Art of the Impossible, Cont.

I said I wanted to discuss the impossible, and immediately I feel compelled to write about just why and how this is not easily done.  Mostly, I think, people in our day and age have come to appreciate just how difficult it is to create lasting change.  Whether it's the legacy of our Civil Rights Movement, or criticisms for how foreign aid has actually hurt Africa, or the shrinking of the middle class, or the difficulty in coordinating international efforts to stop environmental destruction, we seem to live in a time where we are forcibly reminded of our limits.

I think that's part of why dystopia appeals.  That, and we have a really hard time imagining any 'perfect' world that doesn't sound boring.  Like in the movie The Matrix, when Agent Smith says the attempt to create a happy matrix was a disaster...people didn't accept it.  Or the old joke about how when someone dies they want to go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company. 

Besides which, there's a long historical legacy of failed attempts to create a utopia - like New Harmony, Indiana (an economic failure after two years), or the Oneida Community (not sure it counts as an attempt at utopia, the wikipedia site says it was a Perfectionist religious communal society) that eventually turned into a silverware company.

There seems something intrinsic to the human condition that defies attempts to build a lasting utopia.  To create perfection.

So why bother?  Well, here's the thing.  We can't always predict the consequences of change, and we're terrible at predicting what changes will make us happy...but change IS inevitable.  And the people who shape that change, who help direct that change in certain directions, are the ones who help dictate what the future holds.

Mistaken at times, sometimes idealistic, all too often wrong - the future is shaped by those who dream of something better.  Different, at least.  Since some dreams are only 'better' for that particular person.

And the ideas that spur development can pay off in ways you don't predict.  I'm not talking about big utopian goals here, more the fascinating interplay between science fiction and technological development.  Like the classic example of Star Trek's medical tricorder, which is coming closer and closer to an actual reality.

Change is inevitable, and envisioning the possibilities can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Further Updates

I've decided to go back to school, for a second bachelor's in Computer Science.   I've already been accepted to the online program at U of I, Springfield.  I've applied for my post 9/11 GI benefits, though I don't think I'll get 100% (my commitment from ROTC doesn't count towards time in service for this, so when they calculate the percentage it'll be based on the year or so after I finished that)

I feel -  good.  Yet terrified.  But good.

That is, it feels like the right decision.  I've got some more details to work out (I want to study Finance as well.  UIS has a finance minor, but not entirely online.  I might be able to transfer to U of I, Champaign Urbana later.  Maybe.  I've got options and possibilities.)

It feels right... but holy hell, what have I just gotten myself into?!?  I'm going to quit a rather decent paying job (with benefits!) to study something that will require calculus (which I haven't done in over twenty years) in a field where I -  a woman pushing 40 - will definitely not be the norm.  And what will this do to my finances?!?  I think I can find freelance work or a part time job to fill in the gaps, but I'm worried that three months from now I'll be kicking myself for doing something stupid.

So.  Yeah. 

Scary.  But exciting.

Modern America

Some days it seems like the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and anything we try to do will just make things worse.  (There are assumptions in that statement, such as that it's bad for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer.  Let's not digress into whether these things are good or bad at the moment.)


I do, however, keep remembering that history often winds up surprising us.  That just when it seems like the powers-that-be have gained some sort of lock on control, the unexpected happens.  Consider how ruling families in Europe regained control after Napoleon, only to lose it again almost 100 years later.  Or the labor movement, which somehow managed to create a 40 hr workweek (with 1.5 pay for overtime) even though the odds seemed stacked against them.  You could make a similar story regarding Tammany Hall, and other situations where the powerful seem to have everything in their favor.


So all hope is not lost, even when things seem darkest.  A reminder I feel I need to make, particularly in this day and age.


I bring this up because the America I know and love seems threatened by a variety of factors.  This is probably not a controversial statement, as survey after survey shows that Americans are unhappy with the direction we are going.  What makes my statement different, I think, is that I disagree on what those threats are.  It's not Islam, it's not our growing diversity, it's not gay marriage.  It's not globalization, or immigration, or the loss of manufacturing jobs in and of itself (though all of those things contribute to the hard times faced by many in America today.)


I have had a fascination with history, with what helps a nation rise or makes a nation fall, in part because I feel America is at a crucial point right now.  The decisions we make now can hasten or halt our decline.


Again, on the generic level, I think a lot of people agree with me here.  It's the specifics that differ.  I think I'll do a couple posts to discuss those specifics, with the caveat that I'm by no means a professional historian.  These are just some thoughts or trends I've noticed in the course of reading up on things, and should not be considered rigorous by any means.