Sociology – Cosmic Reflections

Terrible Drivers, No Enforcement

Since moving to Tucson almost four years ago, my biggest complaint has to do with the terrible drivers and lack of enforcement of traffic laws. Here’s what I’ve noticed.

Speeding

Many drivers exceed the posted speed limit by +10 or +15 mph whenever they are not stuck in traffic; exceeding the speed limit by +20 mph is not uncommon.
Many of the drivers who exceed the speed limit constantly change lanes to get ahead; I often catch up to them at the next red light and even if not, how much time are they really saving while putting themselves and everyone around them in greater danger?
I have never seen one of these speeders and lane weavers pulled over by law enforcement.

Other Forms of Aggressive Driving

I’ve frequently experienced

A driver following too close behind a vehicle that is going the speed limit or slightly over, apparently in an effort to bully the law-abiding driver into either going faster or moving over to another lane (if that is possible) to let them through
A driver passing you in a no-passing zone
A driver cutting in front of you too soon after passing so that you have to brake to maintain a safe following distance
At night, lifted trucks and other large personal vehicles with blinding headlights; sometimes their “fog lights” are even brighter than their headlights.
Being honked at for not turning right on red soon enough to suit the driver behind you; sometimes this even occurs with left turns
Again, no enforcement.

Other Unsafe Driving Behaviors

Vehicles accelerating through an intersection while the traffic light is turning red; sometimes they do this after the light has turned red
Drivers running stop signs or only slowing down a little and not stopping before entering the intersection
Drivers not using their turn signals when switching lanes or making a right or left turn
Drivers driving without headlights during twilight and after dark
Drivers driving vehicles with a burned-out headlight; misaligned headlights are common, too
Again, no enforcement

City Life Makes People Crazy?

As a person who has lived most of my life in much smaller towns, I’ve noticed the following here:

A lack of driver courtesy; apparently city life brings out the worst in people when they get behind the wheel
For me, city life has taken all of the enjoyment out of driving.
The more dangerous the traffic conditions (due to traffic volume and/or a complex decision-making environment), the more aggressive drivers often become. Due to the elevated risk of a collision, drivers need to be more cautious in these situations—and many are—but there is often someone (usually a younger male) whose aggressive driving behavior puts themselves and everyone else in danger, including pedestrians and bicyclists (we have a very high pedestrian and bicyclist fatality rate here).
Posted speed limits are about +5 mph too high on many busy arterials with low access control. Most often, the posted speed limit is 40 or 45 mph when it should be 35 mph.

Safety Improvements

I’d like to see the following safety improvements.

At all signalized intersections with dedicated left turn lanes, only allow a left turn on green arrow (these are called protected left-turn lanes). I hate the flashing yellow arrow (turn left with caution) which may or may not be followed by a solid green arrow.
Prohibit right-turn-on-red
Prohibit U-turns at intersections; these are especially dangerous when combined with right-turn-on-red

Left-turn-on-green-arrow-only should be implemented at all signalized intersections with dedicated left turn lanes

U-turns should not be allowed at intersections where right-turn-on-red is allowed

Enforcement Improvements

I’d like to see the following enforcement improvements:

Hire more traffic law enforcement officers
Install red light cameras at signalized intersections
Use AI and other modern technologies to automatically detect traffic law violations and issue citations

I’ll conclude by stating that traffic law enforcement in Tucson, Arizona and the surrounding metro area is so lax that violators know they won’t get caught and that only encourages them to violate traffic laws even more. No wonder our auto insurance rates are so high here!

Tucson Needs Evening and Weekend Classes

Since 2023, I’ve been teaching in-person classical composer music courses in Tucson. I’ve had to do all the work myself (preparation, venue, recruitment, publicity, etc.) because none of the existing continuing education organizations in the Tucson metro area offer evening and weekend classes. Moreover, the primary organization providing continuing education courses in Greater Tucson, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute—University of Arizona (OLLI-UA) adds the additional restriction that their advertised target audience includes no one under the age of 50. Since my music courses are expressly intended for anyone interested in learning more about classical music, high-school age and older, I have had to set about on my own with no organizational support whatsoever. It has not been easy.

