Variety is the spice of life. There is that within the nature of life itself which inclines towards diversity. Evolution is not a great straight upward path from one thing to the next, but the great experiment of difference, in which each modification is tried out and discarded in a thousand different forms before the one is reached that becomes a success.

One of the defining characteristics of our modern industrial age is the glorification of sameness. Unlike the variation and pride of individual craftsmanship, the balance has swung towards the repetition of a single design on a production line in a factory. Rather than the mingled, motley gardens of our past, wherein a gardener or small farmer could notice variations in her crop and single out the interesting mutation for propagation, we live in a land of tremendous monocultures cultivated for easier machine harvesting. People are encouraged, through the proliferation of images in the media, to adhere to norms of appearance and behaviour that stretch across nations and even the world, rather what is adapted to a single community or region.

All of this trend towards sameness is not only dull, but can in some ways be dangerous. Loss of cultural and social diversity leaves us less able to cope with changing situations. Loss of biological diversity leaves our food supplies and other natural "services" (like the water purification provided by wetlands or the medicinal possibilities of rainforest species), and generally the biosphere itself less flexible and adaptable. Evolution has maintained this diversifying strategy over untold eons because it works. Is mankind really intelligent enough to come up with solutions to every approaching calamity, and wise enough to adopt the right solution for the problem at hand? If we cripple the natural mechanism for problem solving, we have to replace it with something.

There is a balance that can be struck. A balance that preserves diversity, yet also allows us to improve on the course of evolution with our intelligence. This balance is something we as a species have followed, on and off, for the length of our existence. The innovations of craftsmen and the discoveries of farmers, passing on one to the next, are the wise preservation of valuable differences. We codify the discoveries of the past into education for our young, ensuring that each succeeding generation isn't forced to reinvent the wheel. (There are some things that remain to be said of public education in America in this day and age, but that's a topic for another day.)

When no one dares to try anything their own way, or keep an eye out for that potentially useful strain of bean, we stagnate as a whole. And the current system of keeping the vast majority of the working class as similar as possible so that they can fit in as cogs of the great industrial machine while delegating the brainwork to teams of research scientists whose interests are forced to coincide with the interests of whatever company pays the bills and is, of course, interested primarily in its own profit.... it's inadequate, to say the least. Intelligence is not dictated by formal education. Everyone would profit from the chance to develop and enhance their native problem-solving skills, and I think the world would be a better place if more emphasis was placed on repecting a diversity of ideas and solutions, and less on money, worthiness as a function of holding a degree, and mind numbing entertainment.

So here is my twofold challenge to you: be your own research scientist, and embrace diversity wherever you discover it. From diversity among people and their opinions to the diversity of virgin forests, there is value to be respectfully explored. You might learn something! Relax, and let some weeds grow in your lawn. You'd be surprised how many of them have a venerable history and something to show you.

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