Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Why Vapid Soundbites Beat Analysis

This article paints a pessimistic view of the worried world's likelihood to embrace reason when the alternative rhymes.

The good news? People who are comfortable and unafraid may be fully capable of seeking out and enduring unfamiliar experiences, thoughts, and mental exercises – even if just for fun.

Does progress depend on happy people? The pessimists – who claim, if you ask, to be the only ones capable of seeing the truth – would revolt at the thought. But then, are pessimists about progress, or about merely avoiding regress? Pessimists have a valuable place in society – warning us against mass-suicide, for example – but theirs is not the job of building the future.

The future belongs, perhaps, to those who refuse to accept that "easy = true" and are willing to suffer to learn what is true. The question is whether anyone will be willing to join them in this future, or if these few, this band of brothers, will be left alone in the land into which they venture.

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