If you're the sort of character who cheats by looking at the last few pages
of a book to get a sneak preview of how it's going to end before reading all
the rest of it, presumably you're doing much the same thing right now.
Naughty you. You should be a good person and at least have a look around the
rest of this website first!
However, if you're determined not to play fair, I suppose I'll have to allow
for the fact...
So here are some thoughts which are intended to tie things up a bit, and
bring them to a conclusion, for most people - but which will hopefully have
the opposite effect for you if you are that stubborn, impatient person, and
will prompt you to read the rest of the site also.
Just exactly what does it mean to be human?
I have a satirical book entitled "The Left Handed Dictionary", by Leonard
Louis Levinson (1968, Collier Books, New York / Collier-Macmillan Limited,
London). This book takes a deliberately sidelong view of the world; the
definitions are at least ironic, and many are absolutely dripping with heavy
sarcasm. A large proportion of them are quotes from famous sources.
Under the (now politically-incorrect) heading MAN are almost two pages of
definitions. Here are some:
The only animal that spits. (Donald A. Laird)
(Well, that can't be right for a start - I've read that llamas also spit,
with sufficient force to knock your hat off, if they get cranky enough!
Although, check
this
out...)
The only animal that blushes - or needs to. (Mark Twain)
The inventor of stupidity. (Rémy de Gourmont)
A creature made at the end of the week's work when God was tired. (Mark Twain)
Nature's sole mistake. (Alexander Pope)
A political animal. (Aristotle)
An animal that throws peanuts to its ancestors.
The king of beasts.
The glory and the shame of the universe. (Pascal)
- And then there is this gem from Anatole France:
Of all the ways of defining man, the worst is the one which makes him out a
rational animal.
Okay - enough's as good as a feast. The gist is clear: human beings look as
though they might have great possibilities, but somehow they don't measure
up.
One thing that has become quite clear since the late 1960's, when "The Left
Handed Dictionary" was published, is that human beings are the only
creatures ever to have come anywhere close to destroying their habitat.
We are, apparently, the most intelligent creatures on the face of our
planet. However, it's becoming quite clear that we are in danger of losing
it all.
Ice in the polar regions (in glaciers, etc.) is melting at an alarming rate.
There are now plenty of science documentaries which make it quite clear that
the greenhouse effect, which has been a source of cantankerous argument for
at least two decades, is increasing to a dangerous level after all.
Even the big-business community - which basically views profitability
as its only concern - is worried about this, if only because it's "bad for
business". (See my page about
Zero-point energy
for some details about this; scroll down until you find some purple text.
UPDATE, May 2007: this has now been
moved into a page of its own; click
here.)
I wasn't fully convinced about the seriousness of global warming as an issue
until quite recently. I tend to be sceptical of any "accepted wisdom"; and
if anything smacks remotely of political correctness, my hackles rise. But
the reality is now very visible. Hardly a day goes by without some evidence,
somewhere in the world, coming to light - and it can't be ignored any
longer.
On ABC-TV's Midday Report on Monday, 5th June 2006, and again on the current
affairs program Lateline that evening, was the story of an Alaskan island
village called Shishmaref, which appears set to become the first actual
physical casualty of this phenomenon. To read a BBC report, click
here.
Another report, with dramatic "before and after" photographs, can be found
here.
Even governments which have held out until now (mid-2006) by refusing to do
sensible things like ratifying the Kyoto protocol (and, yes, I'm talking
about the US and Australian governments, specifically) are starting to make
noises suggesting that, just possibly, "the penny has dropped" after all.
Hooray!
- Except that, now, the spectre of nuclear power is raising its ugly head
again, after decades of having been on hold. The lessons of Chernobyl and
Three Mile Island, it seems, have been conveniently forgotten by our leaders
- or are at least being played down.
Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard, has in the last few days made it
very clear that nuclear power is back on the agenda as an issue for
"debate". (Pardon me for being somewhat cynical, but it looks to me as
though it's a foregone conclusion; and that the government is much more
intent on "educating" us about what is far more likely to be an
edict, than it is on any kind of reasoned discussion.)
I could get on my high horse and yell about this, but I can't be bothered.
I'd much rather people just look into the matter themselves, think about the
issues, and make their own decisions. At the end of the day, we all have to
be true to ourselves. So, if you haven't given it much thought, may I
suggest that
this Wikipedia link
which discusses the production of energy from nuclear fission - considering
the "if's and but's" without undue drama - is a good place to find some
basic information. Then there's
this page,
also from Wikipedia, which reports on the life and work of Australian
physician and noted anti-nuclear advocate Dr. Helen Caldicott (born 1938),
and also deals with its subject matter in an even-handed way.
Let's give nuclear (fission) energy the benefit of the doubt for the moment.
Assuming it's possible to do it safely, with no melt-downs or other
accidents, no problem with storage of radioactive waste, and security
(making sure nothing nasty gets into the hands of people of evil intent), is
it really a panacea for the world's energy needs? Or is there quite simply a
better way?
If you've had a look around this website, I'm quite sure you know my opinion
on this. I've already mentioned my zero-point energy page above; another
that may interest you is
this one.
So does our small planet have a future?
