Unanswerable Questions
In another conversation with Remy, he made the point that all of us have had at one point: why is the world directed the way it is? That is, on making money, on consumption, well modern american society. Good question. When I was his age it pissed me off. I would walk around Denver saying if I was in charge NONE of this would be here. Now I'm too old. I'm tolerant. However, I have a few answers.
First off, there is simply our form of life. We can see globally, that is we can see a world we would wish to live in. However, we are chained to the past, we have been born into a world already going. We cannot start from scratch. More to the point, please recall that our form of life CONSUMES OTHER LIFE TO SUSTAIN ITSELF. All life on this planet EATS OTHER LIFE TO KEEP LIVING. I myself consider this a woeful design flaw. We have been built to kill, to eat, to survive. You can meditate on the ramifacations of this. They are huge.
Two, there are different stages of development in the world - socially, economically, institutionally. This is a gap that must be bridged.
Third. Let's be clear, right now, we don't have the capicity to support all 6.5 billion people (up from 2.8 just 50 years ago!) at the consumption levels of the USA and Western Europe.
Fourth. This is what would have to happen to flatten out the income curve, the lifestyle (ie health and nutrition, shelter, culture, and war) curve -- massive redistribution of income, and even less likely LEADERSHIP FROM OUR INSTITUTIONS, coupled with the even less likely in the short term REGIMES IN POWER THAT ACTUALLY WISH TO HELP THEIR CITIZENS EFFECT THIS CHANGE.
Remy and myself would gladly join the war. It just needs to be happening on a much grander scale than it is now.
You can blame both of us for not sacrificing it all to make it happen. Fair enough.
Just as, fair enough, the inability of all our predecessors to even remotely tangle with the problem - can you point to a violence free nano-second in the last 10,000 years? - is enough to demoralize anyone to the point where they ask: what is the point of being involved with this mess?
First off, there is simply our form of life. We can see globally, that is we can see a world we would wish to live in. However, we are chained to the past, we have been born into a world already going. We cannot start from scratch. More to the point, please recall that our form of life CONSUMES OTHER LIFE TO SUSTAIN ITSELF. All life on this planet EATS OTHER LIFE TO KEEP LIVING. I myself consider this a woeful design flaw. We have been built to kill, to eat, to survive. You can meditate on the ramifacations of this. They are huge.
Two, there are different stages of development in the world - socially, economically, institutionally. This is a gap that must be bridged.
Third. Let's be clear, right now, we don't have the capicity to support all 6.5 billion people (up from 2.8 just 50 years ago!) at the consumption levels of the USA and Western Europe.
Fourth. This is what would have to happen to flatten out the income curve, the lifestyle (ie health and nutrition, shelter, culture, and war) curve -- massive redistribution of income, and even less likely LEADERSHIP FROM OUR INSTITUTIONS, coupled with the even less likely in the short term REGIMES IN POWER THAT ACTUALLY WISH TO HELP THEIR CITIZENS EFFECT THIS CHANGE.
Remy and myself would gladly join the war. It just needs to be happening on a much grander scale than it is now.
You can blame both of us for not sacrificing it all to make it happen. Fair enough.
Just as, fair enough, the inability of all our predecessors to even remotely tangle with the problem - can you point to a violence free nano-second in the last 10,000 years? - is enough to demoralize anyone to the point where they ask: what is the point of being involved with this mess?
posted by fredsoffa at 6:59 PM
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