We talk about time travel! Lots of time travel. Enjoy!
Show Notes:
Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Read it! It’s weird and kinda good? It won a Hugo award and it’ll at least give you things to ponder.
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
This book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction and the Aventis Prize for Best Science Book. Phil may or may not update you on why Diamond is wrong.
K Sera’s after thoughts:
• Phil A and Micah B prove to be vastly inferior to Original Phil and Original Micah …Maybe.
• About my “not caring” about other people: It isn’t that I don’t care at all. I do, but I have some boundaries about how much I allow myself to care. (If that makes sense?) I don’t want people to suffer, and when I hear about the suffering happening in the world - and it’s too damn much - that knowledge eats away at my mental health. If I think about it too much, it destroys me, little by little. Knowing and accepting that I don’t have the ability to solve all the world’s problems hurts. So, I sort of set aside the emotions I have regarding that which is out of my power to change or that which I decide is someone else’s cause to take up.
I choose my causes (homelessness and hunger in my community) and put my limited resources towards them because those are things I think I help reduce. I can’t help everyone. That just isn’t possible.
I also subscribe to the indifferent universe theory where, in the grand scheme of everything, our puny lives don’t really matter except in how much we matter to each other.
It is good to do good where you can, if you can afford it. You aren’t an asshole for not bleeding yourself dry trying to save everyone. Pick the causes that are most important to you and put your resources towards them. Consider doing more for other causes if the need is immediately greater than your chosen causes, again, if you can afford it.
Most people are not Bodhisattvas. Realistically, there are just too many people in the world who are selfish to the detriment of others. Too many people who are greedy or who actually enjoy the suffering of others. We can only keep trying to limit the power of those who sew suffering and do our best to encourage those who sew peace and prosperity, hoping the latter will win out.