To us oldsters, from a purely selfish perspective it probably doesn't really
matter. Before the greenhouse effect kicks in too strongly, or there are too
many "incidents" involving fission reactors or the storage of their
inevitable waste products, I imagine that most of us will be well out of it.
However, I've got two children poised to enter the world as young adults.
Sometime in the not too distant future, I'll probably have grandchildren.
What sort of a world do I want them - and their descendents - to inherit?
I don't want a world in which we have pushed beyond their limit the natural
processes that make it a decent place to live. I don't want a world in which
every single aspect of life is governed by the mighty dollar, come what may.
I don't want a world in which the very word "humanity" has lost its meaning.
I want a world in which humans at least have a chance to reach their full
potential. I want a world in which the most intelligent race is determined
to preserve what's good, and improve on what's not (rather than making it
even worse).
I don't want to return to some mythical "golden age". There never really
was a "golden age" (even though, for a brief period, it looked as
though one may have been within reach); and there probably never will be -
short of divine intervention.
Just a little on this subject, if I may, before proceeding.
If you've visited my page on
economic globalism,
you'll have seen a reference to a book written by one Stan Deyo in 1978
called "The Cosmic Conspiracy". In this book, Deyo appeared to be convinced
that the Second Coming of Christ was set to occur in the 1980's. He
presented evidence of a 1982 planetary line-up which, he suggested, could
trigger seismic activity on a grand scale, creating conditions which may
well usher in the Tribulation, to be followed by the Second Coming seven
years later.
In the event, it quite clearly didn't happen. Deyo joined a long line of
people down the ages who have predicted "the end times" within more-or-less
specific time-frames - but who have all been wrong. (The Bible itself quotes
Jesus as saying
"no-one knows the day or the hour"
.)
There are any number of websites which seek to deal with "the end times" in
specific terms. I'm not saying that any or all of them are right or wrong.
When I was younger, these matters used to exercise me greatly; and Deyo's
book held great fascination for me. However, that was a quarter of a century
ago, and I've come to realize in the intervening time that, whatever the
true state of affairs may be, you can't just sit still and wait for the
prophesies to be fulfilled. In the meantime, life is to be lived, and
preparations are to be made (as far as possible) for one's offspring to also
have something which may be termed a life - in the "here and now", for as
long as that lasts.
The forecast events may begin today, or perhaps not for another hundred
years or more. It's not my problem. What I see as my responsibility is to do
whatever I can to try to make the world I live in right now a better
place. This website is a sincere attempt to help do just that.
So what is true religion, if it's not just about sitting back and waiting
for the fulfilment of "end-times" prophesies? This is actually addressed
quite specifically in a verse of the New Testament. If you're not aware of
this, click
here
to read more.
Or perhaps you prefer the
Monty Python version
of "The Meaning of Life"? (If you haven't seen this truly gross film,
don't accuse me of recommending it. Just as if I would...
I'm not seeking to promote or refute any individual's sincerely held
religious views, including those of the author of
this
web-page - but if you're interested, that page gives a good review of "The
Meaning of Life", and presents the Python crew's conclusion on this most
weighty matter. (Not so very different from the point of view expressed in
the "true religion" link above, if you think about it...!
UPDATE, Saturday, 9-8-2014:
That second "Meaning of Life"-related page, above, seems to have disappeared,
unfortunately - but while trying to find it exists somehwere else, I've turned up
another page which might just possibly have similar origins; and this one
contains a YouTube link to a new version of Eric Idle's "Universe Song". I
recommend a visit.
Here's
the link - have a chuckle...
One final remark on the subject of matters religious:
As a late-teen-to-young-adult person in the 1970's, I was an enthusiastic
participant in the Christian youth culture of the era, as you may have
gleaned from comments I've made here and there within these pages (although
I've deliberately avoided making a big deal about it).
I am devastated to see how that incredibly positive Christian youth movement
appears to have deteriorated into the "religious right" of the 1990's and
beyond, which seems to view its main duty as re-electing lunatic, violent,
corrupt right-wing governments, hell-bent (I use the term carefully and with
precision) on forcing the entire world into their own ugly mould, utilising
whatever may "work", including systemic torture, rape, and murder - the very
antithesis of what Jesus presented as true religion.
Ultimately, what I do want is a world where everybody is encouraged
to be a citizen in the true sense of the word, and to take
responsibility for keeping the place livable and always striving to make it
better.
It may be a vain hope. But if we don't at least try to achieve that,
the prospects are too horrific to contemplate.
I believe that, as long as there is even just one thinking, aware person in
the world, it's never too late. I do believe our world can have a
future - even right now, before the Second Coming - depending on how
we treat it. To quote from a
song
on the 1968 Moody Blues album
"In Search of the Lost Chord"
:
Thinking is the best way to travel...
I started to build this website early in 2005. Now, halfway through 2006, it
seems to be nearing "completion" (in the sense that I feel that I've
succeeded in expressing my concerns to my reasonable satisfaction).
It's a personal statement, and it's been a deeply personal journey for me.
I hope you've found something in it to challenge you, or (at the very least)
to interest and perhaps amuse you. If it's helped you to think about certain
issues you've never thought about previously, then it has succeeded. I can
ask no more.
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