"...[Friedrich] Nietzsche teasingly introduced a character called 'the last man,' a frightening (or flattering, depending on your point of view) possibility for the 'end' of evolution. The last man is the ultimate bourgeois, the satisfied utilitarian, the absolute couch potato. 'We have found happiness,' says the last man, and blinks in dull contentment. This, Neitzsche warns, is also one of our possibilities. We can continue to consume our comforts, minimize dangers, ignore the mysterious and unknown, and discourage creativity, until the world is so safe for us that we will become 'ineradicable, like the dog-flea.' Or, we might strive to become something more than 'human-all-too-human' and aspire to the
Ubermensch [superman]." (232) --Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins,
A Short History of Philosophy
I would add to the description of the "last man" an obsession with trivial entertainment--whether by television shows, best-selling novels, or sports. I might also add a "last child" for whom being entertained during school lessons is an absolute necessity without which learning simply cannot take place. Entertainment, not knowledge, is the chief priority. To the "last child", I'd also add of course the "last principal" and the "last school" to my description of human evolution gone bad.
On lighter note, if being a
Ubermensch means having a mustache like the one above, then sign me up!
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