Following The Folly?

I must share a couple of things in the days after my recent essay -- "Save Us! Unite Us! (The Savior Draws Near?)" -- published April 10. Recall that I said I was sensing, in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, a temptation luring some people toward collectivism. Also recall my concern that we were surrendering ourselves to "the System," by which I meant a seemingly benign and omniscient system of technology, something like a hybridization of Google, Amazon, Facebook and the like, that will, perhaps, be offered as a form of totalitarian and, of course egalitarian, governance.

This article from 2017, "How East and West think in profoundly different ways", has several very interesting points that we need to consider, I believe, as we see this push toward globalism/collectivism. The points are likely not what you expect them to be. This is not, at least not overtly, a political piece. You should read it.

Also, in regards to surrendering ourselves to "the System," specifically (as I mentioned 10 days ago), the impact such a system could have on "the greatest public health threat of all: climate change," please note that NASCAR, the truly American-born competitive car racing system, has begun to broadcast "virtual races" where real drivers race virtual cars, from home on computer consoles, around a virtual track. Understand: these are REAL NASCAR drivers "driving" entirely computer-generated vehicles around a simulated track in a simulated race and shown on national TV, with even REAL people (like NASCAR great Jeff Gordon) doing LIVE ANALYSIS and play-by-play. (One popular driver, Kyle Larson, was even fired from NASCAR after his use of a racial slur while communicating with his "crew members" via his headset during the race.)

Alas, and alleluia! Virtual car racing, pitting software against itself, is, at least for the moment, making the earth cleaner, better, safer. And those horrific race car crashes? Gone!

See? The System is not just benign, it's good!

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