Ruminations from Lileks:
Is there a word for people who hate misanthropists? I was driving back from the grocery store, caught some of the stand-up channels (they rarely make me laugh, but it’s interesting sociology at the least) and some BBC, which had a science show. Great! I love science shows. The female presenter – whom I’m sure was named Fiona; sounded like a Fiona – was talking to one of those guys who can explain Science in a cheerful hip upbeat tone, and he was talking about dark matter and dark energy. He made a crack about how you should tell your friends they’re even more insignificant than they may have thought they were – haw! ‘Cause humans occupy this tiny speck and therefore are insignificant. That doesn’t follow. But it’s standard; I see it all the time in infographics about galactic immensity, how we should all realize we’re insignificant in the greater scheme. Unless, of course, we’re the only planet with life, which would make us quite significant, but I don’t believe that. Anyway it’s like saying a dog is insignificant because Mt. Everest exists.
Then he talked about how 99% of the universe is dark energy and dark matter, and those of us on the shiny bits are just “light pollution.”
“Oh, light pollution,” cooed the host. “I love that.”
Of course you do: it’s the mark of a fine mind to regard us as some sort of blight, a zit on the face of the cosmos. In the aggregate, of course; I’m sure her and her friends are quite brilliant and smashing and loads of fun to be with, but in general, we really are nothing, worse than nothing, pollution, because we’re bad. It’s the modern form of smug: self-hatred of one’s own species, a reveling in its insignificance when compared to Betelgeuse.
As I said: if we’re alone, then we have invested the universe with something utterly unique simply by observing it. Add to that the fact that we grew from grunting trogs in caves to creatures who sent out machines to interrogate the world, AND invented music – indeed, invented beauty. If we’re not alone, then we are hardly insignificant, either, unless you want to say that Rome was insignificant because no one in Peru had heard of it.
They’re also the sort of people who probably think we shouldn’t go out and spread the cancer to the rest of the universe.
Why do those that see mankind as a cancer want to control your life but never their own? Why do we let them? Why is anyone with such cognitive dissonance allowed anywhere near the reins of power? Because they’ve done their job on the masses that give them power. It may be too late here. Space may be the only hope except that the real cancer is those bits of lefty ideology that have infected those that otherwise embrace liberty.
If we are not alone in this galaxy it would be a good idea to have some experience in space before we meet the other folks/squids/whatever? I think we have time, but we shouldn’t bank on that.
If we are alone? There may not be any intelligent life!
If they genuinely wish to perish when our sun dies, who are we to say otherwise?
The problem is they wouldn’t perish. As Sol inflates, their egos would just send them farther out in the system. You can’t just shoot them in the brain because the body would continue to live. You can’t just burn them up because the ashes would just infect more of their living dead. Yeah, just like that old b-movie.
I actually was most drawn to the sink saga in that column. Lileks’ point that the actuarial tables suggest a tiny profit in shoddy work while discounting brand loyalty is one I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Someone made the point that NBC would do well to keep 30 Rock and Community on the air because their tiny profit bump should they replace them with a (hopefully) more successful show would be outweighed by the damage to their brand.
For myself, I was driving around like a madman trying to get antibiotics for my baby daughter’s ear infection, and found that not one, but TWO CVS “24-Hour” pharmacies were closed after 6pm on Saturday. I’m sure they saved a pretty penny by doing so, except that now I will no longer buy anything at CVS for as long as I live, because they got between me and healing my sick child.
So boo on them.