We are sowing the the seeds of our destruction. This is not a revelatory statement. This is not a unique discovery I've happened across. People have been saying this since the human race developed enough of a mind to perceive its basic nature. This is what we do, at least half the time. This is our lesser half. But being such, it's only half true. We're not destroying our planet. We're destroying ourselves.
The globe doesn't need to be saved by us, and we couldn't kill it if we tried. What we do need to save--and what we have done a fair job of bollixing up so far--is the earth as we like it, with its climate, air, water, and bio-mass all in that destructible balance that best supports life as we have come to know it. Muck that up, and the planet will simply shake us off, as it's shaken off countless species before us. In the end, then, it's us we're trying to save--and while the job is doable, it won't be easy.
Jeffrey Kluger and Andrea Dorfman
Time magazine, Aug 26, 2002
Yes, folks, there are still some optimists among us. Makes you kind of dewy, doesn't it? Me? I tend to be more of a pessimist myself. The world is nothing to get too misty over. Either we survive, individually or as a species, or we don't. It's just a fact of life. If we're too stupid to do what's necessary to save ourselves, then we deserve to die, to make room for another species to evolve and take our place. Dolphins maybe. It'll be a long wait, but waiting is. Meanwhile, I practice the art form. I don't really know what I'm waiting for, but that's the whole point, really. Life is waiting til you die, and occupying your time with diversion. One thing I do know I'm waiting for is the technology that will solve the aging problem. They say it's coming. When science will have eliminated death, then that'll have been something worth waiting for. Will I make it? Will this fragile body last that long? And if it does, a more appropriate question may be: Will I be able to afford the technology to save my life? Or will it be available only to those who have the money? Probably the latter. That's pretty pessimistic isn't it? But it's real. And reality isn't so nice as I used to think it was. Fantasy is better. Movies are better than real life. You can make movies end any way you want them to. Even if you didn't make the film, you can remake it in your mind. I do, all the time.
[from the Webmonkey newsletter]:
-> WEBMONKEY OVERHEARDS <-
Mike: Who would play you in the Jay Patrikios story?
Jay: Michael Rapaport!
Mike: But he's tall and blond, and you're ... not.
Jay: Oh yeah? And who'd play you?
Mike: Fred Savage.
Evany: Margaret Cho.
Who would play me in the j jackson story?
Hmm. Let's see. James Woods, maybe.
I'd really like to watch that movie.
I just can't wait for it to be released.