The universe of the video game or action-adventure movie is undeniably exciting to visit. But think for a moment and it's obvious: such a set-up in the real world wouldn't be able to sustain most of the things that most of us cherish the most — home, family, health, peace, learning, freedom, and so forth. If mayhem were an everyday affair how could anybody save and invest? Who would grow food only to see it seized or squandered? Where would water come from, much less electricity and microprocessors? Who would teach the children, or care for the aged?

Yeah, a society of sheep sounds pretty dull. Protection against predators is often expensive. It's not as much fun to sit in rows and columns as it is to run wild, empty the cookie jar, and set fires. But if you want to sustain a thoughtful, prosperous, civilized way of life for more than a generation ...

(see also BigSecretOfProsperity (14 Mar 2004), ... )

TopicSociety - 2004-03-23

(correlates: Comments on SingleDigitRun, HowToSucceed, HowDoYouDo, ...)