(no subject)
I don't like the idea of progress very much. The other day Thomas and I got into a little debate about whether technology would save the world from its sins- I am inclined to think that it won't. I am also inclined to disagree with him about the broader issue of whether humanity marches boldly forward.
I should say, actually, that I think the future will be grand. I do think we are making a kind of 'progress.' We just disagree about the details.
I've realized lately that my enthusiasm for peak oil and climate change and attendant calamity is something needs addressing. I read articles and blog posts predicting impeding collapse of global markets and western lifestyles with a kind of glee that I'm slowly learning is not shared by...well, anyone.
What is it about the breakdown of the postmodern world that excites me so?
It's because we are standing on the brink of a major change, and that we are soon to be forced to choose. Never has humanity been able to choose freely its own destiny- it is always thrust upon us. And now, too, we will have to choose.
And I think we can choose a better future. I think there is a pretty compelling alternative to the dystopia of Orwell or the dangerous dreams of Kurzweil and Minsky- the kind of people who get misty eyed at the thought of genetic engineeering and space-faring and the end of Humanity 1.0, so to speak. In fact, I think those people won't even have the means to make that dream a reality. There will be no genetic engineering after peak oil. We're closing out all other options save one.
The one I have in mind isn't very well formed right now. There are some philosophical underpinnings I have in mind. There's process metaphysics and panpsychism, Kantian ethics and a healthy (but limited) dose of communitarianism. But more importantly, there's a return to an ecological ethic, an almost premodern frame of mind regarding the natural world and our place in it. Not that we should "return to the forest," etc. But that we should set about creating communities again. Let's dismantle the New York Stock Exchange. Let's connect our cities by train and tear up some pavement. Live within our means and give up this ridiculous life of excess- share a little with the global south.
I don't think we have to give up our technology, least of all the communications stuff. But we have to give up how we think about it- start regarding it as a luxury again. Start realizing that the lives we live are not sustainable and that the inequality of the world necessary to produce ipods and cheap shoes is not morally acceptable anymore. Dismantle the corporations.
Okay. I have to calm down. But that's what I wish I had said to Thomas. It's no more naive than thinking we can live forever with little robots who do our laundry. Or in thinking that it's only a matter of time before everyone around the world lives a happy consumer lifestyle like we do in the good old USA.
There now. I feel a little better.
I should say, actually, that I think the future will be grand. I do think we are making a kind of 'progress.' We just disagree about the details.
I've realized lately that my enthusiasm for peak oil and climate change and attendant calamity is something needs addressing. I read articles and blog posts predicting impeding collapse of global markets and western lifestyles with a kind of glee that I'm slowly learning is not shared by...well, anyone.
What is it about the breakdown of the postmodern world that excites me so?
It's because we are standing on the brink of a major change, and that we are soon to be forced to choose. Never has humanity been able to choose freely its own destiny- it is always thrust upon us. And now, too, we will have to choose.
And I think we can choose a better future. I think there is a pretty compelling alternative to the dystopia of Orwell or the dangerous dreams of Kurzweil and Minsky- the kind of people who get misty eyed at the thought of genetic engineeering and space-faring and the end of Humanity 1.0, so to speak. In fact, I think those people won't even have the means to make that dream a reality. There will be no genetic engineering after peak oil. We're closing out all other options save one.
The one I have in mind isn't very well formed right now. There are some philosophical underpinnings I have in mind. There's process metaphysics and panpsychism, Kantian ethics and a healthy (but limited) dose of communitarianism. But more importantly, there's a return to an ecological ethic, an almost premodern frame of mind regarding the natural world and our place in it. Not that we should "return to the forest," etc. But that we should set about creating communities again. Let's dismantle the New York Stock Exchange. Let's connect our cities by train and tear up some pavement. Live within our means and give up this ridiculous life of excess- share a little with the global south.
I don't think we have to give up our technology, least of all the communications stuff. But we have to give up how we think about it- start regarding it as a luxury again. Start realizing that the lives we live are not sustainable and that the inequality of the world necessary to produce ipods and cheap shoes is not morally acceptable anymore. Dismantle the corporations.
Okay. I have to calm down. But that's what I wish I had said to Thomas. It's no more naive than thinking we can live forever with little robots who do our laundry. Or in thinking that it's only a matter of time before everyone around the world lives a happy consumer lifestyle like we do in the good old USA.
There now. I feel a little better.