How close is the end?
Everyone loves a good apocalypse.
Whether that apocalypse is Y2K, 2012, Financial Collapse, Peak Oil, Global Warming, or the being Left Behind, we love being scared. We can take any problem, and make it seem insurmountable and inevitable.
In our darker moments, we become fatalistic about it. Before we understood anything about genetics, we saw our fate in the stars, the bumps on our heads, the creases on our hands, or the lay of the the cards. Now that we have genetics, we look at that superstitious thinking and laugh. Instead of saying “It's in the stars” we say “It's in my genes.”
This apocalyptic fatalism means the end keeps coming — but it ain't here yet. We live in with visions of impeding doom — What will I do when the oil runs out? when the oceans flood? what if I am left behind? — or we convince ourselves there is nothing to worry about, putting our faith in Man's ingenuity, assuring ourselves that the science is junk, or simply believing our belief makes us immune.
Its a wonder our civilization has kept going for so long — that we haven't all gone mad already. I suppose its the competing visions of apocalypse that keeps us whole. As long as we don't all believe the same thing, we can keep asking “Is the end here yet?”
And the answer will continue to be “Not yet.”
Whether that apocalypse is Y2K, 2012, Financial Collapse, Peak Oil, Global Warming, or the being Left Behind, we love being scared. We can take any problem, and make it seem insurmountable and inevitable.
In our darker moments, we become fatalistic about it. Before we understood anything about genetics, we saw our fate in the stars, the bumps on our heads, the creases on our hands, or the lay of the the cards. Now that we have genetics, we look at that superstitious thinking and laugh. Instead of saying “It's in the stars” we say “It's in my genes.”
This apocalyptic fatalism means the end keeps coming — but it ain't here yet. We live in with visions of impeding doom — What will I do when the oil runs out? when the oceans flood? what if I am left behind? — or we convince ourselves there is nothing to worry about, putting our faith in Man's ingenuity, assuring ourselves that the science is junk, or simply believing our belief makes us immune.
Its a wonder our civilization has kept going for so long — that we haven't all gone mad already. I suppose its the competing visions of apocalypse that keeps us whole. As long as we don't all believe the same thing, we can keep asking “Is the end here yet?”
And the answer will continue to be “Not yet.”
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