From Kurt Vonneguts Ladies and Gentlemen of A.D. 2088. Sadly prescient, sad weve made precious-little progress on these issues in the last three decades. ~~~ The sort of leaders we need now are not those who promise ultimate victory over Nature through perseverance in living as we do right now, but those with the courage and intelligence to present to the world what appears to be Natures stern but reasonable surrender terms: 1. Reduce and stabilize your population. 2. Stop poisoning the air, the water, and the topsoil. 3. Stop preparing for war and start dealing with your real problems. 4. **Teach your kids, and yourselves, too, while youre at it, how to inhabit a small planet without helping to kill it.** 5. Stop thinking science can fix anything if you give it a trillion dollars. 6. Stop thinking your grandchildren will be OK no matter how wasteful or destructive you may be, since they can go to a nice new planet on a spaceship. That is really mean, and stupid. 7. And so on. Or else. Am I too pessimistic about life a hundred years from now? Maybe I have spent too much time with scientists and not enough time with speechwriters for politicians. For all I know, even bag ladies and bag gentlemen will have their own personal helicopters or rocket belts in A.D. 2088. Nobody will have to leave home to go to work or school, or even stop watching television. Everybody will sit around all day punching the keys of computer terminals connected to everything there is, and sip orange drink through straws like the astronauts. Cheers, Kurt Vonnegut
Posted on: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 23:10:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015