I think that we can afford some optimism now, but I'm concerned about the ultimate limits to growth. We need off-world mineral refining and frankly that technology doesn't exist and probably won't exist. Maybe could do it on mars, but the industrial base isn't going to be 3D printed into existence. I do think that finite resources will require a de-growth economy on earth at least... and that we'll need to navigate it carefully if we're to see an interstellar spring. Article for context: https://alwaysthehorizon.substack.com/p/analysisreview-the-limits-to-growth
> Artificial intelligence, pursued with purely Faustian ambition, could be man’s greatest mistake; if pursued with Aenean magnanimity, it can be man’s greatest achievement.
This is really it. It's the choice between being living and dying as a sloth maintained by robot servants or venturing into the unknown for a cosmic destiny.
If they're gonna try to carry on with the current joke of "AI", there's little for any actual thinking person to worry about, since this form of "Artificial Intelligence" is nothing more than a more convenient way to copy someone else's homework.
Intelligence's prime locator is human beings - Why transfer/extend it? Somehow this would indicate an infringement of the role God granted to intelligence. We would not be putting it in its right place.
There have been warnings in the past about AI, but we still try to pursue
objectivity and Truth definitely exist, on that matter - so what is it? Extremely precise Truths. Some "yes or no".
Those matters should be discussed appropriately, something not being done. The table talk has NOT been done. The consensus is being formatted with the multitude of people who just work 40 hours a week and pay taxes - barely slaves
All we have is "finding it great" or "cool" and an overall "let's go we'll figure things later", but I believe this is not enough of an assessment. If Musk is taking us down with his Martian dream, he is. It does not make him a "bad guy". At some point, Musk's wealth splits him from me, I cannot identify. I have other priorities. Seems AI is some stuff for people who are cozy and have a specific access - this requires some grounds. The rest, we are starving and are broken. Talking me about "AI" does not speak to me about anything useful.
The "let's go we'll find out later" seems to be the trap of the "shady unknown", outputting "goodness" - while we definitely don't know.
We currently got 90% stuck on their cellphone in the bus, and we are at the stage where AI is barely still being discussed as "valid or not". Bitcoin (cashless society) is "the greatest thing ever made - that's so cool".
I mean, sorry, but without me guys. I expressed my voice about that.
I will provide. Mars is not habitable without trucking in something like 60 feet deep of water ice and ammonia (for nitrogen) just to get decent air pressure and protection from cosmic rays. (Given the lack of magnetic field, it might require more. ) You'd also want to truck in enough water to have...water.
Moving all this from the rings of Saturn is going to take a while. Landing it on the surface without too much techtonic destruction is also challenging. And then you need to do the actual terraforming to turn this toxic mess into breathable atmosphere. This might take a while.
America doesn't have anything close to the surplus energy necessary to do all that. It will exist in the realm of sci-fi and fantasy… meanwhile down here ‘in the real world,’ natural gas and oil will become more and more scarce and Energy Poverty, Demographic Decline and Tech stagnation will continue, per usual.
Nuclear Power does not have Margin. People figured this out circa the 1970s, which is why Nuclear Power Stagnated ages ago & is now declining worldwide.
You need (A) Mass Subsidy (impossible if you are levered with debt) & (B) Cheap Uranium (you have to loot others... not possible when most Western nations don't even have armies anymore). Case in point, France:
Once Upon a time, the Nuclear Program was a matter of national pride & everyone said 'We must emulate the French in their Nuclear Program!'...
Today, they have been kicked out of the Sahel (goodbye cheap Uranium) and their Debt to GDP ratio is massive... meaning the subsidies have run dry. When you check their per capita energy consumption (for the Nuclear component) it is thus in freefall, and this will continue in the future.
Again, old ideas which have flopped (in the case of breeder reactors), and new ideas which have little to no difference with conventional Fission.
This also reminds me of that proposal I once heard from a gentleman who went 'Hydrogen is the Future of Transport!'... to which I responded:
>> How are you going to find the Surplus money, energy, manpower, etc (worth trillions of USD) to implement all this over several decades?<<
It's good to fantasize about things, but peoples & societies are limited in what they can do based on their current 'on the ground' situation.
Take the USA for example. All of its Nuclear reactors presently are used to 'soak up' the 65% inefficiencies that are a result of the electricity generation process (which uses Natural Gas). Most American Coal & Renewables are also engaged in 'soak up duty.'
