Terry Blanton wrote:
Crichton's new book. Page 455:
"Has it ever occurred to you how astonishing the culture of Western
society really is? Industrialized nations provide their citizens with
unprecedented safety, health, and comfort. Average life spans increased
fifty percent in the last century. Yet modern people live in abject fear.
They are afraid of strangers, of disease, of crime, of the environment.
They are afraid of the homes they live in, the food they eat, the
technology that surrounds them. . . .They are timid, nervous, fretful, and
depressed. And even more amazingly, they are convinced that the
environment of the entire planet is being destroyed around them.
Remarkable! Like the belief in witchcraft, it's an extraordinary delusion
-- a global fantasy worthy of the Middle Ages. Everything is going to
hell, and we must all live in fear. Amazing."
This is a colossally stupid thing to say. Does this guy know anything about
history, biology or anthropology?
No, this is not "astonishing" or "remarkable." It is perfectly normal and
completely understandable. People, other primates, and indeed all
intelligent animals have lived in abject terror for billions of years. It
is not just the human condition; it is the condition any sentient creature
finds itself in most of the time, except for a few predators at the top of
the food chain and very large herbivores such as elephants. Every other
creature is subject to excruciating pain and death at any moment. Has
Crichton noticed that deer, squirrels and other animals seem nervous? They
have good reason to be; they are not paranoid, and they are not victims of
modern delusions or duped by environmentalists. People are large animals
close to the top of the food chain, but on the other hand our infants
remain small and helpless for the longest duration of any animal. And of
course we have always been subject to accident, disease, war, hurricanes et
cetera. It would be astounding if we had magically transcended three
billion years of evolution in only 300 years of Industrial Revolution.
I am reminded the scene in the movie the Seven Samurai when the old man
explains to the samurai, "Farmers live in fear all their lives. When it
rains they are afraid, when the sun shines they are afraid."
Besides, people nowadays still have plenty to be afraid of. Anyone who is
not terrified by Atlanta traffic on I-285 is crazy. Strangers and crime are
as bad as they ever were in any previous age, and disease is still no
picnic. Most of us will die of painful diseases, mainly cancer, albeit in
old age. It is just as terrifying at age 80 as 20.
- Jed
