Reality on a Stick

Whatever you do, have a reason for doing it–and make sure it’s a good one. Trouble is, having good reasons to act is less than half the battle. You’ve got to convince yourself it’s worth it to change things up, and then you’ve got to follow through. And don’t ever forget this: you can talk yourself into (or out of) absolutely anything. If you find yourself reneging on a resolution you once stood by with conviction, you’d better make sure there’s nothing clouding your judgment, like greed, or anger, or jealousy. I mean, seriously…we’re all masters of justifying our shortsighted behavior, aren’t we?

Well it turns out that groups of people have the same problem. Group members tend to support whatever policy will be least disruptive and easiest to adapt according established routines and the status quo. That’s right, the laws governing inertia–yep, the ones you learned in 10th grade physics class–apply to human nature too. All too often we hear people say, ‘Well that’s how I’ve/it’s always been.’ Is that supposed to be a convincing argument against change?

Let’s cut to the chase…

What I really can’t stand about nationalism is that most nationalists don’t even realize that they have options. You have the option of not being a cultural ignoramus your entire life. That’s perhaps the most underutilized entitlement on the planet–and one that all free citizens have. To spell it out: we, as citizens of the richest, fattest, and free-est nations in the world, certainly have it within our power to peek outside of our insulated bubbles now and again to see the suffering that runs rampant in the lands we exploit (if indirectly). But let’s face it: the less we know, the easier it is to see them and their foreign ways as strange and in any case threatening. And, unfortunately, that’s how most people are going to see it. Besides, we need plenty scapegoats to explain away our misfortunes.

And that’s why this highly advanced species can’t manage to stop quibbling over the price of 100 barrels of crud, whose island is whose, or whose ‘non-nuclear’ arsenal packs a bigger punch. Leaving all the bleeding heart sympathies aside for a moment, how ’bout scare tactics? Doesn’t anyone think it might be a good time to put our heads and resources together and start investigating the feasibility of colonizing some other nearby rock, or perhaps even space stations? Whether the imminent danger is posed by weapons of mass destruction or colossal natural disaster (think: gigantor meteor, like the ones that have been peppering our planet since it formed), don’t we owe it to ourselves to lay the groundwork for the survival of the species? So much technological development has been accomplished during the past 100 years. And it’s only going to improve faster over time. Still, I can’t help worrying that no one is working to solve the tough issues while the super powers posture us into another arms race?

Farfetched, you say? All the more reason to start figuring out how to deal with each other. I’ve blogged it before, but Pale Blue Dot’s message rings as true as ever today. Watch the vid below to hear it straight from Carl Sagan’s mouth:

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