If you want some quality doom, consider that asteroid which supposedly has a density higher than any known element. Once we have decent space travel, the urge to check it out is huge. Who knows what kind of chemical toxicity superheavy metals might have. And the fission potential!
Rev 8:10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
Rev 8:11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
I am currently writing a novel set primarily in Anno Domini MMMXXV. I plan to publish it on Substack over the year of 2025 starting on Deception 31st 2024.
For said novel: do you mind if I have the characters explicitly think of themselves as part of the Aenean civilization? Symbolized by a light illuminating darkness.
Well written and thought out yet… Maybe the next 100 years is best symbolized not by the arch but by a human simultaneously projecting vommit and diarrhea. Our gullibilty and the deception of our true place on Earth is still too prominent to make wise judgements. As I see it, Musk is false in every way. Musk is Bill Gates 2.0, a Deepstate DOD funded psyop, and science gatekeeper like Einstein. He is the anti-Tesla that has appropriated the word Telsa and should be punished for that crime. Nikola Tesla’s ghost should haunt Musk.
Why such hated? Space travel is an illusion wrapped inside a psyop. Actual space travel may exist, but Man will never leave Earth orbit by rockets. Anti-gravitic ships may exist and take you elsewhere, but where? So many lies and deceptions around the planets and the Big Bang and human origins exist. We cannot move forward in a meaningful way until we purge the lies and bullshit from our culture. All we can do now is choose a fool’s errand led by another pied-piper such as Musk.
Furthermore, Musk is somehow appointed to the role of CEO and Ringmaster of a three-ring circus: transhumanism, space travel, and AI.
As for transhumanism, my metaphysical perspective is that humans are here to perfect their souls through multiple reincarnations. My ontological view is that humans have lived through numerous global resets and great forgettings. Once humans start placing computer chips in their bodies and delegating thought to computer algorithms, our soul’s growth is halted and life loses all meaning. The gods then hit the reset button. Earth is our stage and crucible to foge our souls. I doubt the gods wish for us to leap to other world’s by anti-gravitic ships and Dr. Strange portals. These leaps to other portals do happen, as seen by cryptids and oddities bleeding over to Earth for brief periods. But most people agree that visiting another dimension/plane of existence is temporary and unstable. At this point, noone of any respectability is discussing realities such as astral projection, summoning entities, and other mystery school teachings. We are provided with, usually Jewish, gatekeepers like Einstein as the anti-Tesla. Granted, Tesla’s tech could crack the Earth open with large earthquakes. So the gods and Men-in-Black are swiping from our hands the tools that would bring down the curtains on our stage.
You essay was well written and visionary, but I would recommend further exploration of the Herculean task of envisioning our next great inspiring culture.
I am guilty of world-building and not bold enough to print a proposal. I do enjoy listening to John David Ebbert distill the works of Spengler and others.
Here is Ebbert in talks with the living version of Spengler, Russian culture will likely define Eastern Civilization as fossilized Faustian Civilization spends 200 years in Hell.
You might be right, but I hope you are not. For now I will embrace cautious optimism regarding Trump and Musk, and eucatastrophic hopefulness for the future. At least until this Friday, when I will return to tax policy and woe.
All I ask for is more arches and columns. Maybe columnades.. I want things that look grand when our future monarchs, warlords, and aristocracy do victory parades through the city, and have religious ceremonies and weddings within.
Beautiful. If you need someone to help design and lead the teams of such a future project, I might know a person....
One has to know how to balance the grandness of the Empire's might, giving it all the uplifting hopeful grace, strength, and hope. While also having an appropriate place to place the conquered enemies that you've drug through the city in the March and put on display afterwards for the Polity to see what not to do and be
Yup. On the Faustian phase, it seems to me to be characterised by Hubris; the true meaning of which is not "pride" - tho' overweening pride is an aspect - rather the breaching of boundaries which should not be breached, as they are there for a good reason.
And as all who have studied the Classics, sooner or later comes Nemesis, in hot pursuit. As we are witnessing.
And thanks Elon. You stood up for all freedom lovers, and put your money where your mouth is. Bless you.
Most optimistic I have felt since the crime against humanity that was Covid. Battle may only just have started but we are on the march
Implicit in the described Aenean sensibility is a strong moral structure underpinning it. Without a moral compass and the courage to maintain it, it will revert to the Faustian.
The problem is that I don't see any mechanism to keep the institutions that are supposed to "wisely manage" progress from being corrupted. The record isn't good here:
The UN/WEF/globalist institutions were originally set up to wisely manage the atomic bomb.
