{"id":25969,"date":"2025-10-11T17:22:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T00:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/?p=25969"},"modified":"2025-10-13T15:47:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T22:47:51","slug":"and-how-this-is-all-about-reality-and-the-future-of-humanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2025\/10\/11\/and-how-this-is-all-about-reality-and-the-future-of-humanity\/","title":{"rendered":"And How This Is All About Reality, and the Future of Humanity"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Quotes from E.O. Wilson and Brian Cox;<\/li>\n<li>Comments about existential threats, base human nature, MAGA, and woke;<\/li>\n<li>More examples, like yesterday&#8217;s;<\/li>\n<li>A report from Nicholas Kristof, who lives in Portland;<\/li>\n<li>How Trump isn&#8217;t responding to crises, he&#8217;s constructing them;<\/li>\n<li>Final thoughts about how MAGA isn&#8217;t concerned about law and order, they just use &#8220;law and order&#8221; to expel people they don&#8217;t like, in service of tribalistic goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div align=\"center\">&#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/div>\n<p>Let us begin today by recalling this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/quotes\/9770741-the-real-problem-of-humanity-is-the-following-we-have\">famous quote by E.O. Wilson<\/a> (which I mentioned back in June):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The real problem of humanity is the following: We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology. And it is terrifically dangerous, and it is now approaching a point of crisis overall.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Next, this quote by English physicist <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Brian_Cox_(physicist)\">Brian Cox<\/a>, a sort of heir to Carl Sagan (and who was once in a rock band), which popped up on my Facebook feed today.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/briancoxfb11oct25.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/briancoxfb11oct25.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>This sentiment echoes a recurrent theme of mine on this blog: there really are existential threats in the world, which many people deny or don&#8217;t understand, and if humanity is unable to avoid all of them, it may not last long as a species, especially in cosmic terms. Another few hundred years at best? An eyeblink in the history of the universe. And that, in turn, would explain the &#8220;Great Silence,&#8221; aka Fermi&#8217;s Paradox, the observation that, despite the relative likelihood of other species evolving on other planets and becoming intelligent and developing high technology, we haven&#8217;t detected any of them. Where are they? Maybe they couldn&#8217;t overcome their childhood psychologies to develop a means of sustaining themselves as species, rather than as groups of warring tribes.<\/p>\n<p>Spelling this out. A deeper recurring theme on this blog is the distinction between base human nature, which resides within all of us, and a more cosmopolitan perspective, the way some people learn to think past that base nature and think more broadly, both to abandon myths and learn about the universe as it is, and to understand that different kinds of people exist and there is more to humanity than one&#8217;s own tribe.<\/p>\n<p>Spelling this out. MAGA is all about base human nature, and prioritizing one&#8217;s own tribe (white heterosexual Christians, more or less). The opposite is what they call &#8220;woke,&#8221; their notion that recognizing the legitimacy of other kinds of people is somehow weak, somehow a betrayal of the tribe. While those of us who have grown up, so to speak, and understand culture and reality beyond one&#8217;s own immediate circumstances, look at the MAGA folks as, not only as white supremacist racists who aren&#8217;t very bright, but also as rather embarrassing atavisms. Failures of a society to educate its population.<\/p>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>With those thoughts in mind, another round of evidence of humanity&#8217;s, or at least Americans&#8217;, failure to have grown up.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternet.org\/media-library\/u-s-president-donald-trump-attends-a-ceremony-marking-the-24th-anniversary-of-the-september-11-2001-attacks-on-the-united-sta.jpg?id=61743092&amp;width=1245&amp;height=700&amp;quality=50&amp;coordinates=0%2C250%2C0%2C250\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>AlterNet, Adam Lynch, 11 Oct 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alternet.org\/trumps-hypocrisy\/\">&#8216;He\u2019ll have autism by Sunday&#8217;: Trump busted for medical &#8216;hypocrisy&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hypocrisy (Trump just got his own COVID booster) and ignorance (he seems to think vaccines will cause autism within the week).<\/p>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p>JMG Items.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2025\/10\/cdc-axes-entire-offices-in-friday-night-massacre\/\">CDC Axes Entire Offices In \u201cFriday Night Massacre\u201d<\/a> &#8212; Simpletons destroying what they don&#8217;t understand.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2025\/10\/trump-announces-1000-reduction-in-drug-prices\/\">Trump Announces \u201c1000%\u201d Reduction In Drug Prices<\/a> &#8212; Rank ignorance. Apparently no one has explained how this is nonsense.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2025\/10\/senate-republicans-introduce-bill-to-rename-street-in-front-of-white-house-as-charlie-kirk-patriot-way\/\">Senate Republicans Introduce Bill To Rename Street In Front Of White House As The \u201cCharlie Kirk Patriot Way\u201d<\/a> &#8212; Tribalistic nonsense. Do they really endorse what Charlie Kirk espoused? If so they&#8217;re betraying the Constitution.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2025\/10\/trump-every-time-i-see-portland-its-burning-down\/\">Trump: \u201cEvery Time I See Portland, It\u2019s Burning Down\u201d<\/a> &#8212; Willful ignorance and lying. Or&#8230; simple stupidity. He doesn&#8217;t understand that what he sees on Fox News weren&#8217;t videos of Portland. (And apparently he has no sources of information other than Fox News? What about all the daily press briefings that presidents usually get but which Trump has been ignoring, for years? We see the result.)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2025\/10\/trump-lies-chicago-had-over-4000-people-murdered\/\">Trump Lies: Chicago Had \u201cOver 4000 People Murdered\u201d<\/a> &#8212; Lying, and tribalistic fear-mongering. Joe notes: &#8220;Actually, 331 people have been murdered in the city, compared to 460 at this time last year.