I've meant for several days to respond to your comment; now, while I"m waiting for directives from my editor, I can.
Now I accept that getting upset about species!fail! won't change the way we evolved,
You're right about that. I prefer to try and look to the future, though, because we are, as far as I know, the only species that has, theoretically at least, the brain power to actively make choices about that future. That's the intriguing possibility we have to pursue, because we may yet teach ourselves to be a credit and not a debit to the neighborhood. I'm quite realistic; I think it's an uphill and very possibly hopeless mission. But I can't stop volunteering for the mission; I was born here and I have a duty to make 'here' a better place, if I can.
The best way to ameliorate that, to some degree at least, is to encourage every new generation to think - to think wide], to think realistically, and, yes, to think hopefully.
Indeed. And since even if we disappear, we could really foul up the neighborhood to the point where a lot of other residents could be hurt, I think it's worthwhile to try to ameliorate whatever damage we've done to the extent we can. I think you and I may both be hopeful. We just express it a little differently.
So fighting to get better is a win-win thing. If we're successful, well, woo-hoo! If we're not successful, at least we tried.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: Tuesday, 26 November 2013 02:52 am (UTC)Now I accept that getting upset about species!fail! won't change the way we evolved,
You're right about that. I prefer to try and look to the future, though, because we are, as far as I know, the only species that has, theoretically at least, the brain power to actively make choices about that future. That's the intriguing possibility we have to pursue, because we may yet teach ourselves to be a credit and not a debit to the neighborhood. I'm quite realistic; I think it's an uphill and very possibly hopeless mission. But I can't stop volunteering for the mission; I was born here and I have a duty to make 'here' a better place, if I can.
The best way to ameliorate that, to some degree at least, is to encourage every new generation to think - to think wide], to think realistically, and, yes, to think hopefully.
Indeed. And since even if we disappear, we could really foul up the neighborhood to the point where a lot of other residents could be hurt, I think it's worthwhile to try to ameliorate whatever damage we've done to the extent we can. I think you and I may both be hopeful. We just express it a little differently.
So fighting to get better is a win-win thing. If we're successful, well, woo-hoo! If we're not successful, at least we tried.