It's the old war between the Dionysians and the Apollonians, between the
grasshoppers and the ants. Your ants and your Apollonians plant tiny
oaktrees in their lawn, build brick houses, develop communities, because
they are confident in their ability to make a future. Your Dionysians grab
for all the gusto they can get, having contempt for the possibility of
making a future. I can't really argue for one position or the other.
Either makes sense to me. What does offend me is when Dionysians represent
their revelry in Apollonian terms -- as making a better future. Let the
technicians invent their toys, play with them, adorn them with skins and
aps, but don't let them ever claim that they are making progress. It's just
what it is, and it will go where it goes, and on balance, we may be happier
or more miserable because of it. Real progress, if there is such a thing,
requires a lot more than innovation.
Nick -
Well said. My task is similar, centering on the aspect of affecting one
thing
while indulging perhaps in an entirely "other" thing. But I fear it
might be
even *worse* than that. The Dionysian Ants espousing the building of a
better future and then proceeding to make a *worse* future (in the long
term)
under the guise of making it better. Or so it seems.
The *un* in unenlightened self-interest I guess.
- Steve
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