There are so many of them, going about
the world in a blitheness of ignorance. Sure of their Science, of
their crude modern iGods to protect them, secure in their belief that
somehow technology will outpace the demons that race along beside it,
behind it, within it. That every time we stall, some innovation will
vault us into the future. They buy into the conspiracy of progress.
They buy into the modern myths like global warming, women’s rights
and vaccinations. They forget that eugenics was defended by most
scientists in its day, that heroin was considered safe and had no
side effects. They don’t understand that the world changes. That
sometimes the things everyone believes to be true are the ones that
are wrong.
If the lone voices are all silenced,
then there will be no new lone voices. If there is no debate – not
even a discussion – then terrible things will happen, and terrible
things have happened. When everyone agrees on something, then no one
is thinking. Consider it. We pretend that Time will bow to the whims
of our technologies, of our watches and phones and that we can alter
the rhythm of the world because puritans wanted more daylight. And
they got it, because puritanism works so very well. Cut away
everything that doesn’t matter, and you are left with ...
essentials.
We save energy, cry the Scientists and
Transport people (all in the pockets of Science, every one, oil and
electricity both) that we save energy. People come home earlier, have
more daylight at their disposal – as though people were plants –
and this somehow prevents theft. And yet, and yet the day of
it is nothing like that at all. Mad rushes, accidents that would not
have happened otherwise. Deaths
that could have been prevented if we had not decided we could meddle
with Time as easily as we do with Truth!
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