more or less true: convenient truths
Let's say you're at Starbucks, ducking cups of acid tossed at you by less attractive folk, and desperately trying to make points with the other beautiful people. You need something to say about the issues dear to their heart, but you want something that sounds halfway original. That means you have to come up with more than the usual pep rally sentiments expressed at most televised award shows (You know _ "America's most beautiful people cry for rain forest" or "Brad Pitt wants oil exes executed" - the kind of thoughtless celebrity drivel every one is sick of.). You might even want something a little outrageous, but well expressed enough to get respect. What do you do?first - fall from nature; eventually - the environment!
Well first the environment is a pretty safe topic, as long as you've got the right ideas on the matter. That means something along the lines of "nature is good" and even "man is probably bad" - I love the way environmentalists have reinvented original sin along with it's concomitant guilt trips. It might also means that you'll have to come up with some fresh material, or at least some stuff that hasn't been heard in a little while. That's where good ole Aldous Huxley comes in handy.
a heart on your sleeve is back in fashion (just as long as it's not yours) with brave old talk
Huxley was the English writer who penned Brave New World. That's the novel where drugs were used to keep people happy and prevent them from becoming discontent enough to make trouble. So Huxley saw science as a clear threat to "progress" - progress meaning 'business as usual'; fighting and bickering for pure drama (issues are a smoke screen, they merely let people knowing whom they're against by being able to recognize who disagrees with them!). Huxley himself was pretty fond of drugs. In fact he died on acid! That shouldn't detract from his ideas, nor those ideas usefulness in ingratiating yourself with the in crowd. So here now is a lecture by Huxley, from 1962, on The Politics of Environmentalism! Hope this comes in handy:
a trick up your sleeve: how nice it is to know things
There now, wasn't that a treat? The best part is that it gives you the chance to kill 2 birds with one stone: you discuss important issues, and come off looking smart on the right issues! That's not even including the side benefit of the delicious Starbucks coffee! You'll seem like hot shit on a silver platter as you natter on about politics and birth control to your spell bound audience of local celebrities, while clattering away on your Mac and drinking java! Oh, the humanity!
If you really want to come off smart then just remind your interlocutors that Huxley wasn't the guy who wrote 1984 - that was George Orwell. You might also want to carry a small container of cream to your Starbucks visits. Cream is a base, so will help neutralize any acid tossed at you by jealous bystanders! If you're coming off as both smart & sexy the acid is gonna be flying at you from every direction - believe me, I know! There's no end of good to science!
Now if you really want something to blow your minds then watch this. It's about a voyage of discovery, and almost politics free!
ring of fire: an Indonesian Odyssey
Vezi mai multe din Documentare, Science & Tech pe 220.ro
Vezi mai multe din Documentare, Science & Tech pe 220.ro
Vezi mai multe din Documentare, Science & Tech pe 220.ro
Vezi mai multe din Documentare, Science & Tech pe 220.ro
