Re: sustainability and the economy and Douglas

Dear folk,

Understand.  I have a brain that is overflowing with
information.

It hurts sometimes.

Ekky Irion and Keith Wilde responded to my commentary
about sustainability and growth (or not).

Our lives are shaped in remarkable ways by what we read
in our youth.  I consider, whether "Animal Farm" or "The
Time Machine" -- that we are indelibly launched on a social
mission.

But, there are a few books that ravaged my mind.  One (somewhat
unrelated) was "In Flander's Fields" by Joseph Conrad.  This
is a terribly gruesome account of trench warfare in WWI.

But, the recent remarks by Ekky Irion brought to mind the mighty
novel _On the Beach_ by Nevil Shute

This is a story about the U.S. after a nuclear war (WWIII).

It is a must read, as is Hersey's Hiroshima's book depicting
the horror of dropping a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima in our
attempt to end WWII.

***

What part of the Shute book is pertinent?

Most of the world has too much radiation for life to live in
this story.

So, somewhere around Australia, some people do survive.

And, there is one character who owns a sports car and
there is an ever diminishing amount of fuel.

So, (and I am doing this from recollection from 45 years
ago) that character takes his car for a spin and commits
suicide by driving off the road.

The despair, the desparation, the agony, the sadness.

But, I see the U.S. as this character.  We are sucking up
the last decades of fossil fuel, on a trajectory for suicide.

Regards,

Curtiss
-- 


           W. Curtiss Priest, Director, CITS
   Research Affiliate, Comparative Media Studies, MIT
      Center for Information, Technology & Society
         466 Pleasant St., Melrose, MA  02176
   781-662-4044  BMSLIB@MIT.EDU http://Cybertrails.org