Anthropocene

Anthropocene. (scroll down page)

Such a beautiful word for such a scary concept.

Maybe it’s too late. Maybe the die is cast and there’s no turning back. I suppose it is just possible that we humans might collectively get our act together and make a good faith attempt to preserve what is best of our gloriously diverse physical habitat.

But unless we significantly change our ways we are unlikely to be successful.

Can we change our ways? Of course we can, if sufficiently motivated. But unfortunately, I fear it may require unthinkable horrors to motivate us.

Change will either have to be mobilized from within humanity, which is hard to imagine without a lot of bloodshed as those who would rather “party today and let the cards fall where they may tomorrow” resist any reality based mitigation of humanity’s impact upon the planet. Or, change can be imposed from outside of humanity, presumably by some kind of AI dictatorship. And this possibility presupposes that the AI have an interest in preserving an Earth habitat suitable for human occupation.

We might wind up as sentient apes in an AI zoo.

Or perhaps we're speciating, with part of humanity making common cause with the AI and the rest remaining human? And who will be the good guys in such a scenario?

There may not be a simple answer to such a question, with some of us on the fence being pulled this way and that by our perceived economic interests.

Surely I’m just feeling negative this morning? I don’t know. Any honest model I make of the future has to include human nature as I’ve come to understand it, and that picture, though often noble and beautiful, is just as often appalling and ugly.

We humans are capable of great good and great evil, and the evil is unlikely to be vanquished by the good just saying “pretty please behave yourself.” There are tens of millions of potentially violent, heavily armed and not conspicuously intelligent apes out there, unlikely to listen to anything but naked force.

Who’s going to bell the cat?

Anthropocene

Anthropocene

Anthropocene

What are we doing to our home?

Anthropocene

Anthropocene

Maybe we just shrug our shoulders

Celebrate today

Gone tomorrow

And when we’re done

The Earth will keep on spinning

Anthropocene

Maybe you just shrug your shoulders

And in a blink of ten million years

We won’t matter anymore

Just a puzzle

In the sediment

And someone new will come along

To reinvent the Golden Rule

They will have a chance

Like we still have a chance

To live

To love

Round and round and round

Round and round and round

Round and round and round

Anthropocene