The End of Eternity
Here is a slightly more philosophical question. I know this is a primarily political community but please do bear with me if you like. What would happen if we could arbitrarily and without hindrances travel back and forth in time, to whichever "point" in time we wanted, and change past and future events in a way that would prevent the occurrence of all sorts of evils, harms, and unfortunate circumstances? And what if we could calculate precisely which possible scenario and which combination of circumstances is the most favourable, and then make it happen flawlessly without a glitch? Wouldn't that bring universal prosperity to all humankind, happiness, lack of diseases, lack of poverty, jealousy, and even erase all unfortunate incidents? Sounds like the perfect utopia, doesn't it?
...Or does it? Really? Let's look at it from the other side. How would this unimpeded prosperity reflect on mankind as a society? Wouldn't our desire to constantly seek for new ways of dealing with difficult circumstances fade out and become rudimentary? Wouldn't we become spoiled brats and begin to take eternal happiness for granted? And the total lack of evil? Wouldn't we quit looking for further development, wouldn't we close into ourselves, and stop dreaming, because we've decided that we have achieved everything that could be achieved; wouldn't we stop looking up to the stars and asking ourselves with genuine curiosity, "but what is out there, beyond"?
When you are climbing a steep slope and overcoming all sorts of obstacles, your muscles and lungs become stronger. Your body and spirit gets tougher. You get used to new challenges and nothing can scare you. Even if your feet are covered in bruises and cuts, and your toes are hurting from the constant tripping in sharp stones, you would eventually reach the summit - stronger and more confident than ever. And there, what awaits you is a stunning view: a whole new horizon opens in front of you, and beyond it - more and more new peaks that you crave to conquer. And so you embark on the next journey. And the next. Because that is how we are made - we simply cannot stay put in one place for too long...
And so, even if Fate, or Destiny, or Chance, or God, or however you understand it, throws even the deadliest rival on your way, an intruder from outside, with equal or bigger powers than yours, someone who wants to stomp over you on their way to whatever goals they are pursuing... you would be already prepared to withstand this challenge and defend yourself.
But let's get back to the previously described utopia. The presumably "perfect" society. If you are a complacent, but feeble ignoramus, unaware of the realities out there, and a useless parasite on the fabric of Space-Time who is so self-assured of their invincibility and untouchableness (sic?)... wouldn't that invader run over you with a single leap on your smug face, and wipe you out of history forever?
And, all that said, here is another question. Who has the right to decide which of the multiple possible "histories" is the most "just" one, which scenario is the most "acceptable" and should be carried out at the expense of all the rest? Who has selected them to make those decisions, and what are the criteria for that choice? Maybe saving the maximum number of human lives and achieving the maximum amount of happiness-es is the ultimate factor when meddling into mankind's destinies? But then...what should we say to all those people who would have to be sacrificed in the name of the greater good, and the "bigger happiness" as a whole? Don't they matter too? Is the Whole more important than the Individual? But without the Individual, what would the Whole really look like?
I know this sounds like an endless ramble, too irrelevant to the political issues that we usually discuss here. But I couldn't help sharing it. These questions arise while reading The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov. I read it in one breath, one afternoon a few days ago. And the questions still remain. But among them, maybe the most important one:
How capable is the love for one single person of turning your whole world upside down, breaking your deeply inbred convictions to pieces, changing everything you've ever believed, and turning things to the 180 and to the inside, where you look into yourself and start asking, "is this me, and is this the society I want to live in"? And how prepared you would be to destroy the whole world, and possibly a near infinite number of worlds just like yours, just because you have come to believe that somewhere out there, beyond the visible and unreachable distant Future, there in the Hidden Centuries when you would have been gone for aeons, there lies the key to the survival of the entire Humankind. But would you be ready to trust this love completely and unreservedly, and entrust your destiny and that of billions upon billions of other Worlds and Times along with their inhabitants? And thus - till the end of Eternity?
Without further useless ado, I strongly recommend this book. I hope you would be able to find your answers.
...Or does it? Really? Let's look at it from the other side. How would this unimpeded prosperity reflect on mankind as a society? Wouldn't our desire to constantly seek for new ways of dealing with difficult circumstances fade out and become rudimentary? Wouldn't we become spoiled brats and begin to take eternal happiness for granted? And the total lack of evil? Wouldn't we quit looking for further development, wouldn't we close into ourselves, and stop dreaming, because we've decided that we have achieved everything that could be achieved; wouldn't we stop looking up to the stars and asking ourselves with genuine curiosity, "but what is out there, beyond"?
When you are climbing a steep slope and overcoming all sorts of obstacles, your muscles and lungs become stronger. Your body and spirit gets tougher. You get used to new challenges and nothing can scare you. Even if your feet are covered in bruises and cuts, and your toes are hurting from the constant tripping in sharp stones, you would eventually reach the summit - stronger and more confident than ever. And there, what awaits you is a stunning view: a whole new horizon opens in front of you, and beyond it - more and more new peaks that you crave to conquer. And so you embark on the next journey. And the next. Because that is how we are made - we simply cannot stay put in one place for too long...
And so, even if Fate, or Destiny, or Chance, or God, or however you understand it, throws even the deadliest rival on your way, an intruder from outside, with equal or bigger powers than yours, someone who wants to stomp over you on their way to whatever goals they are pursuing... you would be already prepared to withstand this challenge and defend yourself.
But let's get back to the previously described utopia. The presumably "perfect" society. If you are a complacent, but feeble ignoramus, unaware of the realities out there, and a useless parasite on the fabric of Space-Time who is so self-assured of their invincibility and untouchableness (sic?)... wouldn't that invader run over you with a single leap on your smug face, and wipe you out of history forever?
And, all that said, here is another question. Who has the right to decide which of the multiple possible "histories" is the most "just" one, which scenario is the most "acceptable" and should be carried out at the expense of all the rest? Who has selected them to make those decisions, and what are the criteria for that choice? Maybe saving the maximum number of human lives and achieving the maximum amount of happiness-es is the ultimate factor when meddling into mankind's destinies? But then...what should we say to all those people who would have to be sacrificed in the name of the greater good, and the "bigger happiness" as a whole? Don't they matter too? Is the Whole more important than the Individual? But without the Individual, what would the Whole really look like?
I know this sounds like an endless ramble, too irrelevant to the political issues that we usually discuss here. But I couldn't help sharing it. These questions arise while reading The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov. I read it in one breath, one afternoon a few days ago. And the questions still remain. But among them, maybe the most important one:
How capable is the love for one single person of turning your whole world upside down, breaking your deeply inbred convictions to pieces, changing everything you've ever believed, and turning things to the 180 and to the inside, where you look into yourself and start asking, "is this me, and is this the society I want to live in"? And how prepared you would be to destroy the whole world, and possibly a near infinite number of worlds just like yours, just because you have come to believe that somewhere out there, beyond the visible and unreachable distant Future, there in the Hidden Centuries when you would have been gone for aeons, there lies the key to the survival of the entire Humankind. But would you be ready to trust this love completely and unreservedly, and entrust your destiny and that of billions upon billions of other Worlds and Times along with their inhabitants? And thus - till the end of Eternity?
Without further useless ado, I strongly recommend this book. I hope you would be able to find your answers.