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Mar. 24th, 2006 09:25 amWhen I think about it - I just don't get it. Business. The economy. Why? Why have we gone beyond food production? How much of our economy is directly based on food vs. TVs? I think right now I can only understand food production, housing, medical study, and related industries. Well, I understand toys. How many bushels of wheat is an xbox worth? How many people are involved with food production and distribution? Well, I guess we need sewage too. And we need some recreation, right?
I can see how each piece slips into place, and I certainly understand my place in this tiny universe. I understand why I do what I do - getting stuff and indulging my desire for rest, physical desires, and mental entertainment. I can extrapolate from the things we need to survive, to the understanding that recreation is a need as well, and that there are great efficiencies of size & specialization of skills. I just can't see how we went from individuals producing food to a huge society where almost no one is food involved.
I think about what will happen when we run out of fossil fuels. Solar doesn't seem like it will fit the bill - water and wind might, but with greatly reduced consumption. With less energy, it will be far more difficult to produce all the metals and plastics we currently rely on. Perhaps the population will be reduced. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we reduced the population down to about 2 billion?
Is space exploration worth the effort? Could we really run off and terraform other locations and will that ever be feasible? It is probably never in an individual or small society's best interest compared to ventures on short-term projects. I've heard arguments that it will never be economically or resource-based-ly efficient to travel through space, and that terraforming is simply not a practical or possible venture.
100 years after I'm dead it will be as though I never existed. Even if I was made famous and had a statue, that's not the same as knowing or remembering me. It's an image. I will be a statistical blip - like now, only even smaller. That's ok. I see "kids" today and sometimes remember I'm not one. I can't tell 15 from 35 half the time, and frankly I don't care. I like that old person perspective of "Let them have their day." Still, I think I also see how in your mind you are never old. Will I still see a hot young body as a sexual lollipop when I’m 80? Will I still be physically attractive and active? Will I care then?
More mysterious is how I saw a music video with Lindsey Lohan performing as a singer.
But...I diverge. Why am I doing this - that I understand. I just can't quite get my mind around how removed from survival most people's lives are. I can piece it all together, but it seems like the whole system is broken, and there is no mechanism in place to fix it. I suppose a plague or famine would be a corrective action. So will the expansion and extinction of our tiny sun.
The world looks so small today. But I still like listening to my disco.
EDIT - right when I posted this a related article popped up on Motley fool:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/fool/20060324/bs_fool_fool/114320900803
noting the poor are getting poorer, credit card debt may just be for food, and it's getting far more expensive to be alive
I can see how each piece slips into place, and I certainly understand my place in this tiny universe. I understand why I do what I do - getting stuff and indulging my desire for rest, physical desires, and mental entertainment. I can extrapolate from the things we need to survive, to the understanding that recreation is a need as well, and that there are great efficiencies of size & specialization of skills. I just can't see how we went from individuals producing food to a huge society where almost no one is food involved.
I think about what will happen when we run out of fossil fuels. Solar doesn't seem like it will fit the bill - water and wind might, but with greatly reduced consumption. With less energy, it will be far more difficult to produce all the metals and plastics we currently rely on. Perhaps the population will be reduced. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we reduced the population down to about 2 billion?
Is space exploration worth the effort? Could we really run off and terraform other locations and will that ever be feasible? It is probably never in an individual or small society's best interest compared to ventures on short-term projects. I've heard arguments that it will never be economically or resource-based-ly efficient to travel through space, and that terraforming is simply not a practical or possible venture.
100 years after I'm dead it will be as though I never existed. Even if I was made famous and had a statue, that's not the same as knowing or remembering me. It's an image. I will be a statistical blip - like now, only even smaller. That's ok. I see "kids" today and sometimes remember I'm not one. I can't tell 15 from 35 half the time, and frankly I don't care. I like that old person perspective of "Let them have their day." Still, I think I also see how in your mind you are never old. Will I still see a hot young body as a sexual lollipop when I’m 80? Will I still be physically attractive and active? Will I care then?
More mysterious is how I saw a music video with Lindsey Lohan performing as a singer.
But...I diverge. Why am I doing this - that I understand. I just can't quite get my mind around how removed from survival most people's lives are. I can piece it all together, but it seems like the whole system is broken, and there is no mechanism in place to fix it. I suppose a plague or famine would be a corrective action. So will the expansion and extinction of our tiny sun.
The world looks so small today. But I still like listening to my disco.
EDIT - right when I posted this a related article popped up on Motley fool:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/fool/20060324/bs_fool_fool/114320900803
noting the poor are getting poorer, credit card debt may just be for food, and it's getting far more expensive to be alive
