Part of this post has been turned over to Guru, the alter ego that John Denver would have described as ‘Far out!’ Guru lives in a world of paradigms; there are no loose details – details are assigned to a paradigm then forgotten until they are needed. Unlike Chicken Little and Amos, who live in the conscious mind subject to experiences via the five senses, Guru lives in a subconscious part of the brain.
Mariner will ask Guru for his current thoughts in these times of endless chaos. Mariner apologizes to the reader in advance for answers that may be vague, unsatisfying, inadequate, or incomprehensible – as that is the nature of subconscious thought.
Mariner – Guru, the Middle East has been in a state of warring chaos for 25 years. What thoughts do you have about a situation that has no obvious solution?
Guru – Over the centuries, the Middle East has played the role of Grand Central Station for large migrations starting with the first migrations of early man out of Africa. A primary cause has been slowly changing, large weather patterns that affect availability of food and water. At least three weather related massive migrations occurred before documented history – events that likely populated Europe and the Far East. Slowly, during the 19th and 20th centuries, droughts have reduced food and water availability; this has prevented the Middle East from sharing the same growth and sophistication experienced by the West. Governments remained simplistic and nomadic. Even if there had not been political and physical violence, the time was ripe for another migration. Unfortunately, it was forced to occur quite painfully by destroying the region’s economy and culture in war.
The war itself is related to the discovery of oil, colonization, inadequate governance and continued international meddling that takes advantage of the Middle East’s relatively primitive culture. Islam is a manufactured cause to deal with the collapse of institutions, quality of life, and culture.
Mariner – Guru, the world economy seems frayed and dysfunctional. Why is the global economy stalled and further, what does the future hold in store?
Guru – The world is transitioning from the labor age to the automated age. Typically, chaos is present as an economy changes from one age to another. Also typical is the opportunity by entrepreneurs to take advantage of the new but undermanaged age by taking extravagant profits; these profits likely initiated economies that are plutocratic and gave international corporations the wealth to escape many human rights and safety requirements by splitting operations across several countries. The future is still clouded. The US already has engaged political and industrial activity associated with economic change but most of the world has not.
Mariner – The planet is suffering increasing stress from global warming. Two perspectives: why are conservatives denying the scientists and will the US be able to manage the rising shorelines and economic stress?
Guru – The perspectives are unrelated. Conservatives don’t like change as a general principle; in the US especially, Congress and many states are controlled by conservatives who don’t want the money bath [e.g., personal investment, lobby income, Citizens United] to stop. Nay saying scientific data is easier than defending profit-motivated government behavior.
As to the global warming issue, this makes Congressional profit taking insignificant. If the world’s nations cannot affect carbon dioxide production in ten years, the biosphere not only will lose thousands of species and disrupt the human food chain, it will create unstable weather conditions and the worst predictions of ocean increase, about nine feet, will require costs that may not be within national financial ceilings.
REFERENCE SECTION
A dose of realism about the return of manufacturing jobs is in an article on Nate Silver’s 538 website. See: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/manufacturing-jobs-are-never-coming-back/
If the reader is a serious puzzle solver – and the mariner means serious, Nate has a puzzle column. If you ever solve a puzzle, let the mariner know. See: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/can-you-best-the-mysterious-man-in-the-trench-coat/
Ancient Mariner