What Are We Humans Coming To?

A Mysterious Package Arrived Before Christmas

I bought myself a Christmas present—something to bring myself happiness.

When it arrived, I looked at the package with some alarm. Why, I wondered, would someone think it necessary to put the warning "INTERNAL USE ONLY” on this package? I imagined someone pouring out a splash of the contents and rubbing it on their skin.

This didn’t seem possible.

This package seemed to be a sort of canary in the coal mine. Miners used to carry canaries with them when going into mines. Canaries are more susceptible to carbon monoxide than humans. When the birds fell unconscious, the air in the mine was becoming dangerous, and the miners would return safely to the surface. So, a canary in the coal mine has become a metaphor for a sign that something bad will happen.

These days, all sorts of things seem to be quietly whispering that we humans are not evolving into cautious, thoughtful creatures. Evolution, it seems, does not select for intelligence.

The label seemed like a harbinger of more significant problems to come.

Why would anyone feel it was necessary to put the warning “INTERNAL USE ONLY” on a package containing a bottle of single malt whisky?