Zeitgeist?
[ by Charles Cameron — the weather of the world? — three otherwise unrelated tweets and a December 2013 prediction ]
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I think it's time to revisit the colonization of space. This planet is starting to feel like a loss.
— J.M. Berger (@intelwire) August 17, 2013
When we peer into the fog of the deep future do we see human extinction or a future among the stars? http://t.co/zHrX44aKf7 #aeonclassic
— El Cid Barett (@ElCidBarett) August 19, 2013
I tried saying something optimistic but what came out was: "The disaster is half full."
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) August 19, 2013
Sources:
JM Berger El Cid Teju Cole
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Meanwhile, some people are going whole hog:
Source:
Sovereign Society
August 21st, 2013 at 3:00 am
Geesh, it’s like these guys never read any history. The 20th century wasn’t that long ago. They should look back even further and consider the 13th century when the Mongols were on the march. What we are facing isn’t so bad compared to all that.
August 21st, 2013 at 1:46 pm
“The disaster is half empty” is optimistic, by comparison.
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Coincidentally, on my way into work today I started thinking about something that enters my mind on a semi-regular basis. I was imagining being offered the ability to be transported 200 years into the future. The semi-regularity of this fantasy (or thought experiment) means that the length of transport might sometimes be 1000 years, 5000 years, 100,000 years, or 100 years, when I contemplate my response to such an offer. This morning, it was 200 years. More and more as I age, I am cautious in my answer to the offer. The most depressing result of such transport would be the discovery that not much has changed after all with the passage of 200 years — besides new technology being used in normal ways for normal reasons to accomplish goals which are common now. The most terrifying result would be the discovery that the disaster was almost 100% full despite appearances now.
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As the distance from now increases, the thought experiment becomes a little more terrifying. If you could be transported 100,000 years into the future, would you accept that offer? So much more time for bad things to have happened. Being able to look through a crystal ball at 100K years in the future would be one thing, an easy Yes. But being transported there with no way back? I’m not sure I’d accept that offer. On the other hand, when my thought experiment turns toward the question of immortality —would I accept it?— may answer is usually Yes, even if living for 100K years would bring me to that same future.