Reason: Four Classics
While reading through an earlier post, it occurred to me that it might have relevance to today’s political drama. So I tracked down a few essays and put a contemporary spin on the year-old post.
Christmas, Christianity, and the Fall of Empire: A Year-End Reflection
There’s no time like Christmas in this “Christian” nation. The connection between reason and daily life grows ever more tenuous as the empire crumbles. And Christianity’s most holy days particularly encourage disassociation from reality.
The Founding Fathers, Through the Lens of Empire
Dubya should be justifying his lust for war by invoking this Jeffersonian line in every speech: "In war, they will kill some of us; we shall destroy all of them."
Last Chance for the Hairless Monkey?
Our last best chance to make it through the ever-tightening bottleneck is to bring down civilization. Although Peak Oil will bring down civilization within the next decade, maybe sooner, we can and should hasten the collapse along.
The End of Civilization and the Extinction of Humanity
Peak oil spells the end of civilization. Runaway greenhouse spells the end of humanity. This is my latest attempt at standup tragedy.
Philosophy and Conservation Biology
It is not at all clear that humanity can be saved (or, for that matter, is worth saving). Evolution drives us to breed, drives to procreate, and drives us to accumulate resources. Evolution always pushes us toward the brink, and culture piles on, hurling us into the abyss. Nietzsche was correct about our lack of free will -- as Gray points out in Straw Dogs -- free will is an illusion. It's not merely the foam on the beer: it's the last bubble of foam, the one that just popped. It's no surprise, then, that we are sleepwalking into the future, or that the future is a lethal cliff.