Anyone who has attended a symphony or chamber music concert over the last few years will notice that audiences are generally dwindling and the vast majority that do attend these concerts are folks in their 60s, 70s, or older. In my own small but determined way, I am attempting to help reverse these trends by helping folks—especially younger folks—to see that classical music can be as exciting, meaningful, and inspirational as the best of whatever other kinds of music they’ve been listening to—even more so. I am teaching the kind of music classes that I wish someone had taught me when I was a young adult. Since my interest and expertise is in building audiences for classical music, both live performances and recorded music (because, let’s face it, there is a lot of great music that most of us will never have the opportunity to hear in live performance, no matter where we live), I focus mostly on listening enjoyment and the “life and times” of each composer rather than on music theory. Even though my courses are entitled Music for Listeners, I have no doubt that professional and amateur musicians will also enjoy the meticulously-researched “deep dive” into the life and music of each composer while at the same time helping them expand their repertoire.

Attracting younger music listeners to the courses I teach requires choosing a class time that is least likely to conflict with a prospective participant’s work schedule or—in the case of students—class schedule. For the courses I teach, I have generally settled on Saturdays from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.

Trying to reach the people in the Tucson metro area that would most benefit from my music courses has proved exceedingly difficult. So far, almost all of my students have comes from a Meetup group I started (also in 2023) and the Tucson Masterworks Chorale, where I am a member of the tenor section. Ideally, I would like to reach Classical 90.5 listeners (AZPM) and those that attend Tucson Symphony Orchestra concerts, but neither AZPM nor TSO offer public service announcements for non-profit community music events, and the cost of advertising with them is prohibitively expensive for an individual of modest means. I charge $20 per person for each music course I teach, and that covers my cost of renting the venue and little more. I want my courses to be affordable to all. Yes, it is a labor of love, but how to reach those that would most benefit from what I am doing?

I spend about half a year preparing each course that I teach, working on it each and every day (except when I am out of town which happens much less frequently than I would like). Given the enormous amount of time I invest in preparing each course, it would be a shame if I never had the opportunity to further refine and teach these courses again. At the time of this writing, I am currently teaching a course on Gustav Holst with twelve participants, and I have four other courses ready to be taught again at any time: Johannes Brahms, Sergei Prokofiev, Antonín Dvořák, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Here’s a link for an up-to-date list of past, present, and future courses that I will be teaching:

Music for Listeners – Tucson

I am sure there must be others in the Tucson metro area who would like to teach for an organization that offers evening and weekend classes and thus is inclusive of both non-retired as well as retired folks. Right now, this is one of many unmet needs we have here in Southern Arizona.

Artificial Intelligence and Human Stupidity

There is no question that the continuing development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology will help humanity solve some difficult problems, with its ability to see patterns in complex data and arrive at novel solutions that any human mind would easily miss. But there is also no question that AI will be weaponized by those with ill intent to spread misinformation, destroy our privacy, and cleverly manipulate people to do their bidding. And it will enable a lot of us to do even less deep thinking and reflection then we do already.

Furthermore, if a significant fraction of the population won’t trust or believe humans who are experts in their field, why would they trust or believe AI insights guided by those same experts? Opportunists of questionable integrity and moral character always have been able to manipulate and distract the willfully or wantonly ignorant, and AI will make their job that much easier.

If we humans are to survive and thrive, we must address and solve fundamental human problems. I am not at all convinced that AI is going to help with that.

Population

How is AI going to reduce, over several generations, human population from its current 8 billion to a more sustainable 1 billion by lowering the birth rate uniformly world wide? Those of us alive today are currently burning through the Earth’s physical and natural resources at an unprecedented rate and degrading the Earth’s climate and ecology, all because there are about 7 billion too many people alive today.

Warfare

How is AI going to rid the world of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction? How is AI going to transform the world’s armies into agencies that provide humanitarian assistance, keep the peace, and enforce sensible international laws? How is AI going to transform the endless trillions the nations of the world spend on defense and warfare and redirect that vast sum of money to the betterment of humankind?

Fear and Hopelessness

How is AI going to rid the world of firearms and other weapons of self destruction?

