Blog/2024-10-23/Some Say The World Will End In Fire
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Robert Frost
A common fear many people have is the end of the world. I think most people agree with Robert Frost in that destruction will be through some fiery work of passion, wrought in action, and caused by someone reaching far beyond what they could grasp. Almost all of our science-fiction these days involves the Me Am Play Gods form that involves some lunatic reaching into God's Playbook for What Man Should Not Have.
Fiction is sort of constrained in this manner because it must introduce someone, something must happen, and then some resolution must or must not occur. There are far fewer works threatening what I think is the other kind of death: the one that ends in Ice. Even movies like Don't Look Up involve active actions towards destruction, and making a conscious choice that they desire what's on the approaching asteroid.
ourania, tit brained retard @ouranometrian2 You know who I don't get, the atheists who are okay with dying.
At least people who believe in an afterlife are looking forward to a different existence after this one.
But the people who believe existence ceases and are okay with that are weird.
Oct 16, 2024[1]
Roshan George @arjie Replying to @ouranometrian2
It isn't that I'm okay with existence ceasing (there's too much detail in the world to stop experiencing) but that I think civilizational turnover requires individual destruction. And I would rather not risk Eternity in Amber.
Oct 22, 2024[2]
The quintessential End in Ice book is The End of Eternity. I won't spoil it for you, but it tells the tale of a society that chooses the path of conservation at some point - protecting itself and its people.
In general, people see the opposite of Preservation as Ruin or Destruction, but the true opposite is Rejuvenation. More like Shiva, and less like a black hole. Rejuvenation is necessary, and replacing individual elements is how the whole is rejuvenated.
And therefore it's not that I don't think death is bad and not that I think it would be nice if individuals didn't have to die. It's just that I think it's important that humanity grows through rejuvenation. The alternative seems terrifying. So long as returns to capital accrete, it seems like people get more risk averse, and more desirous of freezing the world. And that's not something I want to happen.
Some say the world will end in fire. I say, in ice.
References[edit]
- ↑ ourania, tit brained retard [@ouranometrian2] (Oct 16, 2024). "You know who I don't get, the atheists who are okay with dying. At least people who believe in an afterlife are looking forward to a different existence after this one. But the people who believe existence ceases and are okay with that are weird" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ Roshan George [@arjie] (Oct 22, 2024). "It isn't that I'm okay with existence ceasing (there's too much detail in the world to stop experiencing) but that I think civilizational turnover requires individual destruction. And I would rather not risk Eternity in Amber" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
