Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Sunday, August 20, 2006
"Humans are a mistake"
I just read Church Secretary’s comment from last night. It reminded me that we forgot to mention one of the most important things from the “old days”. I remember when the economy was so different that one person, with or without a high school diploma could support an entire family. I often feel sad for those who don’t have that as part of their memory. The workers now have been so devalued by the corporations. This has had a very bad effect on family life and in the quality of life in general.
Mickey, one of my friends constantly says that the planet should rid itself of all humans. I will invite him here today.
How can anyone argue with this, “There is nothing they can do. It’s over, my friend. The game is lost.”
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 08/20 at 07:37 AMGood morning Mickey. Why so jovial today?
I mentioned this here before once, but it seems apropos today...Stanley Kubrick once said something like “We are the evolutionary link between apes and humans.” (Why he had to malign apes and humans-to-be with that statement I don’t know.)
Hey Rosemarie we’re stepping up the election campaign here big time. Loads of shouting at the screen and listening to music (Jose Gonzalez this incredibly rainy day) and even quoting Jackowski at my blog…
Posted by Keir on from The Hague (Jackowski election hdqts) 08/20 at 08:33 AMThanks Keir...I dropped a comment at your site.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 08/20 at 09:52 AMHello RMJ and Keir.
RMJ: The one-income home is indeed a fossil I remember. I lived in one.
Keir: I’m off to check out your site now.
Btw, if you think today is jovial...wait till you see what else shows up this week.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/20 at 10:26 AMDid I scare everyone away?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/20 at 01:32 PMHi Mickey, Keir, and RMJ
Vonnegut is a treasure but I think his advice is horrible. First of all humans and their immediate evolutionary predecessors lived sustainably for at least a million years. If we take this into consideration then evolution is not mistake. It’s this particular culture- with its stories and institutions that is destroying the planet. If you are telling me there is nothing I can do, then heck I might as well sign up to work for the Barrick Gold corporation (for example). This transnational gem currently plans on destroying two glaciers in Chile because under the glaciers there are huge deposits of gold, silver, copper, and mercury. In the process they will also contaminate the 2 rivers that are fed by the two glaciers because of the use of cyanide and sulfuric acid in the extraction process. Yes, we’ve lost our sanity in this disconnected way of living but that doesn’t mean we’re stuck with it. The situation is dire but let’s recognize that we have choices.
Posted by Fiona on from San Diego, CA 08/20 at 02:02 PMFiona… I received this comment from a friend who is too “bashful” to comment here. I had sent him Mickey’s page one today. He is a very smart guy who built his own computer in 1970. Anyway, this is what he said…
“Vonegut is wrong about evolution. Humans are a mistake, yes, but evolution is not. Evolution, just IS. To say that evolution is a mistake because the game is lost to is to put a human ego on the process. Humans do that to everything, now don’t they. That god-like conclusion is precisely why the game is lost. Even Vonegut doesn’t see that. He should take a good evolution biology course on the undergraduate level before time runs out. Evolution does not equal survival. And, there is such a thing as the evolutionary process not going far enough, fast enough, or, going too fast too soon. When humans are gone, I suspect that the ants and the bees with their rigid and freedom-less worker/ruler communist structure will continue the process. Whether that creates an intelligence that is superior to the human, well, it won’t matter to us, now will it?”
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 08/20 at 02:29 PMI like Vonnegut a lot and have gleefully pillaged him for my own writing on many an occasion but I find him crashingly naive at times.
Posted by owen on from still valencia of fish odour 08/20 at 02:48 PMHello Fiona and RMJ. I agree with much of the last two comments but I will say this: It’s crucial for us to talk about how bleak things are. Yes, it would be a mistake to believe the game is over but I feel it would be an even bigger mistake to act like we have plenty of time.
As for evolution, it sure did a bad job designing the human spine, huh?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/20 at 02:51 PMSorry, Owen...simultyping.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/20 at 02:52 PMand I would put my hat in with Darwin´s theory if I didn´t feel apes were more sophisticated than many humans.
