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right, just because Utopia isn't possible doesn't mean we should be complacent. doesn't mean we can't work toward it.
I look at it kind of the same way as I do global warming. We may not be able to reverse the effects of global warming, but that doesn't mean that taking the steps to eliminate it won't dramatically improve the lives of many generations to come.
I'm no Pollyanna. I have virtually no optimism that mankind will have a Utopian revolution in the next 1000 years. I don't know if it's genetic or environmental or something nasty in the water but mankind seems bent on self-destruction in one way or another. Whether it's through the horror of genocide or the more innocuous seeming slow death of self-inflicted heart disease and diabetes. We pollute our minds, our bodies, our environments and those of our neighbors whenever we get the chance. It's getting to the point where instead of wondering why it is this way and whether it can ever get better, I am concentrating on my forthcoming career and hoping to make just a few things better myself.
You know, I've been watching a lot of Star Trek NG the last few months and the question I keep asking Gene Roddenberry out loud here in my living room is 'how, Gene? it's great that you have conceived of this fabulous federation of planets with an earth that no longer has war or need and where everyone works for the betterment of society and technology because there is no longer a monetary system. But how did they get there?' Of course, Gene Roddenberry doesn't (didn't) know how, he's just dreaming like the rest of us, but it feels like a gigantic tease sometimes. And illuminates a little more the attraction of 'Trekkie-ness' and the desire to lose one's self in that world. Unfortunately I'm too old and cranky for that now, though. Sorry to digress.
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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce
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