Governance

How is AI going to ensure that the wisest, most knowledgeable, thoughtful, adaptable, intelligent, and compassionate people are our chosen leaders?

Pathological Behaviors

Will AI help us to understand why some people are hateful, or narcissistic, or violent, while most of us tend to be loving, altruistic, and peaceful—no matter what life throws at us? Will AI help us to truly and humanely rehabilitate those who begin exhibiting dangerous and antisocial behaviors?

Knowledge and Faith

Will AI help us to find a way for all religious believers to peacefully coexist with nonbelievers?

Or, will AI be just another technological distraction?

Quotable Arthur C. Clarke

Clarke’s Three Laws

When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

The greatest tragedy in mankind’s entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.

I don’t believe in God but I’m very interested in her.

The rash assertion that “God made man in His own image” is ticking like a time bomb at the foundation of many faiths, and as the hierarchy of the universe is disclosed to us, we may have to recognize this chilling truth: if there are any gods whose chief concern is man, they cannot be very important gods.

Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware, the non-existence of Zeus or Thor—but they have few followers now.

I would defend the liberty of consenting adult creationists to practice whatever intellectual perversions they like in the privacy of their own homes; but it is also necessary to protect the young and innocent.

I would like to assure my many Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim friends that I am sincerely happy that the religion which Chance has given you has contributed to your peace of mind (and often, as Western medical science now reluctantly admits, to your physical well-being). Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future.

There is the possibility that humankind can outgrown its infantile tendencies, as I suggested in Childhood’s End. But it is amazing how childishly gullible humans are. There are, for example, so many different religions—each of them claiming to have the truth, each saying that their truths are clearly superior to the truths of others—how can someone possibly take any of them seriously? I mean, that’s insane. Though I sometimes call myself a crypto-Buddhist, Buddhism is not a religion. Of those around at the moment, Islam is the only one that has any appeal to me. But, of course, Islam has been tainted by other influences. The Muslims are behaving like Christians, I’m afraid.

Sometimes I think we’re alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we’re not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.

Perhaps, as some wit remarked, the best proof that there is Intelligent Life in Outer Space is the fact it hasn’t come here. Well, it can’t hide forever—one day we will overhear it.

The fact that we have not yet found the slightest evidence for life—much less intelligence—beyond this Earth does not surprise or disappoint me in the least. Our technology must still be laughably primitive, we may be like jungle savages listening for the throbbing of tom-toms while the ether around them carries more words per second than they could utter in a lifetime.

The moon is the first milestone on the road to the stars.

We are just tenants on this world. We have just been given a new lease, and a warning from the landlord.

Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal.

This is the first age that’s ever paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one.

As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals. The combination is unstable and self-destroying.

Our age is in many ways unique, full of events and phenomena that never occurred before and can never happen again. They distort our thinking, making us believe that what is true now will be true forever, though perhaps on a larger scale.

It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars.

New ideas pass through three periods:

It can’t be done.
It probably can be done, but it’s not worth doing.
I knew it was a good idea all along!

Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.

There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.

The Information Age offers much to mankind, and I would like to think that we will rise to the challenges it presents. But it is vital to remember that information—in the sense of raw data—is not knowledge, that knowledge is not wisdom, and that wisdom is not foresight. But information is the first essential step to all of these.

Communication technologies are necessary, but not sufficient, for us humans to get along with each other. This is why we still have many disputes and conflicts in the world. Technology tools help us to gather and disseminate information, but we also need qualities like tolerance and compassion to achieve greater understanding between peoples and nations. I have great faith in optimism as a guiding principle, if only because it offers us the opportunity of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. So I hope we’ve learnt something from the most barbaric century in history—the 20th. I would like to see us overcome our tribal divisions and begin to think and act as if we were one family. That would be real globalisation. [December 2007]

Blinding Headlights

I’ve lived in Tucson, Arizona for ten months now, and I have to tell you, it is no fun driving here at night. While it is a joy living in a city that for a change isn’t horribly overlit and that takes light pollution seriously (though that is starting to erode), it is often hard to see at night because of the many vehicles on the road with blinding headlights. In recent years, this has become a huge problem throughout the U.S., and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) needs to act quickly and decisively to deal with this dangerous nuisance.

