It's in the air. Or at least it's on the web. This morning I read Are We Doomed? in The New Yorker.

It's an interesting read about a college course that examines the question, and the response of the students taking the course.

I'm encouraged by the response of the students. It's not denial, but it's not defeatism either. It's not cynical, but it's not rose-colored glasses either. So you can read it and not want to open a vein.

I know there are pathways where the human species can go extinct, but I think those are less likely than a general collapse of this global, advanced technological civilization, accompanied by the deaths of billions of people. One key will be avoiding a global nuclear exchange. I can't speak to the risk of bio-weapons as an extinction threat. Possibly, I guess.

I think the more likely path is the one we're on now, a "decline and fall" scenario.

But I also think the most responsible, the most meaningful thing to do in the face of this is to try to avoid it. There is always a tension in life, in existence, between attachment and letting go. To act with intention, but without attachment to the results.

The cathedral metaphor at the end of the piece is perhaps helpful.

Do your best. The rest isn't up to you.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 07:24 Monday, 3 June 2024