Letters to the Editor
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A Vacation from the Truth?
While I don't like to wallow in gloom n' doom, and I try to give my sons a sense of optimism about their own futures, I can't totally disagree with the LW regarding the state of the nation, the state of the world.
With the exception of certain geographic "pockets," this country, as a whole, has been an astoundingly (to me) anti-intellectual society. I'm not the first to say it, nor will be the last, but the hypocrisy surrounding the blatherings about "education," the attention paid to pop culture, the paucity of reason and logic governing national policies here and abroad, the cowardice in kowtowing to religious sects, the head-in-the-sand reaction to the complexities of global events--all of these speak to a lack of true leadership, which should be based on an in-depth understanding of the issues that have been facing this country and will continue to face us for decades, if not centuries.
Perhaps LW can inspire his daughter to think about these issues and prepare herself to take a leadership role in one of the areas in which leadership and clear thinking are so badly needed. He can observe her strengths and talents and mentor her to become perhaps a scientist like himself, or seek another career in which she can act as a competent voice of reason.
I know that my own skepticism and pessimism about these things can drive me to despair. Yes, it's true that a vacation can help to ease the mind. But, for goodness' sake, we certainly don't want the LW to put his own head in the sand of a sunny Bermuda beach and pretend these things aren't happening.
So, LW, sure, take your vacation, really, allow yourself to relax, and then think about how you can pass on your own legitimate concerns to your daughter, but without scaring her into helpless gloom n' doom. Rather, try to inspire her to become someone who can face the realities and perhaps help to do something to truly benefit the world in which she's growing up.
Good luck.
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Tunnel vision much?
From the same science I've been hearing reports on, I don't think it will be your daughter who faces the end of the world so much as your grandchildren or great-grandchildren. So just tell your daughter not to have kids and all your worries are solved. Simple solution.
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Folly of the Faithless
Without the Faith and Religion or "Fairy Tales" of which you are so dismissive, Man is simply a sophisticated Monkey. The danger is NOT that we will genocide each other because we disagree on our visions of the unknown, but that we will revert to the level of the beast seeking only the satisfaction of our own needs genociding whoever stands obstructing our path to obtaining that satisfaction.
Religion does not teach you God, it teaches you the nature of being Human and the desire to rise above the Ape within.
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don't sit around moping, do something
I guess a few letters have focused on this issue, but all I can think when I read this letter is, if you think the world is going to hell in a handbasket, then why are you just siting around moping about it instead of trying to do something constructive? Okay, maybe you can't reverse global warming, or peak oil, or cure cancer or bring about world peace. But there are plenty of things you can do. Start by making your own life ecofriendly. Teach your daughter. Teach her friends.
Share what you know. There are plenty of people who are concerned about this, and are looking for a way not only to put the brakes on a bad situation, but also how best to survive it if it happens. Even if you can't prevent the crisis, why not prepare for the best way to survive it once it happens? There will still be life after peak oil, and we will need to know what to do about it. There will still be a need for communities. Wouldn't it be better if we were all well-prepared for disaster, and life after it, than being taken unawares and unprepared? You're a brilliant scientist-- put your money where your mouth is and your ingenuity and your intelligence into coming up with some actual concrete strategies and plans for life after the apocalypse.
Maybe you can't change the world, but you can have an impact on the people around you. Become a community organizer/activist, and teach people in your neighborhood. Join organizations that are already doing that. Be a political activist, and let your local government know that you want action on this issue. Probably a lot of other people in your community do, too -- find them and make your voice heard. Let people know what the problem is -- and then work on the best and most constructive way to deal with it. It doesn't profit anyone for you to sit around crying, get out there and use your talent to do some good.
Mabe it can't solve everything, but it'll give you something to do and the knowledge that, if nothing else, you did the best you could.
And if you haven't, read Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents.
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Existential Crisis
You are in the throes of what we called forty years ago an existential crisis. You are looking at the essential meaningless of life and finding terror in your heart.
The truth--Mankind will exist until it doesn't exist anymore. Whether that end comes with a nuclear winter (as I believed when I was young), environmental disaster, an asteroid or our sun exploding into a supernova, we don't know. But it will come.
Nothing lasts forever. We will survive until we don't survive any more.
Use your gifts to mitigate our current risks, keeping in mind that the end may come from another direction. Learn to love and glory in the beauty that is the world right now.
Now, go have a glass of decent wine, listen to some Roberto Fonseco, and watch your daughter sleep.
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oh shut up
For such a self-proclaimed genius, this guy isn't all that bright. What a bore!
Maybe he should devote the rest of his life to coming up with technological solutions for the horrible, dreary life we're all about to lead without our SUVs and living in older, smaller houses. (The horror!)
Blech.