There was a really cool video shown from NASA about the sun having a monstrous solar flare today. While supposedly we were lucky in being out of harms way, one has to wonder if our luck will run out some day. Of course, considering recent talk about the so-called end of the world predictions, seeing something like this somewhat reifies an otherwise ludicrous pronouncement, making the situation reminiscent about an old Saturday Night Live gag where a prophetic quiz taker repeatedly answered “meteor” (for which, his opponent got crushed, thus allowing him victory by default).
Obviously, one day the earth that we know will be consumed by the conflagration of our illustrious neighbor. There’s not a lot people can do about that, but supposedly that true dooms day is way off in the future (unless some alien is secretly planting a reactive device in the sun that can cause it to erupt). When most people ponder such an event, they probably wallow in sorrow (except for the hardcore religious people who feel that something divine will eventually save them in some unidentified, abstract fashion). For myself, I couldn’t care less.
The whole idea of the world ending draws little to no sympathy from me. One, no one knows for certain how it will end. Second, no one for certain knows when it will end. For me, it doesn’t matter. The only thing I can hope for is a swift end to consciousness such that my pain receptors instantly dull upon that moment of non-existence.
But I do feel that most people would mourn the fact of loss. Loss of what? Memory? Culture? Civilization? Materials? Relationships? Sure, I would feel bad for a few things that would go missing. My giraffe and innocent stuffed animals. My chart of 50-100 women that are listed on my secret file that I would ask the aliens for my upcoming UFO to allow to accompany me. My home and my mom. Maybe some friends.
However, to mourn over the entire civilization as it exist today is utterly arrogant. Call me harsh but I honestly feel most people are here by accident and lack of planning. It’s why people are constantly resource constrained. That guy sitting over there takes up a percentage of your food, water, income, etc. and acts as a general impediment. I can become more specific than that.
Going through the drive through at Jack-n-the-Box (I never learn…), I encountered two utterly incompetent workers. They completely gave me the wrong change on two occasions, relying on the cash register to properly guide them. Then the guy didn’t even bother to ask whether I wanted any condiments, which is pretty standard. More than likely he was either new to the job or stressed out as a result of the guy in front of me (it looked like he got his order screwed up as well), but that didn’t give me much confidence in humanity. The woman, who I assume was the manager, didn’t fare much better. It’s not like this hasn’t happened before. In these situations, my saying is “Well, there’s a reason you work there.”
Regardless, I’m utterly certain down the line this type of job will some day be completely automated, removing the necessity for human intervention at least at the fast food chain level. That said, somehow the way society works is that it’s currently designed to put these people, who lack skills or competence and probably ended up as an accident in this world, to use somehow because we need taxes, certain elements of labor, etc. That said, I feel that it’s completely unnecessary (probably as upper management probably thinks software people like me are absolutely unnecessary…more on that in a minute).
Similarly, I found this link online about a woman who complained about her treatment at a theater. I won’t summarize it but my general feeling is that after reading the article and listening to the recording, I concluded that I absolutely hate people. Things like this make me really hate people. I didn’t feel that the woman nor the theater were any better than the other.
Going back to my situation about how upper management (not necessarily my company but George Carlin’s so-called “Owners”) probably sees me as a slow, useless, incompetent software guy, well those people are equally sad. My justification for why I’d like to not be classified with the Jack-n-the-Box duo is that I actually try to contribute something useful to society in some way, whether its through how I attempt to help friends out, software development, writings, money donations, etc. I’d like to think of myself as someone that is not an obstacle on the critical path, but someone that can hopefully enhance this world by a tiny bit in a positive direction (minus my rants). I truly hope those “Owners” do not lump me in with the rest of these people.
I could probably point out hundreds of instances easily of similar situations. But rather than providing myself a case for committing suicide through utter depression, I will say that the notion of feeling sorrow for the end of civilization as we know it doesn’t cross my mind for one second. In fact, I kinda embrace it. Start from a clean slate if there’s enough smart cookies that manage to figure out how to get off this rock in time to avoid total destruction. Then those that were smart enough can hopefully utilize history to avoid repeating all these mistakes (although the idea of rebuilding would be pretty damn hard considering that more than likely all the resources beforehand are probably gone, unless you do something like that 2012 movie where you build large arks to preserve wild life, etc.)
Again, if the world ends like that, I’m only hoping that the aliens that people supposedly have seen have identified me as a positive member of society and are willing to let me board their craft and choose around 100 people (or so). I think the number really is around 500, but the 100 people are my, uh, special list, if you know what I mean 😉