What some people see

“It’s tough to be alive now,” the actor Timothée Chalamet recently said. “I think a societal collapse is in the air — it smells like it.”

The economist Deirdre McCloskey once put it, “For reasons I have never understood, people like to hear that the world is going to hell.” But is it? One may be alarmed about the state of the world. Perhaps you’re horrified at the risks and dangers that lurk about—pandemics, political chaos, riots, people at each other’s throats, unprecedented events. Perhaps you’re getting a strong whiff of societal collapse.

The Bible says the following: 2 Timothy 3:1-4

New International Version

3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—

Marcus Aurelius wrote, “that all of this has happened before. And will happen again—the same plot from beginning to end, the identical staging.” (Well, at least I know where the Sc-Fi BSG got the saying from.) during the Roman times you had The fall of the Republic. Nero. The Antonine Plague. Persecutions. A lot of nasty stuff.

As to our time what have I learned the hard way? Focus on what I control. Do my best. Live with virtue. I have more time behind me than in front. I can't justify my existence in the past. It was a waste, nothing was accomplished. I will try to justify my existence for the short future I have left. You can do the same if you want to.

Comments

The Long Mars

The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett My rating: 3 of 5 stars "The Long Mars," the third installment in the Long Earth series, continues to expand the already vast canvas of Pratchett and Baxter's creation. While the concept of "Joker Mars" – echoing the familiar "Joker Earths" – is intriguing, it's just one of three distinct narrative threads woven throughout this book. We follow Sally Linsay on a journey across the Martian Stepped worlds, unraveling the mysteries her father, Willis, seeks. This exploration of the alien landscapes of the Long Mars is certainly compelling, but personally, it was the storyline involving "The Next" that truly captivated me. Joshua Valiente's arc, which delves into the emergence of these post-human children, is where the book really shines. It's a powerful exploration of prejudice, fear, and the potential societal clashes that arise when faced with the "other." The authors masterfully tackle ...

The Long Utopia

The Long Utopia by Terry Pratchett My rating: 3 of 5 stars In The Long Utopia, a novel in the Long Earth series, the artificial intelligences Agnes and Lobsang embark on a unique endeavor: adopting a human child, Ben, and attempting to build a normal pioneering life on one of the seemingly infinite parallel Earths. However, their peaceful existence takes a dramatic turn with the human pioneers discovering a peculiar species dubbed 'silver beetles'. These insects exhibit an unusual behavior of 'stepping down' to lower-numbered Earths. As the pioneers observe them, a terrifying realization dawns: the silver beetles are not merely migrating; they are systematically transforming their chosen parallel Earth into a colossal Dyson Motor, a structure designed to harness the star's energy. Lobsang, with his advanced analytical capabilities, understands the catastrophic implications. These silver beetles can step sideways to other parallel Earths, potentially converting an...

The Long Cosmos

The Long Cosmos by Terry Pratchett My rating: 2 of 5 stars Having just finished "The Long Cosmos," the final installment in the "Long Earth" series—a collaboration Stephen Baxter completed after Terry Pratchett's passing—I found myself a bit disappointed by the number of loose ends left unresolved. I think a core challenge in classifying this series as traditional science fiction lies in its fundamental premise, which sidesteps the real-world physics limitations of interstellar travel. Knowing the near impossibility of venturing beyond our solar system due to light-speed limits, the authors cleverly engineered the parallel Earth concept as their vehicle for cosmic exploration. Instead of launching spaceships, the characters simply "step" into new worlds. This ingenious workaround allows for adventure without grappling with conventional astrophysical constraints. While "The Long Cosmos" does bring humanity's journey across the infinite ...

Rancid

Search This Blog