3. Anthropological Catastrophe

Until recently (the end of the twentieth century), the concept of “anthropological catastrophe” was more often the object of attention of science-fiction writers. It was they who predicted what would happen to a person if he entrusted his functions, his duties, to a machine (a robot) or to a monkey, became lazy, and centuries later his legacy would be studied with astonishment by an archaeologist-chimpanzee (P. Boulle). This theme passed from one novel to another, and academic science paid no serious attention to it. Thus, the predictions of the great seer, the science-fiction writer Arthur Clarke, were, to everyone's surprise, repeatedly fulfilled.

The concept of "anthropological catastrophe" is used in various contexts, and its meaning may vary depending on the field of knowledge. In different contexts this expression may have different meanings:

• Biological anthropology: In this field, an anthropological catastrophe may mean an event or factor that has a destructive effect on the human population or its biological development. For example, an epidemic, a nuclear disaster, or other events capable of destroying a large number of human lives or altering the genetic composition of the population.
• Cultural anthropology: In this field, an anthropological catastrophe may mean a cultural or sociocultural crisis that has a strong impact on society or culture. For example, the loss of a language, of traditions, the disappearance of cultural values, or the mass extinction of ethnic groups.
• Philosophy and sociology: In these fields, an anthropological catastrophe may mean a threat to human existence or to human civilization as a whole, arising from various factors such as environmental problems, social conflicts, technological threats, and others.
• Ecology: An anthropological catastrophe in the context of ecology may mean the long-term negative impact of human activity on the environment, leading to the loss of biodiversity, climate change, and other ecological consequences.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, in the Austro-Hungarian republic, strange, surrealistic prophecies flowed from the pen of Franz Kafka. It was much later that interpretations appeared in a cult song of the Soviet era: “We were born to make Kafka come true”. And the modern person has in many ways succeeded in this. The predictions of the brilliant writer are coming true successfully, quickly, and without much resistance on the part of the crown of nature. One gets the impression that a person is gladly entering the Kafkaesque age ahead of time, and that he takes pleasure in a situation of indescribability and uncertainty. The coming century is becoming defenceless against man, against his self-destructive activity. In Soviet scholarship, the first to sound the alarm about the anthropological catastrophe was Merab Mamardashvili. He first set out the main ideas on this problem in condensed form in a report delivered at the Third All-Union School on the Problem of Consciousness in Batumi, in 1984. “Consciousness and Civilization” was the title of the Georgian sage's report. He later returned to this problem repeatedly. M. Mamardashvili wrote of his anxious sense of the fate of the twentieth century. He noted that among the many catastrophes for which the twentieth century is notorious and by which it threatens us, one of the main ones, and one often hidden from view, is the anthropological catastrophe. It manifests itself not at all in such exotic events as the collision of the Earth with an asteroid, nor in the depletion of natural resources or excessive population growth, and not even in an ecological or nuclear tragedy. The philosopher wrote that what is at issue is what is happening to the human being himself, to civilization, in the sense that something vitally important may irreversibly break within him owing to the destruction of, or simply the absence of, the civilized foundations of the process of life.

Overall, the anthropological catastrophe reflects a concern regarding possible threats that may affect the human population, culture, environment, or civilization as a whole. This term is used to denote critical situations and problems that require attention and action across various fields of knowledge and activity.