Today's newsletter is a shorter, simpler read, on war-grief.
Specifically, it's a reflection with the help of poetry and science fiction, on how humans endure those times when evolutionary processes cannot keep up with the threat of global catastrophe—either from natural causes, or of our own creation.
Grief affirms our desire to rise above biology.
It is a strength, not a weakness, even in hard times.
#Humanism #Poetry #Literature #Grief #War
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/there-will-come-soft-rains
Morning, Brent!
Thanks for reading. Fingers crossed we can avoid that dead end. Opposable thumbs certainly have a lot to answer for, though!
@MLClark @BrentSullivan This is tangentially related, and I'm all for opposable thumbs 😁, but in the case of the panda which only eats bamboo opposable thumbs would wear out before the end of the panda's lifetime. So they have a rigid thumb to better grasp bamboo stalks. It's the exception that proves the rule while actually being better for the panda.
Ah, the panda's a fun one! 😊
Its "thumb" is an outgrowth of its wrist, a sixth pseudo-digit that balances utility for manipulation tasks with the needs of a creature that also walks on four legs. It's less a matter of the thumb "wearing out" if it were more advanced, and more a matter of dual functionality.
Thanks for fun aside, Daniel! :) #PandaFacts
@MLClark
The root problem is our clever to wise ratio favors clever😉
@MLClark
Thoroughly enjoyed that.
I often say that big brains and opposable thumbs are looking like an evolutionary dead end. In this piece you provide the rejoinder, "unless we decide otherwise"
Mornin'!