Not only have headlights gotten brighter and bluer (which makes glare much worse), many vehicles have multiple sets of headlights, including “fog lights” that are anything but. High-profile vehicles such as pickup trucks and SUVs are especially bad when it comes to causing blinding glare for smaller, less extravagant vehicles. Jacked-up pickup trucks are the worst, and there are a lot of them here.

When one of these headlight-offensive vehicles is heading towards you, it makes it difficult to see the road ahead. It is especially hard to see pedestrians and bicyclists. Pavement markings are also harder to see because of the glare from the oncoming vehicle, especially when those lines are badly faded and in need of re-painting (as they often are here).

Tucson has far too many busy intersections without a protected left turn, and if you find yourself in a left-turn lane being stared down by a headlight-offensive vehicle in the opposite left-turn lane, the glare blinds you so much that it is difficult to see oncoming vehicles in the through-traffic lanes.

When a headlight-offensive vehicle comes up behind you and, as they often do, practically rides your bumper because driving at or near the speed limit isn’t fast enough for them, you’re hit with their intense glare in all three rear-view mirrors. This makes it harder to see the road ahead, and you have to slow down—which tends to aggravate them more than they already are. If you’re lucky, they can pass you—though sometimes they will illegally cross a double yellow line to do it.

Because of all these intense and unregulated vehicle headlights, I now avoid driving at night whenever possible.

Sure, headlights like these helps the perpetrator see better so they can drive down the road at night exceeding the speed limit (which is seldom enforced here, by the way), but everyone else—drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians—is blinded.

What are the specific problems with modern vehicle headlights that need to be addressed, and what are the solutions?

Problem: The average vehicle’s total headlight lumen output (and individual headlight luminance) has dramatically increased in recent years, causing a corresponding increase in discomfort and disability glare for everyone else.
Solution: Headlights would not have to be so bright if speed limits were lower at night on many city streets and thoroughfares, and if the posted speed limits were actually enforced.
Solution: Implement adaptive driving beam (ADB) technology that uses sensors to detect oncoming traffic and adjusts the projected beam pattern to allow plenty of light for the driver without blinding other motorists. (ADB is widely used in Europe, but is not yet legal in the United States.)

Problem: Light-emitting diode (LED) and High Intensity Discharge (HID) headlights emit more light at the blue end of the visible spectrum than traditional warm-white or yellowish halogen headlights do, and these bluer lights result in significantly greater visual discomfort and impairment for other drivers.
Solution: Limit the amount of blue light that headlights can produce.

Problem: Poor headlight aim leads to dangerous glare for others.
Solution: Require regular headlight aim inspections and adjustments. Anytime a vehicle’s suspension is lifted, require headlight aim to be adjusted downward accordingly.

Here’s a petition you might want to sign:

https://www.change.org/p/u-s-dot-ban-blinding-headlights-and-save-lives

I’d like to close this article by quoting one of the many insightful comments in the Comments section of the New York Times article listed under References below.

Like everything else, it is no longer about the collective good and the laws that protect it. Individualism now rules—individual freedom. Headlights have become a First Amendment issue—an element of free speech.

And they have become part of the conservative anti-government backlash. Laws regulating headlights are seen as government intrusion into personal freedoms. It is seen by many to be like the COVID mask issue. Too many people think personal freedom trumps everything else–even collective health and safety.

And there is a free-market aspect to this. Manufacturers are looking for ways to add features to cars that will make them more attractive to buyers. They know the lights are unsafe, yet they put them on their vehicles.

America has lost all common sense.

Michael
Evanston, IL | June 9, 2021

Mark my words, if we keep heading down this path of excessive individual freedom (read: selfishness) without significant responsibility for the common good (that means everybody, not just your tribe), it will be our undoing. The United States will become a miserable place to live for the majority of us for at least a generation. I’m not hopeful that we can turn this around in time. Too many of us are “asleep at the wheel” and too easily swayed by misinformation and propaganda.

References

Mele, Christopher. “Blinded by Brighter Headlights? It’s Not Your Imagination.” New York Times, June 5, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/05/business/led-hid-headlights-blinding.html.

Eris: Plutoid, Dwarf Planet, or 10th Planet?

