Thanks again for a thoughtful discourse that is becoming more relevant by the day. The quotes from Hoffer were excellent, so again yo’ve added to my stack of ‘should read.’ Timothy Keller had a great book about the meaning of work as well. But the passage about your mother was the icing on the cake. What a well lived example for us.
AI+UBI is just the latest iteration of “fully automated luxury communism.” (Remember that? Eons ago? What was it?—last year? the year before last?)
And is similarly economically impossible. We will soon have, if we don’t now, more than enough actual poverty to overcome. Much of it, as in early Victorian times, is driven by drink and other drugs; I don’t think we can count on another Christian Great Awakening. Is it (and was it) * also * driven by purposelessness?
Is purposelessness even a reproducibly measurable variable, and statistically independent of (for instance) alcohol and drug abuse?
I don’t recall who wrote that boredom is a much underappreciated driving force in human affairs, but I’m not sure that the effect you’re pointing to is anything newly discovered.
I suspect that it is the dose that makes the poison. (See hormesis.) Small, unanticipated windfalls are probably a different thing than a large trust fund or UBI that removes the need to work
Absolutely. That’s a problem with various environmental regs that fail to recognize hormesis (brand-new word to me, BTW)—or at least harmlessness at low doses. Tomatoes contain deadly toxins, of course, like all nightshades. But their amount does us no harm.
I attended the University of Virginia, where admirers of Jefferson attributed all sorts of things to him, including the introduction of tomatoes into American cuisine. This the “love apple” story was well-known to denizens of Charlottesville.
I would personally like to address a Denver anti-nuclear meeting with the question: You wouldn’t deliberately live next to something over a hundred times as radioactive as living next to a nuclear plant, would you? Spoiler: you do, and the “something” is the sky.
The Professor declines to explicate "Richard Cory" so I'll give it a try. Edwin Arlington Robinson had two brothers, Dean and Herman, who both excelled Edwin as most people define career success. Dean became a doctor and Herman a wealthy investor. Herman married the woman Edwin was in love with, Emma Shepherd. Dean became a drug addict and took his own life. Herman suffered business failures, became estranged from his wife and children, and became an alcoholic. Emma suspected that Edwin wrote "Richard Cory" about her late husband even though he died of tuberculosis and it was Dean who committed suicide. Simon and Garfunkel's "Richard Cory" describes him as an heir to wealth, while Robinson's poem describes him simply as wealthy.
Very nice video of your mother. I truly enjoyed your recollections of her taking life by the horns and wrestling it the way she wanted it to go (sorry - rodeo season here in Texas).
Have you read C.M. Kornbluth’s short story “The Little Black Bag” or its sequel, the novel _The Marching Morons_? Both present a future where the makers and the takers are separated, but for highly different reasons and with (in my opinion) darkly hilarious solutions.
Thank you for yet another enjoyable, thought provoking article.
Listening to your mom gave me so much joy. Thank you. That's what I want to do and be as I age - a source of help but also of enjoyment.
So glad you enjoyed her. She was impressive.
Thanks again for a thoughtful discourse that is becoming more relevant by the day. The quotes from Hoffer were excellent, so again yo’ve added to my stack of ‘should read.’ Timothy Keller had a great book about the meaning of work as well. But the passage about your mother was the icing on the cake. What a well lived example for us.
She did inspire folks.
AI+UBI is just the latest iteration of “fully automated luxury communism.” (Remember that? Eons ago? What was it?—last year? the year before last?)
And is similarly economically impossible. We will soon have, if we don’t now, more than enough actual poverty to overcome. Much of it, as in early Victorian times, is driven by drink and other drugs; I don’t think we can count on another Christian Great Awakening. Is it (and was it) * also * driven by purposelessness?
Is purposelessness even a reproducibly measurable variable, and statistically independent of (for instance) alcohol and drug abuse?
I don’t recall who wrote that boredom is a much underappreciated driving force in human affairs, but I’m not sure that the effect you’re pointing to is anything newly discovered.
Nothing I write about is newly discovered. Only newly recalled.
“Man needs more to be reminded than to be instructed.” Dr. Johnson.
I suspect that it is the dose that makes the poison. (See hormesis.) Small, unanticipated windfalls are probably a different thing than a large trust fund or UBI that removes the need to work
Absolutely. That’s a problem with various environmental regs that fail to recognize hormesis (brand-new word to me, BTW)—or at least harmlessness at low doses. Tomatoes contain deadly toxins, of course, like all nightshades. But their amount does us no harm.
There is tomato toxicity, but seldom and only to the extent of alimentary upset.
But the tomato’s real bad rap came from this:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-the-tomato-was-feared-in-europe-for-more-than-200-years-863735/
I attended the University of Virginia, where admirers of Jefferson attributed all sorts of things to him, including the introduction of tomatoes into American cuisine. This the “love apple” story was well-known to denizens of Charlottesville.
As Founding Fathers go, he already has a mixed reputation, Mr. Graboyes.
Indeed he does. I appreciate Adams far more.
I would personally like to address a Denver anti-nuclear meeting with the question: You wouldn’t deliberately live next to something over a hundred times as radioactive as living next to a nuclear plant, would you? Spoiler: you do, and the “something” is the sky.
It’s sizzling above me now.
That is its usual location.
The Professor declines to explicate "Richard Cory" so I'll give it a try. Edwin Arlington Robinson had two brothers, Dean and Herman, who both excelled Edwin as most people define career success. Dean became a doctor and Herman a wealthy investor. Herman married the woman Edwin was in love with, Emma Shepherd. Dean became a drug addict and took his own life. Herman suffered business failures, became estranged from his wife and children, and became an alcoholic. Emma suspected that Edwin wrote "Richard Cory" about her late husband even though he died of tuberculosis and it was Dean who committed suicide. Simon and Garfunkel's "Richard Cory" describes him as an heir to wealth, while Robinson's poem describes him simply as wealthy.
Wow. I never knew any of this. I must read more on him now.
I can’t agree about “The Good Place,” which I found shallow and facile.
What??? You disagree with me on a matter of aesthetics? Utterly unprecedented.
Aesthetics possibly. But the theology … faugh!
Once again I forgot to begin by saying that I agree with your thesis, on the whole; and that I think your argument is well-expressed.
As you know, my tendency is to think that agreement (however gracious) is uninteresting as comment; so I tend to lead with disagreement.
I know you by now. :)
Very nice video of your mother. I truly enjoyed your recollections of her taking life by the horns and wrestling it the way she wanted it to go (sorry - rodeo season here in Texas).
Have you read C.M. Kornbluth’s short story “The Little Black Bag” or its sequel, the novel _The Marching Morons_? Both present a future where the makers and the takers are separated, but for highly different reasons and with (in my opinion) darkly hilarious solutions.
Thank you for yet another enjoyable, thought provoking article.
And thank you! I will look for the short story.