The AI-safety movement degenerated into an excuse to wokeify AIs extremely quickly.
The pro-natalist movement is currently on course to degenerate into promoting the mass production of bugmen in vats.
Yah, I don’t think institutions have proven capable of wisely managing progress. I’m not sure institutions can be wise. Perhaps it would be possible, though, to craft a free market that is oriented towards the long-term rather than the short. The opposite of the “4Q share buyback.”
For starters, shares in a long term corp should have to vest before one can vote them. And there should be constraints on which funds/institutions can vote shares as well.
Frankly the only force that seems capable of keeping the "Aenean balance" is divine guidance, and here the West's abandonment of God is not encouraging.
I believe Faustian culture will decline (already halfway there) and eventually die out like all the other great cultures have; we're certainly no exception to that rule. By that, I don't share your techno-optimism at all, as I believe material technological advancement peaked in the 20th century and has been on the steady decline, in addition to obvious natural resource constraints rendering the usual sci-fi fantasies to be little more than an aspirational mythos for our current Faustian culture. Yes, I still think there's a few techno-tweaks and enhancements to be had, but overall we're eventually going to decline back into a semi-agrarian mode of living, with hopefully a few key technologies preserved for future generations. If we can mine our Apollonian heritage for some timeless wisdom, it might tell us that natural constraints and hard limits are indeed a thing and that hyper-hubristic attempts to pretend we can transcend those limits will simply earn a cascading series of swift kicks to the ass. If the old myths tell us anything, it's that Hubris begets Nemesis. Also we learn that we're just clever apes and that the gods know way more than we can even imagine. In other words, this cosmos is magnificent and complex well beyond our wildest dreams and that human beings are not all that important in the grand scheme of things. At a more mundane level, Apollonian wisdom might also pose an obvious quip: that there is no way we know of for a human to survive outside of the Earth's magnetosphere for more than a few minutes without getting totally fried by cosmic radiation (Elon should know this). Scrambled, or sunny-side-up? I care not to find out which it might be!
Sorry to say, but the Aenean spirit does not burn in me ;)
Right. My friend @Ahnaf Ibn Qais has similar views, as does John Michael Greer and many other fine thinkers. I originally planned a longer essay in which I said there was another path or spirit, tentatively called Demeterian or Gaian, which is more in accordance with the worldview you’ve expressed. But it isn’t a worldview I share and it felt inauthentic when I tried to write about it, so I just left it unsaid. Ahnaf, I think, will cover it in great depth.
You may need to rename yourself Tree of Optimism after this post, lol.
Well, it could be a very short-lived age!
But I was thinking Exaltation on the Tree of Glee
No. The show did poorly & the cast didn't survive... 🤔
Maybe just "Tree of Glee." It's pithy. And funny.
What's the point of suffering on the Tree of Woe if you can't go on to become King by your own hand?
Do we get song and dance numbers with that?
Or will that be reserved for paid subscribers?
NON-paying subscribers will be forced to watch me sing and dance
Premium subscribers can bypass it to get to the content
Harsh, but fair.
I think that we can afford some optimism now, but I'm concerned about the ultimate limits to growth. We need off-world mineral refining and frankly that technology doesn't exist and probably won't exist. Maybe could do it on mars, but the industrial base isn't going to be 3D printed into existence. I do think that finite resources will require a de-growth economy on earth at least... and that we'll need to navigate it carefully if we're to see an interstellar spring. Article for context: https://alwaysthehorizon.substack.com/p/analysisreview-the-limits-to-growth
Great article, I hope it becomes the touchstone of our generation.
Thank you, that's high praise.
> Artificial intelligence, pursued with purely Faustian ambition, could be man’s greatest mistake; if pursued with Aenean magnanimity, it can be man’s greatest achievement.
This is really it. It's the choice between being living and dying as a sloth maintained by robot servants or venturing into the unknown for a cosmic destiny.
Or, even worse, owning nothing and eating the bugs. But those are the choices.
If they're gonna try to carry on with the current joke of "AI", there's little for any actual thinking person to worry about, since this form of "Artificial Intelligence" is nothing more than a more convenient way to copy someone else's homework.
Intelligence's prime locator is human beings - Why transfer/extend it? Somehow this would indicate an infringement of the role God granted to intelligence. We would not be putting it in its right place.
There have been warnings in the past about AI, but we still try to pursue
objectivity and Truth definitely exist, on that matter - so what is it? Extremely precise Truths. Some "yes or no".
