#debated making the cause of death in the happy country also MALNUTRITION. MALNUTRITION. might have been a better specific image but these

[falseficus]

everybody’s always on writing prompts like “what if there was a world where everyone had a timer ticking down to their death… but you met someone whose timer said infinity!” or “what if everyone had their cause of death tattooed across their forehead… but you met someone whose forehead said THE CREATURE!” Enough -

enough. stop with the shock value. there is no need to insert THE CREATURE; the benign concept of such a world is horrifying enough. not even in urgency, but just in banal, everyday interaction. imagine you meet someone and their timer says two years. not tomorrow, not urgently soon, but two years. enough to do quite a lot. they could fall in love in that time - could they get engaged? have a baby? you might otherwise get to know them, befriend them, but perhaps you opt not to, make a conscious choice not to invest in your own grief. what balancing act would every individual person have to participate in - I have ten years, is that long enough to be a good mother to children? is that long enough to secure a caretaker for my own mother? my wife will die a few months before me. my newborn’s timer reads nineteen years.

and cause of death. you interview for a job and emblazoned across the healthy, smiling face of the HR lady is MALNUTRITION. your country is prospering, safe, but every person you meet on the street from the babies to the old women read BOMB. BOMB. what kind of havoc would fate wreak on the world? what about the loss of privacy? how would that shape our notions of hope? idk man I think a lot of those ancient poems were right, and the fates are monsters. I’m interested by the framing of these ideas as trite horror tales when the premises themselves are so much more disturbing if simply taken to their logical ends

#debated making the cause of death in the happy country also MALNUTRITION. MALNUTRITION. might have been a better specific image but these #better illustrate my point #the frog speaks #writing

[blogthepandasthumb]

HW3

Question 1

I am still debating on which direction I want to go in regarding my term project. this exercise, I will discuss research into the current state of the search for extraterrestrial life (SETI), as well as a creative project highlighting the current and future effects of climate change.

 I. Individual Impacts – On an individual level, the current search for extraterrestrial life might seem inconsequential to most people. After all, as more and more resources are allocated to address the question of our place in the galaxy, the average person could tell you little to nothing about how much of the landscape of SETI has changed in a relative short amount of time. However, as things progress, the advancing field of the SETI has broad implications for individual privacy or security. Currently, world governments classify their encounters with unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and little to no information is available to the public. In a world where this line of work is no longer shrouded in secrecy, perhaps individuals are now expected to participate in research and data collection. Perhaps a hotline is formed for people to call in sightings. New data collection equipment tasked to located UAP’s could serve as a dual purpose to keep and idea on the populace. Changes to individuals lives due to SETI will continue to seem insignificant, until the abundance of evidence is too great, and our lives will be forever changed.

We are already experiencing the individual impacts of climate change. Farmers are experiencing volatility in crop yields, residences are experiencing flooding like they have never seen before, and wildfires ravage parts of the world for months at a time. As the climate and sea levels change, borders will have to be redrawn, and individuals will have to relocate. Ironically, in today’s global climate crisis, it is often individual stories that spur the most empathy and energy for change. By highlighting the effect of climate change on people today, it is possible to create more allies and supporters for the long road ahead.

 II. Organizational Impacts – World governments have the most at stake when it comes to SETI. They are currently the largest source of revenue for the topic, albeit the funding comes with strings attached. Any findings that come about projects funded by world governments is almost certainly classified. Currently there is too much of a national security risk to let all information out to the public. A method of creating a stable energy source to one nation, is a method for creating a weapon for another. There is too much at stake for a government to be one hundred percent forthcoming on the topic. Over the past few years, more and more non-government organizations and businesses have carved out a stake in SETI. The To the Stars Academy (TTSA) has several wealthy backers and allocates funding to data collection, technology development, and educational outreach. Top material science firms also have much to gain from the advancements in material science that would come about if materials from a craft are ever recovered.

           The organizational impacts of climate change are already staring to show, with governments around the world scrambling to create legislation to address the degradation of our climate. Addressing climate change will cost billions upon billions of dollars, and consensus in the United States government in particular is lacking. As sea levels rise, various parts of the global economy will be forced to grow and shrink, and organizations and businesses alike will have to change to avoid extinction.  

 III. Societal Impacts – The acknowledgment of extraterrestrial life following indisputable evidence would forever change how many views the universe regarding our place and purpose. Even though the role of religion has declined over the years for the average individual, it still exists as a dominant cultural force in all corners of the globe. The indisputable presence of extraterrestrial life would prove an extreme challenge to many religious scholars, creating doubt and turmoil within institutions that have existed for thousands of years. The media circus that will undoubtably erupt will permeate all layers of life, and I expect some will quickly become jaded towards the whole situation, turned off from overexposure. Proof of extraterrestrial life would create a cultural, economic, and societal frenzy, in the likes of which we have never seen. However, not all changes will be drastic and earth shattering. Perhaps instead of looking down at our phones during an evening stroll, our eyes are now glued to the stars.

           The societal impacts of climate change are currently setting in. Everyday, more individual citizens and business are making decisions not only based on one’s financial gain, but what extemporaneous effects may occur. The shift from fossil fueled machines and transportation to electric powered is happening at blinding speed, with some countries already planning on outlawing gas powered cars in the future. The local food movement, replacing plastics with biodegradable materials, and changing the light bulbs in your house are all incremental changes, and are examples of the small but inevitable shifts in behavior that will occur as the need to address the current climate crisis becomes more and more obvious.

 Question 2

 Yuval Noah Harari begins his book by contextualizing the problems humans face today, with the problems that we experienced in the past. Plague, famine, and war are no longer the main causes of death in the developed world. Harari points to the fact that today, more people die from obesity than malnutrition, die from old age than disease, and suicide than killed by an enemy soldier. Harari argues that humanity will soon move on to a new set of problems, one we will create and solve by ourselves. This transition will transform us from mortal to gods, hence the title of his book Homo Deus.

I generally agree with the sentiment Harari is forming, now that prosperity, health, and harmony is within reach for most, our next targets will be immortality, happiness, and divinity. However, I am curious to see how Harari will address the presence of extreme income inequality, and how it seems the problem is likely to get worse before it gets better. The problems of widespread war, famine, and plague may seem like a distant memory to some, for many across the world it is still an everyday reality. For those growing up in parts of the world such as Yemen or South Sudan, a day without war, plague and famine still only exists in their imagination. This book was obviously written before the COVID-19 pandemic, and some of the language dismissing the possibility of a widespread plague in developed parts of the world seems dated, even though this book was published less than 3 years ago. So far I have not come across any of the shortcomings brought up in the reviews I read, but will keep a watchful eye on how Harari uses data and studies from disciplines other than his own to support his arguments.