Planetary Engineering for Climate Change
In American society we can stay children for quite a long time. In this society adults can exist in perpetual childhood. This is the most evident in the Baby Boom generation up through the currently 20-somethings. One of the main reasons American society is beginning to break-down, erode, fail - call it what you will - is because the framework that is in place is essentially allowing adults to stay in a child-like or adolescent state almost indefinitely.
Paradoxically, this is the by-product of the success of the society. Such a paradox conjures images of science fiction settings set in the future where an indigenous population is a complacent lot of adult-children. Imagining the Eloi in HG Wells novel The Time Machine, this complacency is offset by the brainwashing and control placed in the hands of the Morlocks who control the society from beneath the ground. To draw a parallel with reality and the present-day, as Americans continue to live like children we become more receptive to authoritative and dictatorial regimes - think child and parent.
This paradox begs the question, is democracy sustainable? Considering the variables of economics and culture it is apparent how America is the oldest republic on the planet, but the most frightening prospect is whether or not we can maintain this republic given our disconnection to our democratic roots and the struggles that bore this republic into existence.
This insulating childhood makes us unable to grasp the ebb and flow and change to which other parts of the world are now more attuned. This is why members of many other societies are much more pragmatic about their daily outlook and their place in the world at large. However, the argument does hold that Europe is now headed down the same path as the United States in the wake of the growing European Union.
The pursuit of happiness, the American Dream, the desire to have all your wants fulfilled puts you in perpetual childhood, therefore dampening your ability to make really firm judgment calls. That is why all of our architecture and the most purely American elements of our society are cartoon-like. From the newest suburban towns, to banking terminals - kitchen appliances, to the current lack luster American contemporary art. (if you really want to see into the mind of a child, look there). The over-protectiveness of many safety laws and the over-regulation of public space and its use further compounds the mindset of a child-like nation. This is not to say that the aforementioned American ideals are bad, but they are extremely naive.
The 1990s can be seen as a time when America was the most purely American as it ever was. Of course, this nation is a nation of the world, with all cultures merged in some capacity, but the core elements, the school system, popular culture, and food all reflect a decade where America was the only superpower. In a time of SuperSoakers, Gruge Rock, economic surpluses and the advent of the internet, a dream and an ideal was realized for many people. America will never have it quite the same again - that was America’s peak, a time when our culture was exported to all corners of the globe transforming many societies from within.
A decade later, with a new world on our plate America’s adult-children have a new reality to face and they must mature fast. Does that mean some innocence and exuberance will be lost? Most definitely yes, but it does not mean we will loose our republic and the integrity of democracy. However the warning lingers that such integrity is fast slipping away and there is much needed work to restore many rights and to scale back elements of the Federal Government.
There will no doubt be a 1990s retro-vintage pop culture binge. After witnessing the last vacuous binge of the 1980s it’s extremely clear how unproductive regurgitation is. And that stylistic references to the past should not be mistaken as an excuse to literally resurrect the dead. After all, when you have the mind of a child it becomes hard to see the ridiculousness of such exercises in futility.
If America wants to live on, we must reinvigorate ourselves and draw new connections to the world and in our own society. America always changes, but we must grow up fast to ensure that our rights are not stripped of us as we slip closer toward an authoritarian government. If we remain bold, educated, and aware our light shall live on, if not, we will dim and America will become a grave threat to the world. A dark America will be a very dangerous place. Children are always afraid of the dark.
Paradoxically, this is the by-product of the success of the society. Such a paradox conjures images of science fiction settings set in the future where an indigenous population is a complacent lot of adult-children. Imagining the Eloi in HG Wells novel The Time Machine, this complacency is offset by the brainwashing and control placed in the hands of the Morlocks who control the society from beneath the ground. To draw a parallel with reality and the present-day, as Americans continue to live like children we become more receptive to authoritative and dictatorial regimes - think child and parent.
This paradox begs the question, is democracy sustainable? Considering the variables of economics and culture it is apparent how America is the oldest republic on the planet, but the most frightening prospect is whether or not we can maintain this republic given our disconnection to our democratic roots and the struggles that bore this republic into existence.
This insulating childhood makes us unable to grasp the ebb and flow and change to which other parts of the world are now more attuned. This is why members of many other societies are much more pragmatic about their daily outlook and their place in the world at large. However, the argument does hold that Europe is now headed down the same path as the United States in the wake of the growing European Union.
The pursuit of happiness, the American Dream, the desire to have all your wants fulfilled puts you in perpetual childhood, therefore dampening your ability to make really firm judgment calls. That is why all of our architecture and the most purely American elements of our society are cartoon-like. From the newest suburban towns, to banking terminals - kitchen appliances, to the current lack luster American contemporary art. (if you really want to see into the mind of a child, look there). The over-protectiveness of many safety laws and the over-regulation of public space and its use further compounds the mindset of a child-like nation. This is not to say that the aforementioned American ideals are bad, but they are extremely naive.
The 1990s can be seen as a time when America was the most purely American as it ever was. Of course, this nation is a nation of the world, with all cultures merged in some capacity, but the core elements, the school system, popular culture, and food all reflect a decade where America was the only superpower. In a time of SuperSoakers, Gruge Rock, economic surpluses and the advent of the internet, a dream and an ideal was realized for many people. America will never have it quite the same again - that was America’s peak, a time when our culture was exported to all corners of the globe transforming many societies from within.
A decade later, with a new world on our plate America’s adult-children have a new reality to face and they must mature fast. Does that mean some innocence and exuberance will be lost? Most definitely yes, but it does not mean we will loose our republic and the integrity of democracy. However the warning lingers that such integrity is fast slipping away and there is much needed work to restore many rights and to scale back elements of the Federal Government.
There will no doubt be a 1990s retro-vintage pop culture binge. After witnessing the last vacuous binge of the 1980s it’s extremely clear how unproductive regurgitation is. And that stylistic references to the past should not be mistaken as an excuse to literally resurrect the dead. After all, when you have the mind of a child it becomes hard to see the ridiculousness of such exercises in futility.
If America wants to live on, we must reinvigorate ourselves and draw new connections to the world and in our own society. America always changes, but we must grow up fast to ensure that our rights are not stripped of us as we slip closer toward an authoritarian government. If we remain bold, educated, and aware our light shall live on, if not, we will dim and America will become a grave threat to the world. A dark America will be a very dangerous place. Children are always afraid of the dark.