Here’s the latest reader rant along with my reply!
Dave writes: Einstein wrote, “There are two infinities, the universe, and human stupidity, and I am not sure about the universe.” When this crazy EV thing first started, somehow, I wanted to leave humanity, briefly. I tried to be unstupid. And told my bros worldwide about this future difficulty of cold and batteries. Not one listened. Overcome by desire of a different and special kind. Thanks, Albert. Forever up to date.
My reply: Don’t be too hard on people, Dave. In the first place, most simply don’t know – in part because they have not been told (the media having been grossly derelict in its duty to tell people the truth) and in part because many people do not understand – Star Trek reference – what makes it go.
The media has gushed over EVs as without downside, serving almost as an Amen Corner for the interests which are pushing EVs. I italicize the latter to emphasize the point that EVs are not a market-driven development, in which case I would not object as strongly as I do. Rather, they are being practically shoved down our throats from the top down – and the media hasn’t questioned any of this, probably because most of the media is owned by I think it is six huge corporations, all of whom seem to very much want EVs for reasons I’ve already written about.
But to get back to Star Trek for a moment. There is an episode called Samaritan Snare, in which the Enterprise comes across a crippled spaceship full of what appear to be very special aliens. They are Pakleds. They inform the Enterprise that their ship is “broken” and wonder whether the Enterprise can help them “make it go.”
Similarly, here on Earth – today.
We have this odd disconnect of a society/system that is almost pathologically “tech” – and a population that is increasingly helpless as far as understanding that tech. They tap and swipe to “make it go” – but do not understand what makes it go. The principles, mechanical and electrical, behind the operation of machinery and electronic equipment. To many of them, it is like magic – and they are very much like jungle savages transfixed by fire.
But when the fire goes out . . . .
And so, we have this synergy. People today (men especially) are less knowledgeable about how things go than probably at any time in modern history and these same people are fed jazzy stories about these miraculous electric cars, those stories rarely if ever discussing such things as the cost of these electric cars or their functional/practical shortcomings.
It is quite literally an epic, ongoing con – and the only question now is whether the “marks” will see through it before it’s too late.
. . .
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We’re told that specialization is not only efficient, it has become necessary to modern life. This tends to drive out the natural curiosity that drives many men to explore and discover how things work, at least outside their very narrow speciality.
As we specialize in our careers we also become less desirable to other employers. If we’re lucky our employer has a reason to keep us on the payroll. If not, you might end up being an outside contractor, or just out of a job. In my case, everything I’ve been trained on in the past two years has been internal processes, not transferrable to anywhere else. Any useful, transferable skills or knowledge I’ve acquired has been on my own time, at my own expense. Any time I’m in front of a manager or director I ask about technical training, and am always rebuffed. This is deeply disturbing to me. But hey, we’re the number one employer for millennials and have been making fantastic strides in diversity, so I guess that’s what counts. That and the fact the cash register keeps ringing (for now)…
Many people, of all ages, seem to be suffering from what I call The Star Trek Syndrome.
Let me explain.
Star Trek has their Prime Directive of non-interference. This includes not contacting worlds that are not capable of inter-planetary travel. But notice how many times they contact a planet and you have a bunch of folks with highly advanced technological societies where the people are milling around the City Market wearing little more than togas. A person will, ostensibly, be making a living by selling what appears to be about a dozen pomegranates to fulfill his earnings requirements.
In short, they have all the most advanced technology but, they live like they’re in the 12th century. This is what the “Green” movement is all about. They want their tech but, they don’t want the civilization that is needed to build and support such a society. They want their cake and eat it too. They want Utopia…and YOU are gonna provide it for them…of feel the lash.
I may take this basic premise and run with it for it something I’ve noticed in sci-fi as well. Primarily Star Trek, but in other places as well.
However Star Trek did examine a few societies where there was a class of people who did all the work while the others lived in luxury. Of course such a plot goes back to HG Wells “Time Machine”. That warning to the ruling class doesn’t seem to have been heeded and thus the future longer term end is “Who Run Bartertown?”
There’s also the sense of entitlement people have over those who know how things work. That they are entitled to the labor of those of us who make it go. I think that’s where my disdain of collectivism comes from. It’s only specific things that are to be shared. Only certain things are to be socialized for the whole. With no recognition that this knowledge and skill comes at cost in other areas of people’s lives.
See also: the modern corporation. A friend of mine developed some software for an RBOC, one of the companies created after the breakup of the Bell System, also known as a “baby bell.” One day he was speaking with one of the bell employees about a construction job. The bell employee (manager) said something like “oh, that’s a 5 knuckle-dragger job.” My friend laughed, and of course the manager went on to speak about the men in the construction crew as just a bunch of idiots who can run a shovel. Never mind that his contribution to the network probably paled in comparison, but because he was in a cubicle and wearing a white shirt he was somehow superior.
I’m watching the grey haired managers begin to retire and I think it will only be a matter of time until the same thing starts to happen where I work. For sure our dependence on outside contractors has been increasing, and that can’t be a good sign.
EV’s, Vaccines, Green New Deal, Smart Cities, 5g
It’s all part of Agenda 21 or 2030, whatever you wanna call it. Quite frankly, it’s time to fight back, however we can
“For the World is Hollow, And I Have Touched the Sky” – Original Stark Trek Series Episode 10 of Season 3.
Funny how the original Star Trek episodes, as few as there were, covered virtually every social subject we struggle with right now. Even the very last one, which most don’t like at all, can cover transgenderism and feminazism, both. That show could have stood alone for all time, even without all the re-boot series and motion pictures that followed!
Even the much derided “Spock’s Brain” is becoming an insightful look into the future.
Star Trek (because of Roddenberry’s left idealism) is well in the shadow of “The Twilight Zone”.