20160608 (veldt)

I bought a ten-year old car with

One hundred and eleven thousand 

Miles on it because it is short 

Enough to fit in my garage which

I may move from soon. It gets

Substantially better gas mileage

Than my 2002 Ford Focus ZX3

Which was getting to 150,000K,

A/C repairs, showing body rust,

Had a couple dings and scratches.

But this is not about cars so much

As about the future. The increase 

In the price of fuel, whether fuels 

Will be available at ANY price 

Pose significant questions 

For what “normal” life will 

Be like in the future. It’s a 

Trick question, for life in the First

World has never been anything 

Like “normal” life in the rest

Of the world. Want water here? 

Turn the tap (or wave your hand 

Near the sensor). Want water there?

Grab what passes for a bucket,

Go fetch at least a mile or two,

Then carry it back (or make a

Woman or child do it). Want to

Study about the derivation of

The Pythagorean Theorem here?

Download a file and either watch

It on YouTube, read about it

On Kindle, or jog to it on a 

Podcast. Want to do it in the

Third World? Down load a 

File  . . . hey, wait a minute, I 

Said the Third World.  Hearken

Dear Reader, for while it will

Still be just as physically 

Challenging to transport water

Without the proper infrastructure

Images and ideas can be moved,

Stored, used in various ways far

More easily because they are 

Minuscule, low demand, easily

Transportable into worlds 

Without great energy supplies

Readily available. A third worlder

Can learn how to make a table

Long before he/she has the 

Materials or tools to do it. Is

That just another way to make

Them feel disabled in a world

So far advanced beyond their 

Own? Would it be better to

Let them achieve their own

Industrialization—smelting 

Ore with heat from burning

Cattle dung, forge tools to

Hew wood from non-existent

Trees? Someone who traveled

To Mali told me that expecting

Isolated Africans to develop

Modern methods for improved

Production of animals, grain,

Iron was tantamount to imposing

On them an intellectual 

Colonization. “They’re happy

Making iron hinges the way 

Their fathers and grandfathers

Did back into timeless eons,”

She offered. “They’re happy

Putting on a show of primitive

Practices so naive Western 

Tourists will part with some

Of their money,” I countered.

I don’t think there are many

Corners of the world yet to 

Suffer our electronic invasion.

Loincloths or not, they already 

Know an easier life exists

“Out there” and they want it.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016