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This rant is from the multiple political ideologies that live inside my head. They need a place to come out and play. (In a politically offensive way) Entry into this space is not advised!
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Is western civilization coming to an end?
There have been doom sayer ever since there has been anything worth dooming. Prophets, politicians, writers, sages, wise men, wackos, newspapers, radio, tv and cult leaders have been selling doom for quite a while. There is always a market for their wares, so sales have been brisk over the centuries (millennium?). Just off hand, I can't think of a prediction of doom that ever came about. On the other hand, its only been within the last 200 years that we had anything resembling modern science, and only within the last 50 that we have the computer available to model nature.
What started me writing this, is an article from the Times in the UK.
It foams at the mouth more than I like, but it got me thinking of my grandparents. They lived through the great depression, and it permanently changed the way they looked at the world. I am going to assume everyone reading this has never been homeless and starving. That no tech savvy blog reader has ever know true want, gone for days without food or been tossed out on the street penniless and alone. The generation that experienced the great depression have, for the most part, left the building. With their passing goes a wisdom born in fire and tribulation. That wisdom can be summed up in the boy scout phrase “be prepared”.
One of my grandmothers had an enormous garden. As long as she was able, she grew her own food and canned it for future use. Gramma knew what it was like to have nothing, and she wasn't going to go there again.
The great depression was about a level of deprivation that most living Americans have not experienced. Oh sure, we have a cataclysmic hurricane every once in a while, and the occasional mega flood, but historically speaking they are really small potatoes. Even the great depression didn't destroy our civilization. Governments still operated, goods came to market and things eventually returned to “normal”.
As I ramble on, I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make. Should we all put concrete bunkers in our backyards and stock them with food? No! I once read an article about Bosnia's civil war. It said something that stuck with me for years, and I'm paraphrasing: “Individuals don't survive, but a community can”. If civilization collapses and you have resources, someone will come along, shoot you and take them.
I guess I just wish people would have a better knowledge of history. That they would understand that civilizations come and go for a lot of different reasons, but eventually the do leave. It looks like the Anasazi lost a battle with climate change, while a Peruvian civilization ended because tectonic upheaval cut off their aqueducts. Did the Mayans loose to deforestation? The Minoans went out with a volcanic blast. And does anybody want to take a stab at why Rome fell?
Living in fear, with an apartment stacked with cases of Spam and drinking water, is silly. But living in complete denial about our own mortality is just as silly.
PS: The Seattle times has a really nice series of articles on climate change (make sure you scroll down and click on the pretty graphs). Including a question and answer series with a respected climatologist.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002549346_globewarm11.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002552576_qa_globalwarming.html
There have been doom sayer ever since there has been anything worth dooming. Prophets, politicians, writers, sages, wise men, wackos, newspapers, radio, tv and cult leaders have been selling doom for quite a while. There is always a market for their wares, so sales have been brisk over the centuries (millennium?). Just off hand, I can't think of a prediction of doom that ever came about. On the other hand, its only been within the last 200 years that we had anything resembling modern science, and only within the last 50 that we have the computer available to model nature.
What started me writing this, is an article from the Times in the UK.
It foams at the mouth more than I like, but it got me thinking of my grandparents. They lived through the great depression, and it permanently changed the way they looked at the world. I am going to assume everyone reading this has never been homeless and starving. That no tech savvy blog reader has ever know true want, gone for days without food or been tossed out on the street penniless and alone. The generation that experienced the great depression have, for the most part, left the building. With their passing goes a wisdom born in fire and tribulation. That wisdom can be summed up in the boy scout phrase “be prepared”.
One of my grandmothers had an enormous garden. As long as she was able, she grew her own food and canned it for future use. Gramma knew what it was like to have nothing, and she wasn't going to go there again.
The great depression was about a level of deprivation that most living Americans have not experienced. Oh sure, we have a cataclysmic hurricane every once in a while, and the occasional mega flood, but historically speaking they are really small potatoes. Even the great depression didn't destroy our civilization. Governments still operated, goods came to market and things eventually returned to “normal”.
As I ramble on, I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make. Should we all put concrete bunkers in our backyards and stock them with food? No! I once read an article about Bosnia's civil war. It said something that stuck with me for years, and I'm paraphrasing: “Individuals don't survive, but a community can”. If civilization collapses and you have resources, someone will come along, shoot you and take them.
I guess I just wish people would have a better knowledge of history. That they would understand that civilizations come and go for a lot of different reasons, but eventually the do leave. It looks like the Anasazi lost a battle with climate change, while a Peruvian civilization ended because tectonic upheaval cut off their aqueducts. Did the Mayans loose to deforestation? The Minoans went out with a volcanic blast. And does anybody want to take a stab at why Rome fell?
Living in fear, with an apartment stacked with cases of Spam and drinking water, is silly. But living in complete denial about our own mortality is just as silly.
PS: The Seattle times has a really nice series of articles on climate change (make sure you scroll down and click on the pretty graphs). Including a question and answer series with a respected climatologist.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002549346_globewarm11.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002552576_qa_globalwarming.html
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