Global warming and the sixth extinction seems to be the greatest threat on a scale seen only so far back in history that it stretches our human, limited ability to comprehend it. Scientists and experts give us no doubt accurate information too vast to embrace and terror makes those of us who tend towards a historical perspective retreat into a more recent past looking for solutions. Be kind. Conserve energy. Stop polluting. Save whales and elephants. But in a now not too distant future the demise of everything as we know it (especially since it looks like WE may be one of the species that vanishes because of the way we have thoughtlessly precipitated environmental change in pursuit of “progress”) makes both tech/scientific and historical perspectives seem sadly feeble, at least to the educated layperson. At this point the only hope for a thoughtful individual seems to be in a kind of Deus Ex Machina that drops from the sky to save us, quite irrational at best. The fundamentalists become easier to comprehend even if we can’t believe what they suggest. Retreat into faith feels just like that, a retreat for the doomed here on earth. I want to believe this is merely a tidal wave coming and that history will still be there for us when, somehow, we survive it. History seems to suggest we might be, if we don’t look back too far and the inevitable apocalypse is not complete. It’s harder to know how we will be able to comport ourselves afterwards, should this be the case.
I'm not really sure what to say about this, Laura. I do take comfort in knowing that the ozone layer is closing and may soon be completely restored -- which, if true, is something the Progress Party can take credit for (though the scale of the intervention was much smaller than anything called for today). I'm less in doubt about the existence of climate change than the certainty of those who think they know how to fix it. The world seems too big to be engineered. All we really have are our values and principles. But I realize I may be wrong about this.
I guess my problem is to try to find meaning in the things I used to. I’m doing a lot of artwork and have a show in July. The visual works better for me when I think about extinction— my current images are about this, tangentially. I certainly was of the literary/historical persuasion and enjoyed your article a lot. You are saying something old, but new. Yet it is hard to find a way to think—both humanistic and tech/data approaches feel like they can’t get to the heart of the matter. So I work in the work of magical surrealism for lack of a better title, and hope to find some greater meaning there.
The piece seems to be hitting people in funny ways. I'm glad you're able to connect it to your work. And that you feel you have an avenue to express your unease--and, perhaps, hope.
Global warming and the sixth extinction seems to be the greatest threat on a scale seen only so far back in history that it stretches our human, limited ability to comprehend it. Scientists and experts give us no doubt accurate information too vast to embrace and terror makes those of us who tend towards a historical perspective retreat into a more recent past looking for solutions. Be kind. Conserve energy. Stop polluting. Save whales and elephants. But in a now not too distant future the demise of everything as we know it (especially since it looks like WE may be one of the species that vanishes because of the way we have thoughtlessly precipitated environmental change in pursuit of “progress”) makes both tech/scientific and historical perspectives seem sadly feeble, at least to the educated layperson. At this point the only hope for a thoughtful individual seems to be in a kind of Deus Ex Machina that drops from the sky to save us, quite irrational at best. The fundamentalists become easier to comprehend even if we can’t believe what they suggest. Retreat into faith feels just like that, a retreat for the doomed here on earth. I want to believe this is merely a tidal wave coming and that history will still be there for us when, somehow, we survive it. History seems to suggest we might be, if we don’t look back too far and the inevitable apocalypse is not complete. It’s harder to know how we will be able to comport ourselves afterwards, should this be the case.
I'm not really sure what to say about this, Laura. I do take comfort in knowing that the ozone layer is closing and may soon be completely restored -- which, if true, is something the Progress Party can take credit for (though the scale of the intervention was much smaller than anything called for today). I'm less in doubt about the existence of climate change than the certainty of those who think they know how to fix it. The world seems too big to be engineered. All we really have are our values and principles. But I realize I may be wrong about this.
I guess my problem is to try to find meaning in the things I used to. I’m doing a lot of artwork and have a show in July. The visual works better for me when I think about extinction— my current images are about this, tangentially. I certainly was of the literary/historical persuasion and enjoyed your article a lot. You are saying something old, but new. Yet it is hard to find a way to think—both humanistic and tech/data approaches feel like they can’t get to the heart of the matter. So I work in the work of magical surrealism for lack of a better title, and hope to find some greater meaning there.
The piece seems to be hitting people in funny ways. I'm glad you're able to connect it to your work. And that you feel you have an avenue to express your unease--and, perhaps, hope.