Darwin's Thought

Abstract

It is difficult to describe accurately the bond between humans and society. Our current society is morphing at such a gradual pace that no one seems to notice many changes. Those changes, however, accumulate and in fact exert great pressure on our lives. Humans are pushed to take action when pressures reach a threshold, and this creates conflicts that can tear society apart. 2014 was a harsh year for my home city, Hong Kong. The people launched a series of political movements, asking the unpopular government to restore and respect their civil rights. While the people were demonstrating on the streets, the government replied with violent actions, which left me angry and disappointed. From these events, I realized that our social environment has the power to greatly influence individuals to conform to societal norms. On the positive side of this, we continue to learn to understand the world throughout our lives. On the darker side, our ever-changing society can force us to modify our standards and our behavior, so that we can avoid losing our place in the society in which we live. As a result, most humans find themselves situated in a passive condition, with little choice but to reshape their lives according to an acceptable social standard in order to continue to exist. This notion is similar to Darwin’s idea of Natural Selection, which is disturbingly accurate in pointing out current social trends and issues. I was inspired by these books to compose a set of songs that satirizes our current condition. The piece has eight movements: a prelude, six songs and a postlude. The text of the first four songs uses nature as a metaphor to depict the human world; that of last two songs directly describes human nature. The piece has a dark and disturbing quality, which creates an ironic effect.