On a whim and a random thought...

I've never blogged before, mostly because I don't think I'll get many readers. Some say I'm an interesting person. I take the "Popeye" philosophy of life: "I yam whats I yam and dat's all dat I yam!" Take it for what it's worth. I have a 90th percentile IQ and a somewhat cynical view of humanity.

Another take on my philosophy of life is a chorus from a Jimmy Buffett song:
"I'm growing older, but not up,
My metabolism is pleasantly stuck,
I let the winds of Winter blow over my head,
I'd rather die while I'm living than live while I'm dead."

I'm past the age where I care what most people think of me. I turned 50 last year, but I retain a youthful outlook and a potentially dangerous and cynical sense of humor. The cynicism is honestly earned from my life experience, coupled with a keen sense of observation and a love for the well turned phrase. I am bemused at times at the state of the world - some of what is going to happen is so obvious to me. How is it that so few people have learned to step back and dispassionately look at what we call civilization?

I have serious doubts that my grandchildren will live out a full lifespan. I look at the state of the Earth and shake my head at the stupidity and greed of humans. I look at the US and its actions in the last twenty five years and wonder if anyone capable of competent, long-term, critical thought has ever been elected.

I try not to despair - for despair will solve nothing. If we have any time left to change course, it is very short. I suspect that in the near future, the US may dissolve just as the Soviet Union did. I only hope that it can happen peacefully and not in a civil war. If it does not dissolve, it may well devolve into a fascistic police state like the former Soviet Union. From there, I see little hope of avoiding a major war from which Humanity may well not recover.

If we destroy ourselves with our own shortsight and greed, then it is as it should be. That's how evolution works. Perhaps the next intelligent race, if any, will heed our bad example. I have wondered whether, in the long run, intelligence selects for racial survival. Perhaps when a race becomes too intelligent, it becomes clever enough at toolbuilding that it creates weapons like nuclear bombs, genetically-engineered plagues and the like. Maybe that's why SETI has never found an intelligent signal.