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Imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, “This is an interesting world I find myself in, an interesting hole I find myself in, fits me rather neatly, doesn’t it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!”
This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and as, gradually, the puddle gets smaller and smaller, it’s still frantically hanging on to the notion that everything’s going to be alright, because this world was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise. I think this may be something we need to be on the watch out for.
This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and as, gradually, the puddle gets smaller and smaller, it’s still frantically hanging on to the notion that everything’s going to be alright, because this world was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise. I think this may be something we need to be on the watch out for.
- Douglas Adams
You make some great points here, Marc. As a culture and, in fact, civilization we need to make some large changes. In some regards it's almost impossible in the political sense attributed to what you mentioned about getting what we want, not what we need. We need to let go of our selfish ways and ensure we HAVE a future.
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ps. NOT 5 minutes long at all!
THE END IS NIGH!
ReplyDeleteYou go off on some great threads Marc, but as you know it's so impossible to specify anything when venturing into yet another strand of the rabbit hole. For example, you say there is the notion of absolute right and wrong, which socially correspond to the Western notions of binary opposites, like good/evil, progressive/stagnant, etc and that all the left terms are directly attributable to the eradication of the left. The problem with this approach (like simply "changing our ways") is that it's a specific, "definable" process to a theory that is anything but. When discussing creation and the cosmos and the wonferful question of what the fuck are we doing here, the process of discerning "solutions" and theories are to keep such things in a generalized state, as attampting to define the unknown in known terms is impossible, and frankly, ever so Western of us. We need to embrace the ambiguous.
ReplyDeleteVery nicely put Dan. You are right when you say "we need to embrace the ambiguous". I think societies everywhere have a problem with doubt and uncertainty when it comes to the big picture. People like to think that they are in control and that "we" (humanity in general)have all the answers. i do think that we can make conclusions about some things as we go along, but we should always be aware of new discoveries lurking around the corner. Said better: "we don't know, what we don't know."
ReplyDeleteMy main point regarding making absolute conclusions is that I feel we tend to do that far too often, and in many cases, yes, the likelihood of a given theory being drastically disproven is negligible. And while it is necessary to make such conclusions to move civilization, it is critical that we don't "lock on" to too many things, but soon, positive and "progressive" conclusions made by all (cough...media effect...) just form a bias, and is ultimately a theory governed and adhered to based on "what we think we know, but can't know for sure, and so therefore cannot entirely dismiss another possible reality".
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