Submitted by John Richter on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 20:59
"We must not inquire too curiously into motives. they are apt to become feeble in the utterance: the aroma is mixed with the grosser air. We must keep the germinating grain away from the light." - George Eliot, Middlemarch
This is one of my favorite quotes from Middlemarch. It captures the notion that sometimes when we try to express our ideas to others, we're often only able to articulate something less. That is, we can only obliquely paint the fuller breadth of what's floating around in our noggin. That by pinning down those amorphous sensations, emotions, and ideas flowing around unconstrained in our minds, and converting them to hard and distinct prose, we somehow realize those entities in a much lower state of potential energy, shackling them. Sometimes, ideas just need to marinate.
That's sort of how I feel about this blog. I'll sometimes be on my way typing an entry that I think is interesting, but I don't like the subsequent pressure that comes for me to produce similar ideas along similar veins.
I want to explore, jump the tracks, and think in seismically different ways at each iteration. And at some level, I feel this is made more possible by not plucking individual thoughts from my brain and putting them on paper; rather, I should let ideas flow with others, get mixed up, allow for mutations, and spawn mutant children.
To a degree, I believe in path-dependence; by harvesting ideas before they're ready, I would so alter my horizon and next steps as to produce a suboptimal outcome in the long run. And I'm playing the long-form game, baby.
So, I leave with--what else--two incredible videos. The first is from graduation day 2010 at my alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis. The speaker was Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.
Secretary Chu was literally my absolute top choice for speaker, and he actually became our speaker. I wanted him for a variety of reasons. First, he is Secretary of Energy at arguably the most crucial juncture in many decades for our energy future. Second, he is a Nobel-prize winning physicist and has an active history in climate change issues. Third, he's...Asian. Yes, that was actually a reason. As someone who's half-Asian, there was some allure in having a prominent non-Caucasian speak.
His speech seemed tailor made for me. As remarkable as it was to have the exact guy I wanted for graduation speak about the kinds of issues I think about in my free time, it even more remarkable that he started quoting Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot, which to anyone who knows me, is quite literally My Favorite Thing Ever.
Many find science a bit too logical, a bit too cerebral, and a bit too detached to ever feel a connection to it. For some, by knowing the world around us to exacting specifications, it somehow removes its mystique and wonder, and we a lose a sense of what actually matters.
In elegant terms, Sagan's passage demonstrated the opposite: by zooming out and seeing the relative insignificance of our planet in the cosmic perspective, we gain a sense of its finitude, fragility, and vulnerability. By zooming out, we in fact zoom in: we realize how important it is to treat each other and our planet more kindly.
That elemental view what constitutes life itself--finitude, transience, and impermanence--is one that I think fundamentally shapes how I see the world. It's the idea that we are all in it together, and we must do better.
Submitted by John Richter on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 21:08
Work and my iPhone app project are in full swing, which means fewer substantive posts here.
So I will start my first part in an infinite series called, "Humans are Amazing." It will be the ultimate compendium proving irrefutably that humans are--if'n you give them the chance--not so bad afterall.
Sure, they may occasionally do not so great things. All I'm saying is that give these fair creatures of Earth a chance, and they may surprise you.
Young Climate Change Activists
I really like how this video encapsulates the optimism of a new generation of environmentalists. For the past two decades, countries have been negotiating climate change measures, with only paltry progress. But we'll make it happen.
Young Japanese Guitarists Play Theme to Jurassic Park
There's something mesmerizing and incredible in watching shaggy, swaying young Japanese musicians play a John Williams piece to perfection. The incredible passion and focus emanates from the performance, and it was all arranged by the young conductor. Watch the whole thing--especially past the 4 minute mark!
The Symphony of Science
There's a lack of appreciation of the amazingness of science. I think a large part of it is that the vast majority have not ever been involved in science in a significant way, so at some level they don't quite get what it is.
The most amazing scientists to me have been those who have been able to convey its human dimensions. Scientists like Hawking, Sagan, and Einstein were/are not just consummate logicians, they were/are emotionally perceptive individuals, able to emotionally engage the public as to the significance of science and where it fits in the human condition.
There's an amazing YouTube series called the "Symphony of Science." It autotunes the voices of scientists to amazingly well written ditties. This is my favorite, although they are all pretty great:
And just when you think this next one is going to be the runt of the pack, Richard Dawkin's buttery vocals enter at 0:45 and melt your heart:
Submitted by John Richter on Thu, 03/03/2011 - 22:07
We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor. It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiflul; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do.
– Henry David Thoreau, Walden, “Where I lived, and what I lived for”
When mulling over situations like ours with climate change, it's very easy to become misanthropic and doubtful in the human capacity to do great things. After all, how could it be that when faced with the obvious consequences of climate change that we are still collectively dragging out feet in addressing the issue? When coral reefs are vanishing, animals are going extinct, and the world is irrevocably losing its natural heritage, why are so many sitting so still?
But then there are outliers that challenge us: individuals so far separated from the common milieu that they fall out of bounds of our conventional categorization. They can act as linchpins in raising consciousness. They passionately and articulately hold steadfast to their principles, and when push comes to shove, they shove back.
The question is: will DeChristopher’s stand become the consciousness-raising endeavor the climate change movement needs, or will it fade into the background noise?
Points of Conscientious Conflict
I am reminded of Martin Luther King’s marches in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. One of King and his allies’ major strategies was to choose points of conscientious conflict, where the right cast of characters and structural situations could foment a well-designed crisis, forcing the public to choose where they stand on an issue. King and his allies strategically chose Selma, Alabama, as a point of conflict because, in addition to the town’s existing voting rights issues, the town sheriff, Jim Clark, was notoriously volatile. They knew that if they marched nonviolently, there was a good chance that Clark would respond with excessive force, and that the public would see injustice in unadulterated, raw form.
Here are two excellent video clips that capture the passion and clear sense of purpose of the protesters. The first video clip occurs when the Selma police department and nonviolent protesters come to a head in one of the many mini-marches in the town. It’s a surreal event, almost script-like in how well it captures the crudeness of the Selma police department. The young black activist is incredibly calm, collected, and wise in his response to the belligerent sheriff.
The second video is MLK’s “How long? Not long!” speech made on the pinnacle of a fraught, yet successful march to Montgomery, the capital of Alabama. When this speech is seen in the context of the incredible struggle that it took to get to Montgomery, it is even more moving.
How long? Not long!
It is true there are challenges with the climate change movement that did not exist for the civil rights movement. The effects of climate change are often too cerebral, too “gradual,” and consequently too difficult for people to relate to. Moreover, opponents can “debate” the scientific veracity of climate change with the sole intent of muddying the public perception—regardless of how empty those assertions are.
The climate change movement needs a Selma moment—several, actually. It needs more people cognizant of the issue to go all in and start making stands where they can. Scientists need to step out of their research dens and fight the obfuscators distorting their findings. Journalists need to get informed on the science and stop acting as if truth is equally distributed on both sides. Students need to continue to use their mobility and passion to challenge the status quo. Everyone has a role to play.
Like the Selma march, DeChristopher’s action has forced people to make a stand, a choice—in one direction or the other. Many have chosen, and will choose, to stand on side of the major oil companies. The protests have gone too far, they will argue. But a good many will choose to stand on the side of a sustainable and more just future. They understand that sometimes it is necessary to generate points of conscientious conflict.
So, will DeChristopher’s actions becoming the consciousness-raising endeavor that the climate change movement needs? The answer is emphatically yes; it will become one of several such moments, if we choose to make it so.
No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. - Einstein
