Howdy Neighbor
Stay in Your Yard.
Hello Friends,
As has (hopefully) become obvious here, I love science—new discoveries, observations, explorations—I can't get enough. I also go for science adjacent stuff—science fiction, UFOs, and weird news with a scientific twist (Darwin Awards?).
But as a classically trained engineer (Electrical Engineer before the Internet), I have a socially responsible streak running through me: created things should solve an actual problem, be safe for humanity, and move civilization forward.
Perhaps this is why I possess a more than a mild disdain for the shape of our online world today—one-sided polarized news stories meant to instill fear and hatred, thoughtless content intended for doom scrolling, advertisement masquerading as information, AI fodder that has to be deeply validated.
It's such a waste of time, and more importantly, opportunity. We live at a time like no other in history. The utopia we've all dreamed about is so close—shorter work weeks filled with meaning, affordable and safe housing, abundant food, unfettered peace, the time and the ability to enjoy our existence. But, we squandering it.
This doesn't even demand much vision. We just need to move in a better direction. Stop fighting. Stop fearing. Embrace physical and mental health. There are no mysteries how to do this—we just don't.
A few newsletters ago I quoted Steven King, who basically said that his generation had a chance to change the world, but instead they created Home Shopping Network (paraphrased).
This week I read about a company that is using DNA recovered from T-Rex's remains to make a leather handbag.
So, very soon, you can take your T-Rex purse to visit a de-extinct Wooly Mammoth in a zoo and take a selfie while sipping on an Erewhon Smoothie and munching on some plant-based calamari.
This is science-based and someone's vision of nirvana. Does anyone actually like calamari enough to endure a plant-based facsimile of it?
We, who are in the enviable position to be able to contemplate our lives (rather than being a person who is in the state of constantly fighting for survival), every second of every day, have opportunities to make choices (unless those choices have been taken from us by a short-sited tyrant).
Each decision brings us either closer to or further away from a society where humanity's innate quest for knowledge can make a better world for all. We wouldn't have to give up much to get there—just fear, hatred, and envy—all of which wouldn't even be part of a shared social utopia.
What would happen if you deleted Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, etc. from your phone and talked to your neighbors? Really talked to them and discovered how you could bring peace and joy into each other's world.
Scary, huh?
Our neighbors are noisy, have awful pets, keep too much crap in their yards, don't respect boundaries, present too many reasons to stay away and doom scroll.
Who could blame us?
Happy reading, happy writing, happy… deciding.
David