Eris was discovered on January 5, 2005 by Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David A. Rabinowitz. Its orbit is more eccentric and more highly inclined than Pluto’s, and it is almost as large as Pluto, having a diameter that is 97.9% that of Pluto. Eris last came to perihelion on July 23, 1699 when it was in the constellation Virgo shining at a magnitude of 14.8, well beyond the reach of any telescopes existing at the time.

Pluto, Eris, and Satellites – Sizes and Orbital Distances to Scale

Eris has an orbit that is so eccentric (e = 0.44) that it actually spends some time each orbit closer to the Sun than Pluto is during the outer reaches of its orbit. Pluto’s aphelion distance is 49.31 AU, and Eris will be closer to the Sun than that for 99 years, from 2208 to 2307.

Eris is closer to the Sun than Pluto’s average distance of 40.70 AU for 43 years, between 2236 and 2279. Eris again reaches perihelion in 2257, when it will be 38.09 AU from the Sun.

Eris has an orbit that is tilted at nearly a 45° angle with respect to the ecliptic. This takes it through some interesting constellations during its 559-year orbital period. Here is its upcoming travel itinerary.

Upcoming Travel Plans for Eris (not subject to change¹)

2022   Cetus
2036   Pisces
2059   Cetus
2064   Aries
2126   Perseus
2174   Camelopardalis
2197   Lynx
2208   Ursa Major
2237   Canes Venatici
2245   Coma Berenices
2256   Virgo
2274   Libra
2281   Hydra
2285   Centaurus
2286   Lupus
2298   Norma
2308   Ara
2320   Pavo
2357   Indus
2367   Tucana
2376   Grus
2399   Phoenix
2434   Sculptor
2487   Cetus

¹ Unless the constellation boundaries are redrawn due to precession or other considerations

In Greek & Roman mythology, Eris is the goddess of strife and discord. 500 years hence, in 2522, Eris will once again be in Cetus, as it is today. But where will we be? What kind of life will our great-great-great-great great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great great-great grandchildren have in 2522? Here are some of my hopes for 2522.

Humanism will have replaced religion.
There will be no poverty in the world.
Everyone will have adequate health care, and it will be free.
Zero population growth will have been achieved by the only humane way possible: having fewer children.
There will be no more wars, no weapons of mass destruction.
There will be no need for guns, and no one will have them.
Violence will not be tolerated, nor will society glorify it or dwell on it in any way.
Individuals who “cross the line” and violate others through the use of physical violence will be psychologically re-engineered so they will live productive and fulfilling lives without being a threat to others. This neutralization of violent tendencies must be accomplished humanely and in a way that does not violate the individual’s essential humanity.
The Earth will be treated as the oasis it is.
Money will no longer exist, nor will it be needed.

Though no one alive today is likely to ever see any of these things, that in no way excuses us from working substantially towards these goals. To do anything less is a dereliction of moral duty.

Interest Connect

Make a list of your interests, either mentally or on paper. Are you curious about who else living in your area shares an interest with you? Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a safe online platform that would provide you with email addresses of others in your area who have a mutual interest so that you could exchange private emails? This might lead to a productive email exchange, meeting in person, forming an advocacy group, or working on a special project together. Two people or several. Your choice. And no advertising or marketing! I don’t think anything like this exists yet. Here’s my vision.

The name of the online platform will be Interest Connect.

A management organization (an independent non-profit entity or benefit corporation) will create and manage Interest Connect.

Each member will have a profile on the service that contains only the following basic information, viewable in its entirety only by the member and the management organization.

Your name (real name, no aliases)
Your email address
Your geographic region
Your interests

The list of geographic regions will be created and maintained by the management organization. The list will include the names of metro areas, subregions of metro areas, cities, towns, counties, and so on. Members can always ask for a new geographic region to be added. A member can only belong to one geographic region and will have no visibility into the other regions. There could, however, be visibility into levels of the same geographic region. For example: NW Tucson, Tucson, Pima County. Each member must provide proof of residency in their chosen geographic region by sharing their residential address with the management organization. That address will be independently verified, kept confidential, and will never be made public.

The management organization approves interest types and adds them to the list that members can select to add to their profile. There will be a large number of interests to choose from, and members can always ask for new ones to be added.

