An Excellent Idea
I'm halfway through a book called 'A Short History of Everything' by Bill Bryson, its just a great read, I'll lend it to you when i'm done. Its about everything. Well, as much of Everything as you can fit into four hundred and fifty two pages. Mostly its about people: the scientists, politicians, poets, artists, whatever, that changed the course of our everything. Now I've read similar books, and whenever I read books about the people that shaped the world i live in, two things strike me:
1) Being really fucking clever seemed alot more attractive back then.
2) I want to start a club.
Being really clever back then was kind of like what being a rock star is like today. Kids grew up with astronomers and philosophers as their hero's, these where the people that where defining the world they lived in. When men stood up and said the world was round, it shook every foundation ever known. To be blunt, being clever used to be respected, but now I think its frowned upon. The search for knowledge is, I think, a very altruistic endeavour that normally leads to the sharing of its insights and rewards. An ideology opposite to capitalism. An ideology opposite to the endless stream of branding and marketing we're lobotomised with every second of the day. Its fucking wrong, there are geniuses out there that could be curing cancer, but from day one they're told what shoes to wear and what high paying job to get, cos no one else is going to look out for you buddy. Genetic research for Unicef is okay, but its not cool, not as cool as trading stocks on your Nokia 6230i as you cruise through the Seychelles in your Merc SLK. I feel like I'm rambling now, but I can't shake the feeling that if I read a future version of 'A Short History of Everything' one hundred years from now, it'll be the wrong discoveries for the wrong reasons.
And two, I want to start a club. Almost all the folks I read about met up at some or other club, sharing their mutual passion for whatever. I just think it would add so much to life if there was a reason to interact with other people that didn't involve money, a television, or alchohol. I'm not sure exactly what club I'd start, I'm taking suggestions, and who knows, maybe it'll get a mention in Bills next book..
I think its An Excellent Idea.
1) Being really fucking clever seemed alot more attractive back then.
2) I want to start a club.
Being really clever back then was kind of like what being a rock star is like today. Kids grew up with astronomers and philosophers as their hero's, these where the people that where defining the world they lived in. When men stood up and said the world was round, it shook every foundation ever known. To be blunt, being clever used to be respected, but now I think its frowned upon. The search for knowledge is, I think, a very altruistic endeavour that normally leads to the sharing of its insights and rewards. An ideology opposite to capitalism. An ideology opposite to the endless stream of branding and marketing we're lobotomised with every second of the day. Its fucking wrong, there are geniuses out there that could be curing cancer, but from day one they're told what shoes to wear and what high paying job to get, cos no one else is going to look out for you buddy. Genetic research for Unicef is okay, but its not cool, not as cool as trading stocks on your Nokia 6230i as you cruise through the Seychelles in your Merc SLK. I feel like I'm rambling now, but I can't shake the feeling that if I read a future version of 'A Short History of Everything' one hundred years from now, it'll be the wrong discoveries for the wrong reasons.
And two, I want to start a club. Almost all the folks I read about met up at some or other club, sharing their mutual passion for whatever. I just think it would add so much to life if there was a reason to interact with other people that didn't involve money, a television, or alchohol. I'm not sure exactly what club I'd start, I'm taking suggestions, and who knows, maybe it'll get a mention in Bills next book..
I think its An Excellent Idea.
posted by OnRee | 4:53 AM
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