The Human Future: A Problem in Design

No clips or quotes here -- just read the essay, if you're curious. It's not very long.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), September 12, 1999

Answers

Although I have the Ishmael site bookmarked, I hadn't checked it out in a long time. This link reminds me that I've been missing good things. Quinn is right; it isn't videos, music or lack or morals that is affecting our kids. And pouring on more and more of what doesn't work only exacerbates the problem.

The world is changing and we must change with it. I remember my grandmother telling me how horrified people were when a local woman rode her horse a straddle instead of side saddle; they thought she was immoral. And yet my grandmother thought that people believing in any religion other than Christian were heathens. My own mother thought that women's shorts were fine at home, but unacceptable in public. And it seems to me that schools focus too much on their ratings and keeping the status quo, rather than being innovative. I think this is why home schooling has found such favor with parents. And schools certainly don't address the problem of kids who fall through the cracks.

Besides, I think technology has failed me personally. We can put men on the moon, and I can write to all of you on this computer, but I still have to drag out a vacuum cleaner to remove dirt and grit from my house. There's a marketing niche here that has been overlooked. I propose that if all men had to do all the floor cleaning, we would have this problem solved in a heart beat. Thanks Tom for the link.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), September 12, 1999.

Thanks, Mr. Carey.

Indeed folks, just read the essay. An easy read at that. Just nod your head as you go along. Feel free to add a disgusted shake of the head from time to time.

Or, as I did, chuckle to yourself now & again - "Yep. Humanimals are we. Ignorant, unthinking, uncaring, basically unable to glimpse even the tiniest portion of the big picture."

I choose to laugh today because, let's face it, not much really matters anyway. I could be arrested at any moment. A cell could become the daily resting place for this body. Or a grave, or a pyre. What does it matter? I'll do my best irregardless of the circumstance. Let others change the world. I have enough work to do on me.

I can & do shed tears at the minute by minute displays of stupidity which slap me in the face. Crying is cleansing, don't you agree?

I choose to laugh today because, let's face it, laughter is more fun than crying.

Smile From the Heart!

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), September 12, 1999.

Bingo1,

>I can & do shed tears at the minute by minute displays of stupidity which slap me in the face. Crying is cleansing, don't you agree?<

The more you cry the less you have to pee.

Thanks for the link Mr. Carey. A very good read.

S.O.B.

-- sweetolebob (buffgun@hotmail.com), September 12, 1999.

Fun read, as always with 'Ishmaelia'. And, as always, long on diagnosis, short on (concrete, usable, testable) prescription.

-- Count Vronsky (vronsky@anna.com), September 12, 1999.

"...long on diagnosis, short on (concrete, usable, testable) prescription."

Just so. Since what we know to do isn't working, seems to me we're going to have to find something we don't know. Joseph Chilton Pearce, in Evolution's End, presents the results of his explorations. Much of what he says is quite "concrete," although following through in one's own life is by no means simple to accomplish.

I'e mentioned this book a couple of times before on this forum. I bring it up again since a number of new faces are visiting now. Amazon has the book available; I've also seen it in remainder bookstores. For an idea of its substance, look over the readers' reviews on the amazon.com site.

I rcommend Pearce on his own merits; the book can also serve as a practical companion to Quinn's.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), September 12, 1999.

Evolution's End : Claiming the Potential of Our Intelligence by Joseph Chilton Pearce

Thanks, Tom.

-- Jim Morris (prism@bevcomm.net), September 12, 1999.