Some interests will be general, and others highly specialized.

Interest Connect is not a public discussion group, but a group to foster person-to-person private communication. More than two members with the same interest could certainly arrange to communicate collectively amongst themselves via email.

As a member of Interest Connect, what would you see? You would see the names and email addresses of others in your geographic region that share the same interest as you.

Safety from predators is crucial, and the management organization will have complete authority to remove anyone from membership in Interest Connect that violates their terms and code of conduct.

Here’s a simplistic example showing four hypothetical individuals in the same geographic region. Interests A, B, C, D, E, F, and G are simply placeholders in our example for the actual interests that would be listed in Interest Connect.

Each member has a private profile that looks like this…

Marija Kelemen
mkeleme@gmail.com
Tucson, AZ
Interests: Interest A, Interest B, Interest C

Nikolaos Hubbard
nikhubb2@icloud.com
Tucson, AZ
Interests: Interest D, Interest E, Interest F

Slavica Brankovič
slavica2933@aol.com
Tucson, AZ
Interests: Interest B, Interest D

Aidan Storstrand
aidan.storstrand@outlook.com
Tucson, AZ
Interests: Interest B, Interest D, Interest G

Each member would have visibility into other members like this…

Marija would see the following:

Interest B
Slavica Brankovič: slavica2933@aol.com
Aidan Storstrand: aidan.storstrand@outlook.com

Nikolaos would see the following:

Interest D
Slavica Brankovič: slavica2933@aol.com
Aidan Storstrand: aidan.storstrand@outlook.com

Slavica would see the following:

Interest B
Marija Kelemen: mkeleme@gmail.com
Aidan Storstrand aidan.storstrand@outlook.com

Interest D
Nikolaos Hubbard: nikhubb2@icloud.com
Aidan Storstrand: aidan.storstrand@outlook.com

Aidan would see the following:

Interest B
Marija Kelemen: mkeleme@gmail.com
Slavica Brankovič: slavica2933@aol.com

Interest D
Nikolaos Hubbard: nikhubb2@icloud.com
Slavica Brankovič: slavica2933@aol.com

Each member’s interest lists will be dynamic, so that interests can be added or removed at any time. Perhaps notifications could be set up (optionally) so that if someone new adds one of your interests, you will automatically be notified.

How to fund this noble endeavor without resorting to hosting irritating advertising? Each member would pay a modest annual membership fee. No mandatory automatic renewals, please!

What do you think? Has something like Interest Connect already been done somewhere? Do you have suggestions or concerns? I would be interested in hearing your thoughts. Feel free to post a comment here.

Children One or Zero

I have written about the overpopulation crisis before, but a Population Connection webinar on July 13 by Nandita Bajaj, Executive Director of Population Balance, motivated me to write more. Her presentation, Pronatalism and Rapid Population Growth: Challenging the Social Pressures to Have Children, was excellent and informative. I will post a link to her presentation in a comment as soon as it is available. Even though this article draws upon some of the material Nandita presented, what follows reflects my point of view alone.

The United Nations issued a report this week that announces that the world’s human population will surpass 8 billion people in mid-November 2022. Think about it. Later this year, 8 billion people will be living on this planet. The age of the Earth is 4.54 ± 0.05 billion years, so we have nearly two people currently living and consuming resources for every year this planet has existed. That’s a sobering thought.

Source: Pop X Issue 168 11.16.24
Population & Sustainability, A Program of the Center for Biological Diversity

Powerful forces of ignorance and misinformation are at work today that prevent us from adequately addressing a number of critical issues that—if we don’t act quickly—will result in a serious decline in the quality of life for most of the human race within the next few years. Chief among these is overpopulation, which is the primary driver of most of the other problems we are facing (climate change, environmental degradation, the decline in biological diversity, conflict over resources, and so on). Rather than feel powerless, or resign ourselves to a dystopian future, or take false solace in an afterlife that doesn’t exist, we must act. That is the only moral choice, and it gives our life meaning. What kind of a world do we want for ourselves and future generations? We must work towards building that world, no matter how difficult or protracted the effort.

As it is, we have commodified every possible part of the natural world to meet our insatiable needs. What could possibly go wrong?