Those matters should be discussed appropriately, something not being done. The table talk has NOT been done. The consensus is being formatted with the multitude of people who just work 40 hours a week and pay taxes - barely slaves
All we have is "finding it great" or "cool" and an overall "let's go we'll figure things later", but I believe this is not enough of an assessment. If Musk is taking us down with his Martian dream, he is. It does not make him a "bad guy". At some point, Musk's wealth splits him from me, I cannot identify. I have other priorities. Seems AI is some stuff for people who are cozy and have a specific access - this requires some grounds. The rest, we are starving and are broken. Talking me about "AI" does not speak to me about anything useful.
The "let's go we'll find out later" seems to be the trap of the "shady unknown", outputting "goodness" - while we definitely don't know.
We currently got 90% stuck on their cellphone in the bus, and we are at the stage where AI is barely still being discussed as "valid or not". Bitcoin (cashless society) is "the greatest thing ever made - that's so cool".
I mean, sorry, but without me guys. I expressed my voice about that.
Insufficient woe.
I will provide. Mars is not habitable without trucking in something like 60 feet deep of water ice and ammonia (for nitrogen) just to get decent air pressure and protection from cosmic rays. (Given the lack of magnetic field, it might require more. ) You'd also want to truck in enough water to have...water.
Moving all this from the rings of Saturn is going to take a while. Landing it on the surface without too much techtonic destruction is also challenging. And then you need to do the actual terraforming to turn this toxic mess into breathable atmosphere. This might take a while.
I knew I could count on you
Sounds like there are some startups hiding in that woe.
America doesn't have anything close to the surplus energy necessary to do all that. It will exist in the realm of sci-fi and fantasy… meanwhile down here ‘in the real world,’ natural gas and oil will become more and more scarce and Energy Poverty, Demographic Decline and Tech stagnation will continue, per usual.
It will require nuclear powered rockets to shove all that ice around. There's boatloads of nuclear power capability we aren't using.
Nuclear Power does not have Margin. People figured this out circa the 1970s, which is why Nuclear Power Stagnated ages ago & is now declining worldwide.
You need (A) Mass Subsidy (impossible if you are levered with debt) & (B) Cheap Uranium (you have to loot others... not possible when most Western nations don't even have armies anymore). Case in point, France:
Once Upon a time, the Nuclear Program was a matter of national pride & everyone said 'We must emulate the French in their Nuclear Program!'...
Today, they have been kicked out of the Sahel (goodbye cheap Uranium) and their Debt to GDP ratio is massive... meaning the subsidies have run dry. When you check their per capita energy consumption (for the Nuclear component) it is thus in freefall, and this will continue in the future.
Breeder reactors. Today's waste could be tomorrow's fuel. And then there is thorium.
Again, old ideas which have flopped (in the case of breeder reactors), and new ideas which have little to no difference with conventional Fission.
This also reminds me of that proposal I once heard from a gentleman who went 'Hydrogen is the Future of Transport!'... to which I responded:
>> How are you going to find the Surplus money, energy, manpower, etc (worth trillions of USD) to implement all this over several decades?<<
It's good to fantasize about things, but peoples & societies are limited in what they can do based on their current 'on the ground' situation.
Take the USA for example. All of its Nuclear reactors presently are used to 'soak up' the 65% inefficiencies that are a result of the electricity generation process (which uses Natural Gas). Most American Coal & Renewables are also engaged in 'soak up duty.'
Relevant: https://decarbonization.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-the-flow-of-u-s-energy-consumption/
Diversion of these sources is impossible, since it will mean rolling blackouts & other related calamities to large population centres.
In other words, Big Deus Ex Machina projects will never occur.
Breeder reactors were abandoned due to concerns of proliferation. Jimmy Carter did it.
If you want some quality doom, consider that asteroid which supposedly has a density higher than any known element. Once we have decent space travel, the urge to check it out is huge. Who knows what kind of chemical toxicity superheavy metals might have. And the fission potential!
Rev 8:10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
Rev 8:11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
It's probably not the density as much as the speed of the slam.
That is more likely, but mining an ultra toxic asteroid is an interesting option -- and very tempting.
As long as robots can do it, I might agree. But that toxic stuff really gets around.
Wherefor art though, Podkayne?
I am currently writing a novel set primarily in Anno Domini MMMXXV. I plan to publish it on Substack over the year of 2025 starting on Deception 31st 2024.
