Biology and global problems of the present

Now, at the turn of two centuries, mankind has come into contact with the most acute problems of our time, threatening the very existence of civilization and even life itself on the planet. The term "global" derives its origin from the Latin word "globe", that is, the Earth, the globe, and since the late 60s of the 20th century it has become widely used to describe the most important and urgent planetary problems of the modern era that affect humanity as a whole.

The global problems of our era are a natural consequence of the current global situation that has developed on the globe in the last third of the twentieth century. For a correct understanding of the origin, the essence and the possibility of their solution, it is necessary to see in them the result of the preceding world-historical process in all its objective contradictions. As a result (and not simply the sum) of the preceding social development of mankind, global problems are a specific product of the modern era, as a result of the extremely aggravated unevenness of socioeconomic, political, scientific, technological, demographic, ecological and cultural development in a completely new, historical situation.

The global problems of our time are generated, in the final analysis, precisely by the all-pervasive uneven development of the world civilization, when the technological power of mankind has immeasurably surpassed the level of social organization achieved by it, political thinking has clearly lagged behind political activity, and the motivations for the activity of the prevailing mass of people and their moral values are very far from social, ecological and demographic imperatives of the epoch.

The historical originality and social uniqueness of the global situation that has developed at the turn of the two millennia imperatively demands from humanity new political thinking, high moral responsibility and unprecedented practical actions both in the internal policy of individual countries and in international relations, both in the interaction of society with nature, both and in the relationships between the people themselves. The modern global situation has woven all the contradictions of our era into a single indissoluble "tight knot", to unleash which is only a social and spiritual renewal of human society, a new way of thinking in conjunction with new practical activities.

All global problems of our time are closely connected with each other and mutually conditioned, so that an isolated solution of them is practically impossible. Thus, ensuring the further economic development of mankind with natural resources presumably involves preventing the growing pollution of the environment, otherwise this will lead to an ecological catastrophe on a planetary scale in the foreseeable future. That is why both these global problems are rightly called ecological and even with a certain basis they are viewed as two sides of a single environmental problem.

Global problems of civilization require for their solution the broadest coalition of all social forces and social movements interested in social progress, and at the same time create objective conditions and subjective prerequisites for their cooperation. The dialectic of social progress in the modern era is manifested in the fact that the struggle for the solution of social problems does not detract, it brings the social renewal of society closer.

Identified areas of possible human application of their own efforts for selfdevelopment in modern environmental conditions are determined by the features of the evolutionary approach. The evolutionary approach allows one to abstract in theory from the anthropogenic conditioning of what is happening and to view the modern biospheric state not only as a crisis, it is a crisis only to man, but also as a natural evolutionary situation. It is all the more justified that the positive measures taken by mankind today to prevent the growth of environmental pollution, as will be shown, are so insignificant that the process of modern biospheric changes is essentially provided by the elements of the natural course of events.

What is the fate of an individual in such a situation? What contribution can he make to the common cause of overcoming the crisis situation and what can he do for his own salvation?

The methodological basis for research on the issue of changes in the nature of man in the natural-scientific aspect is the evolutionary approach. Darwin's theory, despite an ever-growing flow of objections to its individual links, retains its methodological potential in many respects, and, in particular, remains indispensable in matters relating to human nature and its beginnings.

If scientifically grounded refutations are not formulated, by virtue of which a particular general biological regularity or general principle does not extend to the biological species, the researcher is entitled to make the assumption that the laws common to all other biological species also apply to the species in question.

The fundamental principle of variability of biological species constantly turns natural and philosophical thought to the problem of the fate of mankind, raises the question of possible changes in the nature of man and their signs, the conditions for the appearance, nature and significance of such changes.

In fact, to the period of early youth, the human body does not have time to significantly modify under the influence of adverse environmental and social (smoking, alcohol, drugs, etc.) factors and is able to produce a relatively complete genetically and physiologically significant creature, say, with a thirty-year-old organism, on which the destructive influence of the above-mentioned factors is already significant.

For example, in addition to the undoubted increase in the risk of the hereditary inferiority of the putative child over the years, the psychosomatics of a woman with age is so weakened that often in the first months of pregnancy, the protective mechanisms of the immune system that physically inhibit further development of the fetus are included, and the body rejects it, in effect, saving life mother. Not only is the ego nature of the individual organism, but also the species nature of the person prefers the adult organism, as if "waiting" for a more favorable internal state. But the latter is directly dependent on the surrounding conditions, and since it is clear that in the foreseeable future their improvement is not foreseen, then the conclusion about the approach of the decline of the human race, its gradual physical extinction due to the lost ability to reproduce would have been suggested, had it not been for the gaining the tendency to accelerate, allowing to preserve the framework of the previous duration of the childbearing period and, in essence, signifying the use of reserves.

Used sources:

• 1.    Дольник В.Р. Непослушное дитя биосферы. М.,1994, c. 170-188.

• 2.    Кузнецов В.Н. Экологические последствия применения химических средств защиты растений // Методологические проблемы биологии и экологии. Владивосток, 2011. с. 182-194.

• 3.    Лебедев В.И. Личность в экстремальных условиях. М., 1999.

"Экономика и социум" №4 (47) 2018