The rapid increase in human population during the past couple of centuries is not normal. The Earth’s resources can sustain a world population of around 3 billion indefinitely, but we exceeded that limit in 1960. Since then, we have been living on borrowed time, all of us. And the debt is coming due. Techno-optimism isn’t going to save us.

The only humane way to get us back to 3 billion people is to reduce the birth rate. Having one child or none at all has to become the new normal. But the many facets of pronatalism are getting in the way of that.

Pronatalism is the idea that having children is both expected and a purely personal act.

Having children should never be incentivized . Many of us are ill-suited to be parents, and certainly living a deeply fulfilling life of great value to society does not depend upon bringing children into the world or child-rearing. And for those of us who do want children and are likely to be good parents, why not have one child, and no more?

Every child should be wanted, and born into a nurturing environment. Did you know we spend more money on imprisonment than we do on education in the U.S.? The right to contraception (including permanent contraception) and, yes, abortion are deeply personal human rights that must not be taken away by anyone. The idea that an embryo or fetus is somehow equivalent to a fully-formed human being is the opposite of rational: it is irrational. Many who oppose abortion do so for religious reasons. And such irrational considerations have no place in law or governance. Unfortunately, for many, religion is a “gateway drug” that predisposes one to holding other beliefs and opinions that are not supported by a shred of evidence. This is dangerous in the extreme.

The idea that having children is a purely personal act is also wrong. If you have more than two children, then you are directly contributing to unsustainable population growth and a certain increase in human suffering due to that growth. We talk the big talk about “personal freedoms” in this country, but almost never about “societal responsibilities” that must put limits on those freedoms. Freedom without responsibility is selfishness, plain and simple.

There are a number of pronatalism pressures that must be effectively countered. These include cultural pressures (e.g. “when are you going to get married and have children?”), religious pressures (e.g. more followers, “believers” vs. “non-believers”), economy-driven pressures (e.g. more consumers and workers), and political pressures (e.g. more taxpayers, more soldiers to fight in our endless wars).

“Baby-bust alarmism” is often in the news, and must be countered wherever it occurs.

And then there’s “great replacement theory”, which is the idea that “our” people are soon going to be outnumbered by other, less desirable, people. There’s an inherent racism in this idea. Often, people who sound the “underpopulation alarm” are really talking about underpopulation of white people.

We certainly have our work cut out for us, but we don’t have to change the minds and hearts of everyone to save humanity and our natural world. We only need to reach a critical mass of enlightened individuals to effect real and lasting change. And that may be a lot fewer than you think.

The greatest legacy we can leave our children is fewer children.

Classical Music Exploration Club

You’ve heard of a book club, where people get together to discuss an assigned book that everyone in the group has read. Well, how about a music club? A music club would be a group of people who get together to listen to and discuss music. Unlike a book club, however, it wouldn’t be necessary for the participants to listen to the music prior to meeting.

I’d like to help start a Classical Music Exploration Club here in Tucson. We would need a place to meet that has decent audio equipment. We’d get together, say, once a month, and each month a member of the group would bring a favorite piece of music to share with the group. We’d all listen to the music, perhaps take some notes, and then discuss afterwards. The presenter-of-the-month would certainly have the opportunity to present information about the composer and the work both before and after the work is played.

I’m sure I’m not the only one in Tucson who is bursting at the seams with great music we’d love to share with others. Much of that music will be new and exciting for other members of the group, and that’s the idea. The pieces we’ve heard in live performance and even on the radio is but a small subset of all the great music that is out there, waiting to be heard and to be performed.

If you’d like to help me start a Classical Music Exploration Club here in Tucson (or elsewhere, for that matter), please post a comment here, or email me at doesper@icloud.com.

A little over a year ago, I created an online discussion group to showcase great classical music that is not currently available on CD. It is called Classical Music Little-Known Favorites and is on groups.io.

