What to Believe?
With the U.S. government slowly staggering toward the end of its sorriest administration yet, and with the Republicans gearing up to do their utmost toward gaining the right to install more of the same exactly, it's no surprise that a sense of the swiftly approaching end of the world is so popular. Till now that particular area of expectation has been almost the exclusive territory of religious folk, but nowadays they have been neatly pushed aside in the enterprise by scientific and economic experts.
It's good for their business for scientists to be in that business, because the alerts they sound attract funding, and they have lots of possibilities to work with. A History Channel program called "Last Days on Earth" gave some of the headliners. Some would be human-caused, such as nuclear war, climate change, and creating machines that would eventually be smarter than us and would turn on us decisively. The others would be the work of the universe, like gamma rays from nearby dying stars, super volcanoes like the one that could come bursting out of Yellowstone Park any day now, since it is already thousands of years overdue, and roving black holes.
That last one shook even me, because till then I didn't know those things could move around. I always thought they stayed put where telescopes -- or good guesses and vivid imaginations and hopes -- found them, many, many light-years away. But we are told now that those rascals can MOVE AROUND! And one might not even notice itself destroying our entire solar system in one sweep, should it decide to check out the Milky Way.
Much closer to home, however, namely to all our wallets and pocketbooks, are the articles like this one called "Nationalism, Fiasco, US Dollar, Gold," with which the Downside World News is rife. These articles say that not just the U.S. but the entire world is already in the midst of a total economic breakdown, and nothing can be done about it, short of moving to a distant mountaintop, getting a composting toilet, and hoping for the best.
Yet daily perusals of the news reveal nothing of this imminent, miles high tidal wave of monetary disaster.
What does this mean? That the world is currently in a deep state of denial, and blissfully refusing to take its head out of the sand? Or that the alarmists are just that and nothing more?
What should we believe?
It's good for their business for scientists to be in that business, because the alerts they sound attract funding, and they have lots of possibilities to work with. A History Channel program called "Last Days on Earth" gave some of the headliners. Some would be human-caused, such as nuclear war, climate change, and creating machines that would eventually be smarter than us and would turn on us decisively. The others would be the work of the universe, like gamma rays from nearby dying stars, super volcanoes like the one that could come bursting out of Yellowstone Park any day now, since it is already thousands of years overdue, and roving black holes.
That last one shook even me, because till then I didn't know those things could move around. I always thought they stayed put where telescopes -- or good guesses and vivid imaginations and hopes -- found them, many, many light-years away. But we are told now that those rascals can MOVE AROUND! And one might not even notice itself destroying our entire solar system in one sweep, should it decide to check out the Milky Way.
Much closer to home, however, namely to all our wallets and pocketbooks, are the articles like this one called "Nationalism, Fiasco, US Dollar, Gold," with which the Downside World News is rife. These articles say that not just the U.S. but the entire world is already in the midst of a total economic breakdown, and nothing can be done about it, short of moving to a distant mountaintop, getting a composting toilet, and hoping for the best.
Yet daily perusals of the news reveal nothing of this imminent, miles high tidal wave of monetary disaster.
What does this mean? That the world is currently in a deep state of denial, and blissfully refusing to take its head out of the sand? Or that the alarmists are just that and nothing more?
What should we believe?
posted by Carl (aka Sofarsogoo) | 6:50 AM
2 Comments:
What should we believe?
Well my entire family is now convinced that I have gone insane, because I keep insisting on more and more canned goods and bottled water for my 'end of the world' section of the cabinets. Of course, it is hurricane season, so they just shake their heads at me and figure the stuff won't go to waste. I do honestly believe that we are headed for some seriously rough economoic times. What can you do? Save, save, save and keep the bottled water handy.
As with the other women with whom it has been my good fortune to live, namely my mother and my sister in my younger days, my wife is on the highly sanguine, optimistic side of things, and she just smiles, with very little intention to help me in preparations for what could easily come. And I guess that lately I have given up worrying about it, now that, personally speaking, my days are dropping down through the glass funnel faster and faster every day.
Also, living where you do, Lady, you are under more hammers than here in the shelter of the Va. mountains. In Florida those hurricanes come nearly every year to remind you of just how critical things can get, and in a hurry!
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