Which of the 4 (if any) have not yet come to earth or are they all futuristic things to fear on earth?
I don't know, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility. It may seem weird to consider old myths, but the poetics aren't without reason, so I'm open to various interpretations. Adam/Eve could be viewed as the two who came after. As for the four horsemen of the apocalypse - it would appear they have always been here.
It is irrefutable that all four are manifest: War, Famine, Conquest and Death. You'll have to get way more specific about the question.
Disease, hunger, poverty, death would be an ever present continuum on earth. They've always been part of the circle. From the primordial soup on to the waters and land and air - that's life and the cycles of life and evolution. The horsemen are riding ... Like always.
Survival of the fittest and adaptation would seem to be motivated by the four horsemen. I keep hearing it's a dog eat dog world and I guess it is at times. In any case, I also hear that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. It must be the Darwinian influence I've learned over the years. It's a largely accepted theoretical science with a long long history and backing.
Indeed. That s how I always understood it. But try Googling it. Which to believe? Google? Or the New Testament?
Famine would include poverty, hunger, drought etc. an absence of a need. Pestilence would include disease and old age, etc. Conquest and war are the more forceful man instituted types of things but they all lead to the last one we face as part of the living populace (death). I guess we've done fairly well at countering the first 3, but the last counter seems to be an elusive one. I think German scientist are making attempts, but that's just hear say from my locale. We learn as we go I guess.
What do you mean by "motivated"? Natural processes like adaptation don't have goals or motives. Nature red in tooth and claw. The point with evolution is that what doesn't kill us allows us to live long enough to reproduce, and thereby pass on any favourable traits that might have aided in our ability to fight off the thing that didn't kill us. It's the accepted foundation of all modern biology. The only people who don't accept it (of those who are aware of it at all) either don't understand the theory or reject it because it clashes with some dogma that they've been brought up on, or both. Famine isn't drought. Old age isn't pestilence. Grab a dictionary. Look them up.
The hard stuff motivates us to change and adopt patterns, which turn into survival instincts via repetition. We're always evolving and adapting to our environments per survival needs. Famine is a lack of something ... Water, food, money, etc. Things we need for survival. Pestilence falls into disease category as does old age and of course war and conquest are evident enough. They all lead to death, which is inevitably our last battle as living creatures.
I know the definitions but the implications are present in the text. Implied needs or implied sickness or implied violences that lead to death, which have been a very long standing part of life on earth. It's an apocalyptic life we live and there's no escape aside from the last battle, but all these hardships can lead us to life via adaptation, innovation, and through evolutionary processes as species ... Not just human species.
Something I've never understood is that the Four do not seem to be equals. War, Famine and Pestilence all lead to Death. Why is Death on the list then? He's da boss. It's like saying 'the four things you need to concentrate on are Writing, Reading, Arithmetic ... and Education'.
