Journeys

Always gotta hand it to Raul over at "The Automatic Earth" for giving me grist for this particular mill.  I can't much give him as much money as I would like to.  The not-quite-shabby lifestyle that I have settled upon disallows much in the way of non-requisite costs, so I will need to give him dribs and drabs as I can and mostly rely on his kindness and understanding to allow me to continue reading.

Today's lead, oddly enough, led back to near where I was raised, the Fishlake National Forest.   Where what some scientists have claimed to be the largest and oldest life form on the planet is dying.

Now, I don't disagree with the theory that the Pando is not doing well, not one bit.  What I do disagree with is the breathless and somewhat histrionic reportage.  Let's spend a moment to unpack these statements.

'Largest living thing' on Earth is dying after decades of human interference, scientists say'

'Thought to be thousands of years old, cloned forest in Utah is ‘collapsing on our watch’

So, what may be the oldest thing in the world (estimate is at 80,000 Years) is dying.  Think hard about that.  Is it really that hard to comprehend?  Maybe the reason that the Pando is doing badly is that clones go bad.  Ask any biologist worth his salt about the viability of multi-generational passages of a clone and you will get an earful.

The longest journeys are the ones where one fears the destination.

The author claims that mankind is killing the Pando (us unschooled types just call them "Quakies").  He writes as though the change in the environment wrought by humankind is the sole reason for the decline.   While this might be true, I feel that the emotions of the report tend to show an attitude toward death that is at the basis of the issue.

Everyone loves old things that still work.  a good example of this nauseating misdirection is the Madison Avenue types and the medical profession both of which dote on 100 year olds still being fit and active.  The unnoticed implication is that being old is just dandy if you are of the 1% or so that have the good fortune to inherit a killer set of genes and a degree of wealth to leverage those genes.

But everyone dies, and there is nothing that folks like better than thinking that if, just if, they play the game right and follow the magic spells, they will live longer than what is their due.  The Pando and any individual that dies out cause folks to freak out because it reminds them of mortality and that is not a story that anyone likes hearing.

Look, it isn't bad.  Everyone dies.  Pando has had a good run.  But deer coming in and eating yummy shoots and droughts happening are a part of nature too.

Look, this society of ours loves to ignore the idea of change when it suits them.  But to think that change only happens for the good is the mark of immaturity.  Which, come to think of it, is the best description of our current mass culture.