tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6727975.post8121653015969616555..comments2024-03-25T16:30:58.213+13:00Comments on GREENIE WATCH: JRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00829082699850674281noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6727975.post-51325332133472612532008-07-24T10:06:00.000+12:002008-07-24T10:06:00.000+12:00Not to suggest I disagree with the basis of the ov...Not to suggest I disagree with the basis of the overall thesis regarding Wall-E (I found it entertaining but do find issue with many of the same things the reviewer does) -- I would, however, like to offer some commentary I bumped into many years ago. Its applicability to the reviewer's argument about how indolent and lazy the people on the ship had become after 700 years is clearly evident:<BR/><BR/><I>. All modern predictions of utopia are based upon the reasoning that those characteristics useful in a hostile environment (resourcefulness, drive, creativity, etc.) will be used similarly in an 'Age of Leisure'. However, a relatively recent chapter of human history implies otherwise:<BR/>About 2000 years ago, a venturesome race of Asian peoples set out across the Pacific in search of more agreeable lands. The drive and resourcefulness of their genetic stock is manifest in the nature of their feat. In successive waves of emigration, leading nearly to modern times, the Asians settled most of the islands of the Pacific. Those who reached Tahiti found a paradise of abundant food & gentle climate, with few natural enemies.<BR/>. Under these favorable conditions, with a nearly complete absence of hostile forces in the environment and a direct line of descent from an enterprising people, the Tahitians might have been expected to evolve a culture distinguished for its crafts and technical skills, perhaps, or its art, its music, or some other form of creative endeavor. The life in Tahiti was noteworthy, instead, when discovered by Europeans, for its promiscuity, infanticide, ritual cannibalism, mayhem, and the common use of a hallucinogenic drug called 'kava'. Important skills carried to Tahiti by the first settlers, such as writing and pottery, had been lost in the intervening generations. A low level of intellectual and artistic activity, an emphasis upon sexual gratification, and a degradation of family life appear to have been the fruits of leisure and economic security in this case.</I><BR/><B> - Robert Jastrow, in the introduction to 'The Next 10,000 Years' by Adrian Berry -</B><BR/><BR/>I think it is interesting, and certainly flies in the face of that one component of the review.<BR/><BR/>The book is out of print, and I can't say I've read the whole thing or recommend it, but that introduction definitely was outside of my own thoughts at the time, and I suspect few have really thought upon this theme.OBloodyHellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09992539380115488567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6727975.post-66300356814713003222008-07-22T01:41:00.001+12:002008-07-22T01:41:00.001+12:00(if you cover approximately 5% of the face of the ...(if you cover approximately 5% of the face of the panel the output will drop to almost zero <a href="http://rdd.su" title="Сфера музыки."> </a>Алексей (rewritoff)https://www.blogger.com/profile/05710769847850201699noreply@blogger.com