Ending

I was reading about a lawsuit the other day—a lawsuit in which our energy companies, the oil giants who produce much of our usable energy were being sued because they are massively contributing to Climate Change, AND because they have begun acting together in a sort of collective aimed at destroying the opposition. By denying that Climate Change is occurring and, certainly, that it has anything to do with them, they are contributing heavily to its worst effects.  Places like Puerto Rico are reaping the results of their actions:

(see recent Guardian article -- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/20/big-oil-is-behind-conspiracy-to-deceive-public-first-climate-racketeering-lawsuit-says)

It seems obvious that Climate Change is real and that the extraordinary weather we can observe almost daily is its result. And that such an ending could be the result of MONEY?? Yep, big companies care only about their money. If seeking money leads to an end to the world we have always known, that’s Life. You know, in the best tradition of: “Life’s a bitch, but then you die”.

Now that makes me want to find some method of ending these big companies.

And then I read a quizzical article called: The End of Us, by Adam Kirsch, in The Atlantic: January-February 2023. Mainly, the article talks about what they see as the Future in which The Reign of Human Beings on Earth is At An End. Now, to be fair, they don’t talk about The Ending in any specifics. That is, they are not referring to an Apocalypse, of the kind we might have envisioned during the Cold War, when the US and the Soviet Union kept waving nuclear Armageddon at each other—Behave or Else!

No, as best I can understand, they are speaking about perhaps some combination of Climate Change and a gradual diminishment of Humankind on our planet.  And, curiously, they speak of the term almost fondly.  They adopt a term, TransHumanism to describe a coming world in which Humanity gradually disappears. Oddly perhaps, both Anti and Trans Humanists see a world without humans as a matter of time. It will happen. It is only when and the manner.

Now, to be fair, I read through this article, coming away without any serious understanding of how “The Ending” might occur. It is either induced by humankind itself—through Climate Change, or some other human-induced catastrophe, or it will happen slowly (in dozens-hundreds of years rather than thousands).

So, our planet, eventually, without humans, that is, without human intelligence—just in case you’re thinking, “well, bears, and lions and mice have intelligence, so it would not be a Planet without intelligence”.  True, but I still come away from this prediction with a “Why”, or maybe a “so what”?  A planet without humans worrying about it all, seems a singularly empty gesture.  Each day, I observe the sun rising, or setting, maybe even taking its picture, and I wonder, suppose I were not here. What then? Well, then someone else will be observing and marveling at the glories of nature. Smile Richard. It’s OK.

But I continue to wonder, even as I may be smiling at something that exists in our glorious world, what after all is the point? Suppose, no one (human) was here to observe, and the “observers” were reduced to lady bugs. What then? What would be the point?  And if there is no real point, then how did this all happen? I mean, is it, are we, simply accidents of an evolutionary path? But then why is there an “evolutionary path”?  If there really was a “Big Bang”, to what end? And if there is no “End” then what are we all about? Is there a God? And, if so, why would she invent such a silly system of gestures and paradoxes?  If some idiot armed with a big gun, walks into a school and begins shooting kids and teachers, did she tell him to do that? And if not, then what the hell?  Is shooting kids in a school room the same as me taking a picture of a ladybug, i.e., equally insignificant?

See, questions, but unfortunately I am not smart enough to follow through with intelligent answers. Maybe cuz there are no actual answers that would matter.  So, God, what do you have to say about all that? “ Well I choose to say nothing, because that is the best and most honest answer”. Oh, OK God. Gotcha.

And so the game continues. And when the sun rises tomorrow, go outside and observe. Because there is no other point to our existence. Be aware. Oh, and try to Be Kind, just cuz someone else may notice and smile. And that is also the point.

Happy Holidays folks. Be safe. Stay warm, Smile, and have a glass of wine

 Coming up soon – 2023!.