The comfort in the faiths of eternal lifes oh, dear gods forgive us with unanswerables we accept the blinding lights of eternal lifes digitally forever electrified so is the memory of a terabyte long live live on forever lifes click you are a terabyte
peace click Dion Laurent http://www.dionlaurent.com http://www.earthman1.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alan Sondheim" <[email protected]> To: "NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 10:55 AM Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] accidentalvoyagethroughboredom >> the let's not savethe earth program RC1 > > > Hi - I started writing in response to the first response - > > seriously, apologies, I just don't believe it. it has nothing to do with > loving or not loving earth; it has to do with inertia and exponential > increase in various gases, pollution that's already permanently contamina- > ted the oceans, and so forth. I feel it's hard science. Lovelock believes > we ran out of time decades ago. > > there are things built into the geopolitical system: you're not going to > get the USA to suddenly withdraw its energy consumption. wind/solar power > are way behind globally in affecting any real change. the coal industry is > booming in China and elsewhere. one out of 7 people are already starving. > the megamegafauna - and mammals in general - are stressed to the point of > extinction (except those we treat as fodder, one way or another). > > etc. etc. > > I don't think there's a slim chance. "giving up" of course doesn't work - > we might as well lie down on the railroad tracks, etc. etc. > > but I do think we have to realistically prepare for the worst at this > point, however that might be pictured. ethanol for example is not going to > save the planet. solar might work in some of the industrialized countries, > but that's not where the population is growing the fastest - it's not even > where the population _is_ at the moment. > > it's like the Net - which may or may not survive (if humans do) - I keep > thinking of the Fidonet model on a local level, and that might be what we > have to start thinking about. in an odd way I find Make magazine useful in > this regard. > > one of the courses I'm teaching is on 'representation of labor' - I'm sub- > bing, it's not my field. but I'm talking about things like population > pressure, pollution, damaged cycles exponentially out of control, etc. I > have to. and I see these things as _fundamentally_ affecting labor - it's > odd, but things like the 'attention economy' or 'attention capital' being > discussed today are really luxuries. > > years ago I did some videowork around Ciudad Juarez - I didn't and don't > know the city but went in with people who were experts. and the signs were > already there - this was early 90s - stolen electricity, lack of plumbing, > electric grid, sewer mains, etc. the areas around the cities were totally > devoid of vegetations, mud hills with maybe a million squatters or so. and > that opened my eyes to the magnitude of the problem. and you guessed it - > it's worse now by a long shot. > > - Alan, and apologies for what sounds like a car-wreck of a post > > > > On Tue, 10 Nov 2009, marc garrett wrote: > >> Hi Alan, >> >> I have been a fan of James Lovelock for years, but for some reason I do >> not want to lie down and give up - even if it does seem completely >> useless an overwhelming... >> >> I could not live with myself if there was just one slim chance and I did >> nothing to make a change at whatever level, micro or macro. >> >> Even if I end up failing it does not matter, at least I had a go. >> >> marc >>> I've been lecturing on the future of the planet last week and this week, >>> talking about Gaia, about biogeochemistry, aboud god knows what. I'm in >>> the middle of this and luckily computers have been used for modeling of >>> this sort at least since the 1960s (Club of Rome Report). The classes >>> are really depressing. I tend to agree w/ Lovelock that it's already too >>> late. - Alan >>> >>> >>> On Tue, 10 Nov 2009, james morris wrote: >>> >>> >>>> /* a C program that does nothing for the earth... >>>> let's not bother saving the earth... >>>> after all, we have computer programs >>>> to write which is very enjoyable and >>>> stimulating: >>>> */ >>>> >>>> #include <stdio.h> >>>> #include <stdlib.h> >>>> >>>> typedef enum { >>>> RESOURCES, >>>> NO, >>>> CERTAINLY_NOT, >>>> THE_EARTH_IS_SAVED >>>> } _earth_choice; >>>> >>>> int main() >>>> { >>>> /* this is a pointless assignment, and completely ignored: >>>> */ >>>> _earth_choice will_we_save_the_earth = THE_EARTH_IS_SAVED; >>>> >>>> /* dig up the earth and extract its resources >>>> until it can no longer support life: >>>> */ >>>> while(CERTAINLY_NOT) { >>>> /* waste resources: >>>> */ >>>> calloc(1024, 1024); >>>> >>>> printf("WE ARE EXPLOITING THE EARTH:" >>>> " The Earth Will Not Be Saved!\n"); >>>> >>>> /* double speak suggesting we're giving back to >>>> the Earth, but in fact what we're really >>>> doing is screwing it over: >>>> */ >>>> free(RESOURCES); >>>> } >>>> >>>> /* this will never happen, it is unreachable with the >>>> current program logic... >>>> but at least we can acknowledge the possibility: >>>> even if the notion, that once fixed, the Earth is >>>> fixed for ever, is a rather naieve one. >>>> */ >>>> printf("The Earth Is Saved!\n"); >>>> return THE_EARTH_IS_SAVED; >>>> } >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> == >>> email archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ >>> webpage http://www.alansondheim.org sondheimat gmail.com, panix.com >>> == >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>> >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NetBehaviour mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >> >> > > > == > email archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ > webpage http://www.alansondheim.org sondheimat gmail.com, panix.com > == > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. 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