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Global dumbing involves the virtually imperceptible but steady
deterioration of the aggregate human mind -- as well as of its
institutions -- much as the temperature of the earth is apparently
rising at a rate so minuscule that scientists will be still be debating
its escalation even as the waters of the Atlantic Ocean lap at the
potted plants in the lobby of the Trump Plaza. In fact, global warming
and global dumbing are intimately connected. Without the latter,
something actually might be done before that portion of Washington below
the fall line of the Potomac is totally submerged. And like global
warming, global dumbing concerns itself with losses incurred by energy
transfers and nature's ceaseless quest for the random equilibrium of
chaos. It is, in short, the entropy of the human spirit and of the
systems it has created.
In earlier times, it was possible to avoid cultural entropy by stealing
energy from somewhere else. This, of course, was the foundation of slave
trade, the British Empire and various new world orders of the first half
of 20th century. While it still goes on, energy theft has become more
difficult as the world has steadily lost its cultural, political,
environmental and economic differentiation.
A cursory examination of American business suggests that its major
product is wasted energy. Compute all the energy loss created by
corporate lawyers, Washington lobbyists, marketing consultants, CEO
benefits, advertising agencies, leadership seminars, human resource
supervisors, strategic planners and industry conventions and it is
amazing that this country has any manufacturing base at all. We have
created an economy based not on actually doing anything, but on
facilitating, supervising, planning, managing, analyzing, tax advising,
marketing, consulting or defending in court what might be done if we had
time to do it. The few remaining truly productive companies become
immediate targets for another entropic activity, the leveraged buyout.
If global dumbing is not halted, we may wake up one morning and find
that no one in this country knows how to make anything anymore. We may
discover our dearest friends and relatives in a catatonic state before
the TV and the device won't even be on. When we call for help we may
find that 911 has become an endless loop voice mail system from which
one can never disconnect. We may even, some day, elect a hologram as
president -- and be too dumb to realize it. - Sam Smith
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Global dumbing involves the virtually imperceptible but steady
deterioration of the aggregate human mind -- as well as of its
institutions -- much as the temperature of the earth is apparently
rising at a rate so minuscule that scientists will be still be debating
its escalation even as the waters of the Atlantic Ocean lap at the
potted plants in the lobby of the Trump Plaza. In fact, global warming
and global dumbing are intimately connected. Without the latter,
something actually might be done before that portion of Washington below
the fall line of the Potomac is totally submerged. And like global
warming, global dumbing concerns itself with losses incurred by energy
transfers and nature's ceaseless quest for the random equilibrium of
chaos. It is, in short, the entropy of the human spirit and of the
systems it has created.
In earlier times, it was possible to avoid cultural entropy by stealing
energy from somewhere else. This, of course, was the foundation of slave
trade, the British Empire and various new world orders of the first half
of 20th century. While it still goes on, energy theft has become more
difficult as the world has steadily lost its cultural, political,
environmental and economic differentiation.
A cursory examination of American business suggests that its major
product is wasted energy. Compute all the energy loss created by
corporate lawyers, Washington lobbyists, marketing consultants, CEO
benefits, advertising agencies, leadership seminars, human resource
supervisors, strategic planners and industry conventions and it is
amazing that this country has any manufacturing base at all. We have
created an economy based not on actually doing anything, but on
facilitating, supervising, planning, managing, analyzing, tax advising,
marketing, consulting or defending in court what might be done if we had
time to do it. The few remaining truly productive companies become
immediate targets for another entropic activity, the leveraged buyout.
If global dumbing is not halted, we may wake up one morning and find
that no one in this country knows how to make anything anymore. We may
discover our dearest friends and relatives in a catatonic state before
the TV and the device won't even be on. When we call for help we may
find that 911 has become an endless loop voice mail system from which
one can never disconnect. We may even, some day, elect a hologram as
president -- and be too dumb to realize it. - Sam Smith
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