For said novel: do you mind if I have the characters explicitly think of themselves as part of the Aenean civilization? Symbolized by a light illuminating darkness.
Of course! I would be honored.
What a post! Severely lacking in his trademark woefulness.
I allow myself one or two days a year of optimism
TWO? I am appalled... sloth.
Well written and thought out yet… Maybe the next 100 years is best symbolized not by the arch but by a human simultaneously projecting vommit and diarrhea. Our gullibilty and the deception of our true place on Earth is still too prominent to make wise judgements. As I see it, Musk is false in every way. Musk is Bill Gates 2.0, a Deepstate DOD funded psyop, and science gatekeeper like Einstein. He is the anti-Tesla that has appropriated the word Telsa and should be punished for that crime. Nikola Tesla’s ghost should haunt Musk.
Why such hated? Space travel is an illusion wrapped inside a psyop. Actual space travel may exist, but Man will never leave Earth orbit by rockets. Anti-gravitic ships may exist and take you elsewhere, but where? So many lies and deceptions around the planets and the Big Bang and human origins exist. We cannot move forward in a meaningful way until we purge the lies and bullshit from our culture. All we can do now is choose a fool’s errand led by another pied-piper such as Musk.
Furthermore, Musk is somehow appointed to the role of CEO and Ringmaster of a three-ring circus: transhumanism, space travel, and AI.
As for transhumanism, my metaphysical perspective is that humans are here to perfect their souls through multiple reincarnations. My ontological view is that humans have lived through numerous global resets and great forgettings. Once humans start placing computer chips in their bodies and delegating thought to computer algorithms, our soul’s growth is halted and life loses all meaning. The gods then hit the reset button. Earth is our stage and crucible to foge our souls. I doubt the gods wish for us to leap to other world’s by anti-gravitic ships and Dr. Strange portals. These leaps to other portals do happen, as seen by cryptids and oddities bleeding over to Earth for brief periods. But most people agree that visiting another dimension/plane of existence is temporary and unstable. At this point, noone of any respectability is discussing realities such as astral projection, summoning entities, and other mystery school teachings. We are provided with, usually Jewish, gatekeepers like Einstein as the anti-Tesla. Granted, Tesla’s tech could crack the Earth open with large earthquakes. So the gods and Men-in-Black are swiping from our hands the tools that would bring down the curtains on our stage.
You essay was well written and visionary, but I would recommend further exploration of the Herculean task of envisioning our next great inspiring culture.
I am guilty of world-building and not bold enough to print a proposal. I do enjoy listening to John David Ebbert distill the works of Spengler and others.
Here is Ebbert in talks with the living version of Spengler, Russian culture will likely define Eastern Civilization as fossilized Faustian Civilization spends 200 years in Hell.
https://youtu.be/OSiFaDlIeO0?si=eVSFdYyy9r1KkMqA
You might be right, but I hope you are not. For now I will embrace cautious optimism regarding Trump and Musk, and eucatastrophic hopefulness for the future. At least until this Friday, when I will return to tax policy and woe.
All I ask for is more arches and columns. Maybe columnades.. I want things that look grand when our future monarchs, warlords, and aristocracy do victory parades through the city, and have religious ceremonies and weddings within.
Make architecture great again!
Yes. I envision a series of glorious arches in succession forming a glorious arcade through which our space marines will tread in victory parades.
Beautiful. If you need someone to help design and lead the teams of such a future project, I might know a person....
One has to know how to balance the grandness of the Empire's might, giving it all the uplifting hopeful grace, strength, and hope. While also having an appropriate place to place the conquered enemies that you've drug through the city in the March and put on display afterwards for the Polity to see what not to do and be
Priorities! One must have them
Sir, your words here have cemented your place as chief architect of the new regime.
“I go to seek a Great Perhaps.”
—Francois Rabelais
Excellent essay, as always. Thank you—and continued success in all of your good endeavors.
Yup. On the Faustian phase, it seems to me to be characterised by Hubris; the true meaning of which is not "pride" - tho' overweening pride is an aspect - rather the breaching of boundaries which should not be breached, as they are there for a good reason.
And as all who have studied the Classics, sooner or later comes Nemesis, in hot pursuit. As we are witnessing.
And thanks Elon. You stood up for all freedom lovers, and put your money where your mouth is. Bless you.
