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Chris La Tray's avatar

My goodness, those photos. I love the changing light too. I am up early enough every day to see it arrive, change the view both east and west, in all kinds of weather. I'm generally there for the sunset too, and it occurs to me for all my talk of it, I need to do a better job of making sure I DO see both events, every day. They are glorious.

I never thought of it before but you are right: "at some point the desire to damage the commons for profit or other kind of personal gain—or just because you feel like doing something and don’t want to be restricted—at some point requires science denial." Anyone with any respect for science and "resources" can't possibly believe we are dealing with a planet that offers infinite abundance. One can argue that our ancestors didn't understand that so well, but today? Or even over the last century or so? It is a callousness and disregard for the future that I simply can't get my head around.

I will say I enjoy taking my morning coffee with your thoughts, my dear friend.

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Josh Pillay's avatar

Stunning piece as always! Your discussion on "individual vs society" made me think about Iris Murdoch's work, which I read recently. In particular your words about seeking individual gain at the cost of the broader environment made me think of this passage from her book:

"What we have never had, of course, is a satisfactory Liberal theory of personality, a theory of man as free and separate and related to a rich and complicated world from which, as a moral being, he has much to learn. We have bought the Liberal theory as it stands, because we have wished to encourage people to think of themselves as free, at the cost of surrendering the background."

I too feel that at some point the notion of freedom will find itself encapsulated in a messy web of contradiction between objective/scientific reality and the individual machine of self-desire. I think we need a globally unified vocabulary to capture that contradiction or paradox that there is no 'real freedom' without a broader appreciation of the complex causal chains our actions have on the world.

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