Tuesday 13 May 2014

straight to the point


i want to die everyday
a whole life of death, from here to eternity
i want to die in every way possible
day after day after day
murder, suicide, burning, beating
poison, heart attack
old age, choking, drowning
decapitation, suffocation, sorrow
pandemic, starvation, neglect, excess
every possible way
i want to die daily, without fail
i have no time at all for living, you see
and i would like to get straight to the point
every single day, in every single way

i would like to get straight to the point

Wednesday 7 May 2014

A few thoughts sparked by a discussion of the new Cosmos series:

What I find is, personally, nearly 3 decades after watching and loving the original, I just don't have the same conception of science's value anymore. I appreciate the aggregate gains in knowledge about how our world works, but science is no more than that endeavour: objective knowledge discovery. It is a tool and many other things set the context for how it is used. Rather than being our one great Rosetta stone, science is only one component in the range of mental disciplines we need to function and grow as individuals and a species; ethical engagement and something amounting to philosophy being two others (I know ethics is considered a subset of philosophy but I highlight it because science in itself does not prescribe an ethical dimension). Science cannot help us with social justice and it can only help with things like hunger and disease and sustainability in the right ethical and political climate. So for me the new Cosmos is an interesting look at one vital scientific endeavour, but not the single most important undertaking for us as a species. 
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