Hope or Delusion?

[cronus]

What genuine hope is there? Climate change and fiscal collapse and peak oil and superbugs....etc. Where is the basis of your hope? denial or delusion?

[JimC]

"We'll all be rooned", said Hanrahan,
In accents most forlorn,
Outside the church, ere Mass began,
One frosty Sunday morn.

The congregation stood about
Coat collars to the ears,
And talked of stock and crops and drought
As it had done for years.

"It's lookin' crook," said Daniel Croke,
"Bedad it's crook me lad,
But never since the banks went broke
Has seasons been so bad."

"It's dry all right," said young O'Neil,
With which astute remark,
He squatted down upon his heel
And chewed a piece of bark.

And so around the chorus ran,
"It's keepin' dry no doubt."
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"Before the year is out.

"The crops are done, you'll have your work
To save one bag of grain.
From here way out to Back o' Bourke
They're singing out for rain.

"They're singin' out for rain," he said,
"And all the tanks are dry."
The congregation scratched its head
And gazed around the sky.

"There won't be grass, in any case
Enough to feed an ass,
There's not a blade on Casey's place
As I came down to Mass."

"If rain don't come this month," said Dan,
And cleared his throat to speak,
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"If rain don't come this week."

A heavy silence seemed to steal
On all at his remark,
And each man squatted on his heel,
And chewed a piece of bark.

"We want an inch of rain, we do,"
O'Neil observed at last.
But Croke maintained we wanted two,
To put the danger past.

"If we don't get three inches man,
Or four to break this drought,
We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"Before the year is out."

In God's good time, down came the rain,
And all the afternoon,
On iron roof and window pane,
It drummed a homely tune.

And through the night it pattered still,
And lightsome, gladsome elves,
On dripping spout and window sill,
Kept talking to themselves.

It pelted, pelted all day long,
A-singing at its work,
Till every heart took up the song,
Way out to Back o' Bourke.

And every creek a banker ran,
And dams filled overtop.
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"If this rain doesn't stop."

And stop it did in God's good time,
And Spring came into fold.
A mantle o'er the hills sublime,
Of green and pink and gold.

And days went by on dancing feet,
With harvest hopes immense,
And laughing eyes beheld the wheat,
Nid-nodding o'er the fence.

And, oh, the smiles on every face,
As happy lad and lass,
Through grass knee deep on Casey's place,
Went riding down to Mass.

While round the church in clothes genteel,
Discoursed the men of mark,
And each man squatted on his heel,
And chewed a piece of bark.

"There'll be bush fires for sure, me man,
There will without a doubt.
We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan.
"Before the year is out."

[Tero]

Is there any cream to go with the coffee? And a bit of dietary bisquit?

[SteveB]

You're still investing in the market, aren't ya?

[Blind groper]

I am an optimist.
The basis for that optimism is history, which shows humanity identifying problems and then solving them. The fact that problems exist does not mean they will overwhelm us.

[Gallstones]

I am an optimist.
The basis for that optimism is history, which shows humanity identifying problems and then solving them. The fact that problems exist does not mean they will overwhelm us.

I bet the Romans were convinced of this as well.

[JimC]

I am an optimist.
The basis for that optimism is history, which shows humanity identifying problems and then solving them. The fact that problems exist does not mean they will overwhelm us.

I bet the Romans were convinced of this as well.

But when their Empire went down, the whole of humanity didn't fall in a heap, which is what Scrumple is implying is on the cards for us...

[Gallstones]

I am an optimist.
The basis for that optimism is history, which shows humanity identifying problems and then solving them. The fact that problems exist does not mean they will overwhelm us.

I bet the Romans were convinced of this as well.

But when their Empire went down, the whole of humanity didn't fall in a heap, which is what Scrumple is implying is on the cards for us...

It is though; the sun, the source of most of the life energy on this planet will die like every life form will; except it will incinerate everything first. Humans are doomed with certainty. Nothing we do, nothing we desire or will will be sustained. We are insignificant. We are irrelevant. We are nothing.

To think otherwise is....childish beyond reason.

[JimC]

I am an optimist.
The basis for that optimism is history, which shows humanity identifying problems and then solving them. The fact that problems exist does not mean they will overwhelm us.

I bet the Romans were convinced of this as well.

But when their Empire went down, the whole of humanity didn't fall in a heap, which is what Scrumple is implying is on the cards for us...

It is though; the sun, the source of most of the life energy on this planet will die like every life form will; except it will incinerate everything first. Humans are doomed with certainty. Nothing we do, nothing we desire or will will be sustained. We are insignificant. We are irrelevant. We are nothing.

To think otherwise is....childish beyond reason.

Well, in many millions of years, sure...

Scrumple is certain we are doomed within our own lifetimes...

[cronus]

The Romans had a soft landing over two or three centuries. The climate hadn't been injected with a shit load of shit, and then there's all the other stuff. Our global village in contrast is gonna hit a brick wall, most likely within months of a dollar crash.

[Gallstones]

There's always shit.

[Tyrannical]

What genuine hope is there? Climate change and fiscal collapse and peak oil and superbugs....etc. Where is the basis of your hope? denial or delusion?

Climate change, fiscal collapse, peak oil, and superbugs, what do these disasters all have in common

None of these problems would have been as severe if the developed World didn't share.

Now we have countries all over the world pumping out CO2, burning oil, manufacturing goods. All the super bugs come from "there" too.

[Blind groper]

Here are a few other things. What have they in common?

Global ecological disaster from pesticides.
Global famine from overpopulation
Nuclear war.
Nuclear winter.
Global disaster from ozone depletion.
Global disaster from computer crashes in the moment the year 2000 arrives.

What all these have in common is that they all have been touted by pessimist prophets like scrumple as major global disasters, and the prophets were all 100% WRONG!

[Trinity]

I saw a programme last year about studies on the human mind regarding our seemingly innate sense of positivity and optimism. They tested subjects in an MRI scanner, asking questions and stating facts and monitoring the responses. It came out overwhelmingly that we as a species will think the best of something, that bad shit won't really affect us and that we will always find a way through. Obviously there are multitudes of people who don't think like this but it was interesting to see proof of someone's blind faith in their thinking that "it'll all be alright", even when presented with facts that proved otherwise.

[cronus]

The current global situation reminds me, with some scaling, of the Estonia. With the money from QE and other printing schemes like water rushing into the car decks.