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2025\/10\/maga-host-godless-dems-are-inherently-violent\/\">MAGA Host: \u201cGodless\u201d Dems Are Inherently Violent<\/a> &#8212; Lying, considering actual statistics. There&#8217;s an interesting religious theme here too, the presumption that without (Christian) religion, people would have nothing to &#8220;ground&#8221; them and turn to violence. Belied by all the studies of religious and non-religious behavior; nonsense, basically superstition.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>From a NY Times essayist who lives in Portland.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/10\/11\/multimedia\/11kristof-czhj\/11kristof-czhj-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>NY Times, Nicholas Kristof<\/strong>, 11 Oct 2025: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/11\/opinion\/portland-trump-troops.html\">Leave Us Alone<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cPortland is burning to the ground,\u201d President Trump warns, and he has helpfully explained that it is a \u201cwar-ravaged\u201d hellscape where even the mayor and governor are \u201cpetrified for their lives.\u201d Trump purports to be trying to rescue us Oregonians by dispatching National Guard troops to use \u201cfull force if necessary\u201d against the \u201cenemy from within.\u201d We asked an intrepid photographer, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/riandundon.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rian Dundon,<\/a> to brave the flames and firefights to capture the mood in this war zone. Here are scenes he captured in what Trump called a \u201cburning hell hole\u201d&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Followed by several lovely photos.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>So what explains the gulf between Trump\u2019s rhetoric and the reality? Why did a Trump-appointed U.S. District Court judge, Karin Immergut, pause the deployment of troops to Portland and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.portland.gov\/federal\/documents\/10-4-2025-state-city-v-trump-temporary-restraining-order-granted\/download\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">conclude<\/a>, \u201cThe president\u2019s determination was simply untethered to the facts\u201d?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">Oregon officials have <a class=\"css-yywogo\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26159474-stateandcityofportland\/?q=Fox&amp;mode=document#document\/p14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">argued<\/a>, in that court case and publicly, that Trump appeared to have been <a class=\"css-yywogo\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/live\/2025\/sep\/05\/donald-trump-pentagon-department-of-war-immigration-tariffs-us-politics-live-news-updates?page=with%3Ablock-68bb62758f085f50533e8ac1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">misled<\/a> by Fox News. \u201cPortland is unbelievable, what\u2019s going on,\u201d Trump <a class=\"css-yywogo\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_dTSbtfXwDg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told<\/a> reporters on Sept. 5, recounting scenes of chaos and destruction. \u201cThat was not on my list, Portland, but when I watched television last night, this has been going on.\u201d On the previous evening, Fox News had aired a segment portraying Portland as out of control and included video from actual riots in 2020 in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Misled by Fox News! Imagine!<\/p>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p>And this, about Trump&#8217;s general approach to&#8230; &#8220;peace.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/10\/11\/multimedia\/11Houser-gjmc\/11Houser-gjmc-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>NY Times, guest essay by Jason P. House, 11 Oct 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/11\/opinion\/ice-trump-safety-crisis.html\">This Isn\u2019t Crisis Response, It\u2019s Crisis Construction<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Nearly nine months into President Trump\u2019s second term, immigration enforcement has become the administration\u2019s primary political weapon \u2014 not to solve problems, but to manufacture fear, provoke outrage and stage an illusion of control. This isn\u2019t a crisis response. It\u2019s crisis construction.<\/p>\n<p>The president\u2019s team vowed to target gang members, murderers and rapists, but we\u2019re not just rounding up violent offenders. We\u2019re arresting working parents, students, asylum seekers and even U.S. citizens, to create made-for-TV crackdowns.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Details. Concluding:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When law enforcement is forced into partisan roles, it stops serving the public. And when the public loses trust in law enforcement, the whole system begins to fail. The blueprint is: Create chaos. Blame the chaos. Then offer yourself as the cure.<\/p>\n<p>This plan is already underway. The question now is if the rest of us will keep pretending this is law and order.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\\<\/p>\n<p>My take: these immigration crackdowns aren&#8217;t about law and order at all. They&#8217;re about MAGA, the tribal white-supremacists, doing everything they can to expel non-whites from their neighborhoods, and their nation. One could ask, why is the technical matter about whether they&#8217;re &#8216;legal&#8217; or &#8216;illegal&#8217; immigrants so important? To the extent that immigrants, even the illegal ones, are living calmly in America, working jobs and serving their communities, as the vast majority of them are, there&#8217;s no difference at all. MAGA is far from punctilious about its political leaders behaving legally or illegally. Matters of principle and legality are of no interest to tribalists; they&#8217;re just excuses to pursue tribalistic goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Quotes from E.O. Wilson and Brian Cox; Comments about existential threats, base human nature, MAGA, and woke; More examples, like yesterday&#8217;s; A report from Nicholas Kristof, who lives in Portland; How Trump isn&#8217;t responding to crises, he&#8217;s constructing them; Final &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2025\/10\/11\/and-how-this-is-all-about-reality-and-the-future-of-humanity\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,96,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservative-resistance","category-human-nature","category-human-progress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25969"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25987,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25969\/revisions\/25987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}