Posted by owen on from still valencia of fish odour 08/20 at 02:52 PMHi Owen
Yep Mickey...everybody has a bad back, or maybe the problem is not the back, but maybe we should not be walking upright.
Why would it be a mistake to say that the game is over? I can think of a couple of reasons why that would be a good message. For one thing, it might awaken those who are asleep among us.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 08/20 at 03:00 PMI guess I’d call it a mistake not because it’s false but rather because such an admission would likely only heighten apathy. Ask me again tomorrow and I’ll probably side with you, RMJ.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/20 at 03:03 PMNo, NO, NO, Mickey. People don’t duck until they see the bullet coming. OK, I’ll behave and wait till tomorrow, but tomorrow may be too late. Tomorrow never comes. There is no such “time” as tomorrow. There is only “now”, and maybe even “now” is just an illusion.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 08/20 at 03:13 PMHey everyone-- I’m back from visiting my friend in Philadelphia, had a wonderful time. You grew up there, RMJ? I suppose it’s so different now that asking you much about it might not be applicable. As for yesterday’s post and comments, I can remember a time, before I was living in this apartment, that my neighborhood’s name actually fit, being a real crime-ridden pit and not the gentrified yuppie paradise it is now.
As for evolution, humans probably were not meant to be in front of desks and computers all day, given the situation with our spines, as much as our eyes. How is it right that myself and so much of the rest of the population grows up being dependent on corrective eyewear like this? I’d last no time at all in the wild without my glasses.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 08/20 at 03:29 PMJames...you are right. That was a long time ago that I lived in Philly. It was during WW2. My father worked in the Bendix plant there because he did not want to go overseas and kill people. I lived in what they called “The Project” then. Is that the same place as the projects now? Back then it was not bad. Everything was new. It was near the Tastykake factory. I went to St. Bridget’s school on Midvale Ave. And yes, I did walk 5 miles in the snow to get there. Driving there is an experience on the “Shurkill Expressway”.
About glasses...I even sleep with mine on.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 08/20 at 04:25 PMI must say that by and large I agree with Vonnegut. Thanks for another enlightening post, Mickey - you really have the best quotes, to say nothing about the other ‘ingredients’ in your blog.
And a warm hello to Rosemary, Keir, Fiona, Owen and James from a sunny Daylesford, where spring is only 10 days away. Yesterday I thought about how I could meet a few of you if I ever paid New York another visit. Dream on ..
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 08/20 at 07:31 PMOh, and you grew up in Philadephia, Rosemarie? We visited in April 2003 and really liked it. Unfortunately we had appalling weather for most of our 5 days ..
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 08/20 at 07:36 PMHi Everyone, Great conversation today. For what it’s worth, I would only counter to Vonnegut “Where there’s life there’s hope.” It’s about as optimistic as I can be on the environment front.
Captcha says it’s going to be a “long” future. I’m not sure if it means that in the fruitful sense.Posted by Luna_C on from The Delta 08/20 at 11:32 PMThere is a emerging sector (composed of a rather alarming number of former/burnout leftoids) of the ‘green’ movement (usually asssociated with nationalism or true ‘blunt and boden’ fascism) that TRULY believe that mass human exterimination (and the removal of technology sustaining weaker persons) sterilization (those of lesser ‘quality’), and an sustained program of ‘natural’ eugenics is what is required to ensure planetary life continues (a true synthesis of green Nazi ideas, intergalism, deep ecology, elitism, and a distorted ‘primitivism.’)
In my opinion, IF they are correct (which I do not, in a thousand years, beleive them to be) I would consider it preferable for the earth to perish completely rather than be shepparded through life by true ecofascists. If so…let is perish - those prone to aphormophism of nature (which I personally cannot stand) might say in such a case, the earth has engendered her own demise, I will cry no tears for this non-sacred blue rock if it demands such a price…
Posted by browser on from 08/22 at 02:31 AM
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