first member in generations of a family to go to college will be one of the millions of desperate job-seekers in a few years. It will break her heart. No one will know what obstacles she overcame through sheer will-power. Her history will never be recorded. She will forever be just a cell in this organism.