I should be working/studying/cleaning, but instead I'm on WDWmagic.

Pongo

Pongo

New Member
Since I know you all want to read a super pessimistic-ish essay I just wrote for my Wilderness Lecture Series class:

Is it possible to become too efficient? I’m afraid, if our history is any indicator, we will never know the answer, if we even begin to ask the question. The Biomimicry Institute is on a crusade to make our technological advances more natural-chic. More conforming to natural creations. Greener. Healthier. Better. But this crusade, much like Vonnegut’s description of World War II in the book Slaughterhouse-Five, is a Children’s Crusade. In regards to nature, the human intellect is nothing but a child: a child brimming with hubris who manages to get lucky from time to time.
Maybe we’re on to something. Or maybe we’re just getting lucky again.
The creation of agriculture was lucky. We learned how to harness the power of nature and the sun to produce food. We controlled the ground and the plants and we made nature our slave. Now we’re on the brink of a food crisis with much of the world eating and wasting more than the planet can possibly give. We’re giving birth to more children than we have food to feed. Our luck, in this case, has run out.
The discovery of fossil fuels was lucky. This magic substance that our entire mechanized world would come to rely on is proving to be more problematic than helpful in today’s world. We continue to deplete our oil and coal stocks while throwing hazardous gases into the air – two consequences that could have never been foreseen. The alchemical substance that made life so convenient is rearing a nasty, ominous head. Our luck, in this case, is running out.
As an educated and informed citizen of the human race, I have every reason to be skeptical and view new innovations with a squinted eye. The Biomimicry Institute is a good – if not great – thing. The ideas are revolutionary and the creations mind-blowing. The efficiency that it creates is astounding, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s too good to be true. We create airplane wings that mimic the grooves on whales’ fins. We erect buildings that heat and cool like a termite mound. We design fans that follow the nautilus’s law of fractals. All this, engineering a world more efficient than the first human to struggle with his wheat field could have ever imagined. Eventually, however, our luck will run out.
I’ve never read the book Ishmael, but I’ve been told about an analogy within it. We are flying a plane that is crashing to the ground, and we know it. We are trying to pedal this plane back into the sky, but no matter how hard we pedal, we will not bring it back aloft. The plane may be slowed, but we know deep down that this plane is on a downward trajectory. The harder we try, we’re only tiring ourselves out.
In this case, I believe there is such a thing as too much efficiency. The planes and the buildings and the fans and the biomimicked gadgets and the nanotechnology… We’re only allowing ourselves to proliferate into the rest of the world what makes America such a troubling place. Spray-on solar panels in the heart of the African wilderness? These products will be the death of culture around the world. As the collective human conscience begins to pat themselves on the back, realizing their “more efficient” innovations will one day save the world, their consciences will be ignorant to the fact that they’re still creating more and more, and no matter how efficient a product gets, it will be so efficient as to destroy. More will always be created, and it is the more that is going to be our downfall.
I’m not against the Biomimicry Institute. As far as options go, it’s the best thing we’ve got. I’m not a pessimist, I just see the mistakes that humans have made and I understand how those mistakes get re-created. Maybe I’m just a little bit of a defeatist: I understand where we’re going and the fact that we can’t stop it. And though we may not have the right to harness the power of nature, as shown by our turbulent attempts, solace may be found in the fact that each ending brings a new beginning.
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dandaman

dandaman

Well-Known Member
tiaragirl said:
Weenie.

I look up your "American" all the time.
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Being a meteorology major living so close to the border all my life, I've always had my forecasts in both formats but have always preferred Fahrenheit to Celsius for some odd reason. Good thing, too; if it'd been the other way around I'd likely be screwed for taking met at Florida Tech. :lol:
 
tiaragirl

tiaragirl

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
dandaman said:
Being a meteorology major living so close to the border all my life, I've always had my forecasts in both formats but have always preferred Fahrenheit to Celsius for some odd reason. Good thing, too; if it'd been the other way around I'd likely be screwed for taking met at Florida Tech. :lol:
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Hahha, well in the Maritimes, they give us straight up Celsius and let us fend four ourselves!

How was EPCOT?
 
dandaman

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Epcot was pretty awesome, except for waiting two hours for Soarin' due to a breakdown and abnormally slow loading times on top of that. Sign said 80 minutes and the entire parking lot was full, which I was surprised at even with Spring Break and all. However, what was more odd was that the other lines were perfectly reasonable (M:S Orange 20, Test Track 50) all day, despite the full lots. :lol:

Friends said they had a GREAT time though, which I was very glad to hear. :D
 
Nicole220

Nicole220

Well-Known Member
Hi friends!

I had a nice day at Disneyland and the hair salon. Some friends from CSU are in Cali for SB...my first college friends visiting Cali! I've been waiting for this for a long time. :lol: They're at DL all week and I hung out with them today. I also chopped off my hair. It's the shortest it's been in years. But I wanted change and it's perfect.


Kenzieeeee where are yoooou? I know you had your beastly test today and you haven't posted in a while. Hope it didn't kill you! :(
 
tiaragirl

tiaragirl

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Nicole220 said:
Hi friends!

I had a nice day at Disneyland and the hair salon. Some friends from CSU are in Cali for SB...my first college friends visiting Cali! I've been waiting for this for a long time. :lol: They're at DL all week and I hung out with them today. I also chopped off my hair. It's the shortest it's been in years. But I wanted change and it's perfect.
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Sounds like a fun time at DL and the hair salon! In grade 11, I went from hair halfway down my back and I cut it to my chin. Loveeee it. Still do, though I'm growing it out a little. It's about to my shoulders now.. it's nice to have a pony tail again! Change is always good. And hair always grows back.


Nicole220 said:
Kenzieeeee where are yoooou? I know you had your beastly test today and you haven't posted in a while. Hope it didn't kill you! :(
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Sorrrry! There wasn't much action on here last night, and I was enjoying chilling for the one time in the last three weeks, hahah. I cleaned my room, so I can now see my floor, and I taught some childrens front crawl. I didn't finish my test, but the part I missed was probably worth about 4% so it could have been worse. That being said, I don't feel good about the parts I did complete.. hoping for a 70!


What's the plan for today, all?
 
tiaragirl

tiaragirl

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Fam called =(

Dad was all hyped up.. they got the front AND back of RnRC today on respective rides. Boooooo.

And I am doing research on self-objectification. Boooooo.

Take me to Disney.
 
Disneyson 1

Disneyson 1

New Member
My teacher doesn't like my thesis... so all that "Dantework" may very well be for naught if I can't pull some more info from this OTHER Hell book...!
 

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