Sunday, January 24, 2016

A Graphic Illustration Of Humanity's Hubris

People of a certain age will remember the commercial with the tagline, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature." Heedless of that warning, that's exactly what we continue to think we can do, despite all of the evidence to the contrary.

Some will take false comfort in blaming this year's weather disasters on a strengthened El Nino, ignoring why it is so strong; others will insist that climate change mitigation will destroy the economy. Still others will wait for a technological deus ex machina to save us all.

Perhaps they all should look at the latest evidence that nature always has the final say, and that our piddling opinions, rationalizations and magical thinking account for absolutely nothing in the larger scheme of things:



6 comments:

  1. The evidence is everywhere, Lorne. Only the Sgt. Schultzes of the world can ignore it.

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    1. Great allusion, Owen! But of course Shultze, as I recall, never had to face a final day of reckoning.

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  2. As a kid my friends and I were pretty adept at homemade pyrotechnics. Let's just say it was a more relaxed time.

    One of the best parts was the delay between igniting the fuze and the detonation. Never did seem to guess that just right. A few seconds could seem like an eternity.

    I feel a bit that same way today. The explosive is loaded and the fuze is lit and we're all left to sit around and guess when it'll go off. The big difference is there's no safety zone this time.

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    1. An effective parallel, Mound; if the ferocity of recent storms is any indication, like your fireworks, it looks like things will end, not with a whimper, but rather a roar, and there will be no safe distance from which to watch the pyrotechnics.

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  3. Here's another report on the east coast blizzard -

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wML2V6crNc0&feature=youtu.be

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