Most optimistic I have felt since the crime against humanity that was Covid. Battle may only just have started but we are on the march
Implicit in the described Aenean sensibility is a strong moral structure underpinning it. Without a moral compass and the courage to maintain it, it will revert to the Faustian.
Agreed, agreed. Amen.
This week I’ll give a talk to my STEM club students about the Aenean soul. Just practiced it with my protégée, and she loved it.
“Do me a favor. Die on Mars?”
I’ll let you know how it goes.
That's amazing! I'm honored you'd use it in your club.
The honor is mine. It's a great idea. I'll let you know the results.
This is a startling and novel concept, but I like it.
The new man as the chooser of fates.
What do you want?
Beautifully written. A call to action and catharsis in one.
Now I feel hopeful! Perhaps because I was born in the same city the same year the Arch was rising. Age of Aquarius, ascendant! ; )
The problem is that I don't see any mechanism to keep the institutions that are supposed to "wisely manage" progress from being corrupted. The record isn't good here:
The UN/WEF/globalist institutions were originally set up to wisely manage the atomic bomb.
The AI-safety movement degenerated into an excuse to wokeify AIs extremely quickly.
The pro-natalist movement is currently on course to degenerate into promoting the mass production of bugmen in vats.
Yah, I don’t think institutions have proven capable of wisely managing progress. I’m not sure institutions can be wise. Perhaps it would be possible, though, to craft a free market that is oriented towards the long-term rather than the short. The opposite of the “4Q share buyback.”
For starters, shares in a long term corp should have to vest before one can vote them. And there should be constraints on which funds/institutions can vote shares as well.
Great suggestion. Something to flesh out I think.
I will contemplate.
Frankly the only force that seems capable of keeping the "Aenean balance" is divine guidance, and here the West's abandonment of God is not encouraging.
No, it sure isn't. Interestingly even Elon seems to be slowly beginning to realize that, though I doubt he'll find God himself anytime soon.
I've never quite pinned down your exact politics - are you a Christian libertarian more or less?
To first approximation my politics are similar to those of Rudyard Kipling, especially as implied in *Gods of the Copybook Headings*.
Nearly all the self-proclaimed "Christian libertarians" I've encountered tend to be stupid about matters of war:
> When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
> They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
Thanks for answering! I hear you. Stupidity about matters of war was one of the major reasons I retreated from libertarianism.
As Dedicating Ruckus recently put it elegantly on twitter:
https://x.com/ded_ruckus/status/1851700106317160533
> the foundational problem with anarchism is, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a state is a good guy with a state
Wow, that's really brilliantly stated.
Excuse the pun.
Masterful.
Your analysis opens the door to a new Golden Path worthy of Buckminster Fuller AND Frank Herbert at their collective finest.
Thank you.
I believe Faustian culture will decline (already halfway there) and eventually die out like all the other great cultures have; we're certainly no exception to that rule. By that, I don't share your techno-optimism at all, as I believe material technological advancement peaked in the 20th century and has been on the steady decline, in addition to obvious natural resource constraints rendering the usual sci-fi fantasies to be little more than an aspirational mythos for our current Faustian culture. Yes, I still think there's a few techno-tweaks and enhancements to be had, but overall we're eventually going to decline back into a semi-agrarian mode of living, with hopefully a few key technologies preserved for future generations. If we can mine our Apollonian heritage for some timeless wisdom, it might tell us that natural constraints and hard limits are indeed a thing and that hyper-hubristic attempts to pretend we can transcend those limits will simply earn a cascading series of swift kicks to the ass. If the old myths tell us anything, it's that Hubris begets Nemesis. Also we learn that we're just clever apes and that the gods know way more than we can even imagine. In other words, this cosmos is magnificent and complex well beyond our wildest dreams and that human beings are not all that important in the grand scheme of things. At a more mundane level, Apollonian wisdom might also pose an obvious quip: that there is no way we know of for a human to survive outside of the Earth's magnetosphere for more than a few minutes without getting totally fried by cosmic radiation (Elon should know this). Scrambled, or sunny-side-up? I care not to find out which it might be!
Sorry to say, but the Aenean spirit does not burn in me ;)
Right. My friend @Ahnaf Ibn Qais has similar views, as does John Michael Greer and many other fine thinkers. I originally planned a longer essay in which I said there was another path or spirit, tentatively called Demeterian or Gaian, which is more in accordance with the worldview you’ve expressed. But it isn’t a worldview I share and it felt inauthentic when I tried to write about it, so I just left it unsaid. Ahnaf, I think, will cover it in great depth.