26. At the Zoo
“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” – Isaac Asimov
There are a few answers to the dilemma of a few chapters ago dealing with a photo, my hardwood floors and a mention of Rod Serling. One is Gremlins, which someone told me about recently. The next one is the discovery of a time machine, which relates to the Twilight Zone. I doubt that you’ll buy either solution, so I figured out the real answer, using technology and some thought. It had to do with the photo and the camera, of course. The time had never been set on it so it stayed at 01/01/05 and the mystery is solved and the camera date has been set.
Scott Nearing and Helen Nearing lived together for over fifty years. The latter was an artist while Scott was a brilliant progressive, opposing war and the corruption of society: politicians and corporations. He was also an educator, writer, economist who advocated the simple life. They thrived as a team, living simple lives and learning from each other. They settled on farms in Vermont and Maine with vast gardens, building homes and numerous fences to protect the fruit and vegetables from woodchucks, rabbits and deer. They were both vegetarians, surviving mostly on juice and what their gardens produced. The animals were safe.
Scott taught college until being booted from the profession because of his great ideas and intelligence. People called him many offensive names. He couldn’t teach except through lecturing, which reached more people than had he remained in the classroom. They faced hard times financially, but led rich lives. They lived in accord with nature, something many of the population hadn’t thought of and which continues today. Scott and Helen put more back into the earth than they removed. Materialism never entered their minds. Greed wasn’t their creed, but they managed with the weeds and the seeds. They had needs but wants weren’t part of their lives.
My friend Lou told me about Scott recently, having visited the couple in the 1970s. Helen and Scott wrote countless articles and books, some together and some individually. I only read Helen’s 1992 book on the couple, Loving And Leaving The Good Life, which I highly recommend. In February 2015, I gave the book to Lou and Pat and they returned it to the library on time. More people should read their books as well as those about the couple by other writers.
Scott died of natural causes in August 1983 shortly after he turned 100. He did it without the Affordable Care Act and would have died sooner with health care provided by Republicans, if they even had a plan. Helen mentioned that Scott advised people to avoid doctors and hospitals – my feeling exactly. Helen died in September 1995 at the age of 91.
Isaac Asimov’s quote to start the chapter is right on the money. Technology is too far ahead of humans, who created it. In the process, corporations rushed imperfect products to the populace without sufficient testing. It is a case of greed and something that has been going on for years. Summarizing what was already mentioned: machines will always break down, even if that may take a while with diligent maintenance. People are nowhere near perfect, so what do you expect with the combination of the two?
A simple thing as email has too many companies involved to make it work. If one piece fails, so does the whole endeavor. Compatibility, complexity and integration function together only miraculously and probably not for long. Throw in some incompetence and failure comes much sooner. Much software is a failure because it’s too complex – impossible to test. Updates and different versions of it only complicate the issue, increasing the chance for disaster. A society with no laws can’t exist very long. The same applies when there are too many laws. I should add too many lawyers as well. This applies to computer programs and systems of any kind. For many of these products, creative thinking and working smart never entered the picture.
The February 26, 2015 issue of the Huffington Post reported a great victory for the people. Corporations did everything they could, including spending vast sums of money against Net Neutrality. Chairman Tom Wheeler of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) heard from many citizens and ruled to keep the Internet free. I emailed Wheeler and the others on the commission numerous times, as did enough users to assure this great victory for democracy over big dollars. The list of groups who worked for the cause was close to endless.
John Oliver may have you in hysterics, but he chimed in to bring people together and influence the commission. The media may have claimed credit for the decision, but the people were responsible and the FCC was listening. This same approach is working to achieve change on other issues. One person can make a difference; a group of people in sync is unstoppable.
I mentioned being the tech crusader earlier. To do that I need to lead the revolution – no guns or bullets allowed, not even bullet points. On second thought, it’s a movement. The name of it is Thinking, Reducing the Use of TecHnology (TRUTH). Since the beginning of 2015, I’ve made a few tech resolutions, but holding to them is close to impossible. However, I have stopped checking my email on Saturday and Sunday each week, including no PC access at all on March 22, which I shall try to continue every Sunday from now on. That day I wrote a few paragraphs without the computer, using pen and paper. Another resolution that I will try to observe is only checking email from 10-11 am and 2-3 pm each day. Once I achieve that, there’s hope that I can just do the checking on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, maybe only once daily. That won’t be easy, but I will give it my best effort.
This next situation happened recently. Terry was to be at Kelly’s home on Monday afternoon at about 3 or 4 since she was going to be in Kelly’s neighborhood for a meeting. Sunday evening Michael emailed Terry that the Monday meeting was cancelled. Just before 9 am the next day, Terry emailed Kelly that they wouldn’t get together that day. Kelly did some work on her laptop and checked her email after 11 am for a half hour or so and figured she would do the same in the afternoon, after Terry stopped in. Kelly waited but Terry didn’t show so Kelly called her. The prospective visitor was surprised that Kelly was waiting for her since she emailed. The latter received the email in the afternoon sometime, a bit late. They’re still friends. The question I now pose, without giving an answer, is what can be done about this communication / technology mess-up?
The flamethrower approach of Colonel Frank Slade isn’t a bad idea except it’s impossible to get a divorce from tech. Slade’s option means that we can’t put out the fire – something tech is called on to do so often and failing at it. Without it, each of us would have to live in a cave – no lights, maybe no candle and none of the innovative things I mentioned in this book. If you’re a vegan or vegetarian you could be fine. Otherwise I hope you’re good at capturing game and don’t mind raw meat.
The oft-mentioned workaround is fine for some progress, but has no place in today’s tech world. Incompatibility, resets, restarts and version 99999 of software gives us a clue to why the system just isn’t working. New thinking is necessary. The quote in the introduction should be pondered and acted upon. Common sense needs to be restored. Referring to the technical state of affairs with the title for this chapter is unjust to animals and caretakers. They deserve better. However, there’s no denying that change is needed before technology explodes in our faces. Thankfully it didn’t happen as the year 1999 turned into 2000. Today, I hope it’s not too late.
I began writing this book in January 2015. With the book being published in the summer of that same year, this is probably the shortest time it took for any of my books from start to finish. I couldn’t have done it without the benefits of technology – workarounds played a huge role. However, it took longer than I hoped because of the failure of technology, not only with computers, but also with so many other advancements. I’ve mentioned some of the failures, although what’s listed in the book barely scratches the surface.
As a child, George Carlin’s parents asked him, Don’t you understand English? George Replied, Not completely.
Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel released the song, “At the zoo” as a single in early 1967. It reached the number sixteen spot. In all, the folk duo gathered ten Grammy Awards, with six for the album, Bridge over Troubled Water. That second last word in the album title says it all.