ClassicalMusicLittleKnownFavorites groups.io Group

Are you enthusiastic about a work of classical music (in the general sense) that is not well-known? This could include pieces by unjustly neglected composers, new composers and compositions, and even unfamiliar works by well-known composers. If so, please post an audio link to the entire work or a…

I realize that there probably aren’t a lot of people who are actively researching little-known works and composers, but it profoundly saddens me that after 15 months, our group only has three members, and I am the only one who has posted anything. Perhaps serious classical music enthusiasts are not familiar with groups.io, or the folks most likely to participate do not reside in the U.S., or they are not fluent in English, or…

Nothing would make me happier right now than to have at least one other person actively participating. Please join, or let others know about it.

A friend of mine recently told me (emphatically) that “Classical music is boring”. I told him that I agree that a lot of it is boring, but that there is so much that isn’t! He probably just hasn’t heard any of the “good stuff”. I grew up in the heady days for popular music in the 1960s and 1970s, and I still love a lot of rock and roll and “pop” music – especially from that era. But for me, popular music took a nosedive starting with the disco craze of the late 1970s, and since then I’ve turned increasingly towards classical music.

As much as I love rock and roll (especially The Beatles), the emotional response that that sort of music evokes in me is different than it is with classical music. When I listen to a great piece of rock music such as the medley at the end of Abbey Road, or Maybe I’m Amazed, it makes me feel happy, motivated, and alive. But only classical music can profoundly move me and bring tears to my eyes.

I’m at the age now where a lot of people I knew and admired in my youth are dying. Often, I’ll read an obituary of someone I worked with or casually knew outside of work, only to discover something fascinating about their background or an interest that we shared, and feeling sad that I never talked with them about x, y, or z.

It is so hard to get to know your neighbors these days. COVID-19 and its numerous variants, partisanship, and (for some of us) working remotely have acted to isolate us even further. Much of our interaction with other humans is of a superficial nature. This seems especially true for older adults. I now live in a large but beautiful gated community. It is obvious that a lot of thought and good planning went into designing it 20 years ago. And yet, we have a community swimming pool but alas no meeting room or common house.

Much to my delight, I now live in a neighborhood where the streets are well-maintained. Riding a bicycle is no longer a bone-jarring experience across “rubblized” pavement, as it was in Dodgeville (Wisconsin) and Alpine (Texas). Our HOA dues here are $43 per month, and much of that money goes towards resurfacing the streets every four years. As far as I’m concerned, it is money well spent. I wonder how many people living in Dodgeville or Alpine would be willing to pay a monthly fee of $43 per month (and probably less) to keep all their city streets in good condition?

Ending Spring Forward, Fall Back

On March 15, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to end the twice annual switch between Standard Time and Daylight Saving Time. So far so good. That leaves us now with two choices: standard time year round or daylight saving time year round. Unfortunately, they have chosen the latter. The fact that there was no debate on this point suggests the esteemed senators collectively have little understanding of science—or, at least, biology and astronomy.

Most astronomers (those that actually observe) and astronomy educators don’t like daylight saving time because it delays the onset of darkness by an hour: most of us observe in the evening and not right before dawn. Cruelly, daylight saving time prevents many young people from experiencing the wonders of the night sky because it gets dark around or after their bedtime during the warmer months of the year.

Non-astronomers (which, let’s face it, includes most of us) that rise early in the morning will spend even more of their year getting up while it is still dark out. In the northern U.S. at least that means that during the winter months, many school children will be going to school in the dark when it is still bitterly cold.

I have written previously on this topic.

As for biology, unless all of us also start our work days and school days an hour later, year-round daylight saving time will further mess with our already-damaged circadian rhythms—and most of us don’t get enough sleep as it is. As many studies have shown, this leads to a number of negative consequences affecting our health and well being.

The answer is, of course, to adopt standard time year-round as Arizona currently does. Even that is now in jeopardy as Arizona is likely to join the bandwagon and go to permanent daylight saving time, if this legislation is enacted.

This legislation now goes to the U.S. House of Representatives and, if it passes there, on to President Biden’s desk to sign into law. If that happens, most/all? of the U.S. will be going to permanent daylight saving time beginning officially November 5, 2023 (actually, March 12, 2023).

Is anyone pushing for year-round standard time instead? You bet.

SAVE STANDARD TIME

Quickest, healthiest, most economical way to end DST’s clock changes.

I encourage you to support this organization, Save Standard Time, a registered 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization.