My old friend Carl Safina, the marine conservationist and author, sent this reaction by email: "I certainly relate rather directly to the songbird story. You worded it beautifully. When I was in college I had the same thought that humanity is in its puberty. More recently I thought of a different metaphor which I can’t recall at the moment. But maybe the question is whether the drunken car wreck will kill us or we’ll survive. We know it is killing much else that was simply standing along the roadside to wherever we are going."
I just started reading "The Snap Forward" by Alex Steffen, also on Substack. A post called "Discontinuity is the Job" ... seems to me there's quite a resonance to your "question of how to blend data, uncertainty and values to produce a worldview and way of life in a time of great change, risk, opportunity and complexity." Two bells clanging.
I watched that just now. Not a lot has changed in Australian politics in the two years since. Though we now have a larger Greens presence, not enough to change the larger decisions.
My old friend Carl Safina, the marine conservationist and author, sent this reaction by email: "I certainly relate rather directly to the songbird story. You worded it beautifully. When I was in college I had the same thought that humanity is in its puberty. More recently I thought of a different metaphor which I can’t recall at the moment. But maybe the question is whether the drunken car wreck will kill us or we’ll survive. We know it is killing much else that was simply standing along the roadside to wherever we are going."
I just started reading "The Snap Forward" by Alex Steffen, also on Substack. A post called "Discontinuity is the Job" ... seems to me there's quite a resonance to your "question of how to blend data, uncertainty and values to produce a worldview and way of life in a time of great change, risk, opportunity and complexity." Two bells clanging.
Maybe I should get Alex back on my Sustain What show. Here was the last one! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58VPeG5NfO8&t=1406s
I watched that just now. Not a lot has changed in Australian politics in the two years since. Though we now have a larger Greens presence, not enough to change the larger decisions.
I think your essay is very relevant and holds up well! Thanks for the interesting analogy to puberty for our current state of awareness.