The Clusterfuck Nation Chronicle

Commentary on the Flux of Events

Apropos of the diminishing returns of technology, a friend writes:

"The former Soviet Union had more educated technocrats than any other nation. Russia is now an environmental devastation basket-case. Science is no longer viewed with awe and cargo cult reverence in the former USSR. Superstition is now the big thing. Arguably, Russia would have been better off under Rasputin than Lenin. Under Rasputin not much would have changed, except Rasputin's sex life -- such a small price to pay for a lack of 'progress.' Enlightenment reductionism yielded technology. Technology is like a heroin fix: no pain for a while. We're entering the techno-hangover phase.

Reflect:

Artificial fertilizer yields --> population explosion and nitrate pollution

Nuclear energy yield --> Yucca Mountain Doomsday Machine and Chernobyls

Refrigeration yields --> Ozone layer collapse

Car dependence yields --> Collapse of Civic infrastructure

Chemistry yields --> pesticide induced endocrine havoc

Bio-tinkering yields--> Frankenvirus

Fossil fuels yield --> Global Warming

Cable TV yields --> Fat-assed, brain-dead social entropy

Computers yield --> currency and derivitives speculation-induced depression

Factory Animal Farming --> new and improved influenzas, mad cow disease