The Afterlives of Jātaka Deer’s Compassion – In memory of our dog Baibai

This essay evaluates how exhibitions of prehistoric sites and cave art engage a worldwide public to address the issue animal compassion, consciousness, pain. The also analyzes significance representing archaeological discoveries in global context human-caused endangerment mass extinction animals, flora, fauna, including eventual prospect homo sapiens proper. Today, midst what some scientists call sixth event, daily loss species has produced desperate efforts conserve habitats preserve relics extinct animals for posterity increasingly defined by scarcity creation, with acceleration representation absence only sustainable growth. Originally found Jātaka tradition, story Deer crystallized Buddhist compassion. However, through decades national preservation propagandistic utilization, it met fate destruction process. For whatever poiesis earth ethics had intended convey, remains an aesthetic ruin twenty-first century. With help holographic virtual-reality augmented-reality technology, latest form is 3D replica currency. Such rendering reeks our human species’ self-congratulatory sense optimism triumphalism about its civilization despite coming extinction. Article received: April 23, 2021; accepted: June 21, Published online: September 15, 2021. Original scholarly paper