183
Robert.H.Little M.D.
935 Middlefield Road
Palo Alto Ca 9430l-3395 Nov 12/90
MAY YOU LIVE IN INTERESTING TIMES
An old Chinese expression. Violent times could be called
INTERESTING.
Presently the times are glorious and horrible. Let me
talk about it. I hope to publish a book.
Times have been interesting as long as I remember.
Halley's Comet in l910 was interesting, partly because my
father was so excited. One of his hobbies was astronomy.
The sky was clear. No conflicting light.
World War one in 1914. was far away. No radio or
television. The horror became apparent. When I found an old
bayonet in the garden, it was a symbol of the horror. I
saved it for many years. To me, a bayonet stuck in your
belly was the ultimate,
As more wars followed, I thought of many plans for
prevention. The background for peace is conservation. If
world starvation is brought on by destruction of the food
potential leading to a billion people starving, then war may
be inevitable.
Conservation is extensive and complicated. However here
are some of my thoughts,
OIL. Such a wonderful gift to the people on Earth. But it
is being squandered. It is a finite resource. When it is
gone, it's gone. When the final depletion arrives, it
will be a frightful shock. It cannot be avoided but could
be postponed. In the meantime, all of us should be
preparing. I have written a long article about this.
Here are some highlights.
(1) Gradually raise price of gas to at least $3.00 a gal.
(2) Strive for regional self sufficiency. Stop shipping
strawberries from the West coast to New York City. The
Hudson river valley can grow plenty. The Chinese stress
the importance of Regional self-sufficiency. They try to
arrange that each city gets is farm products from the local
farmers.
There are no remedies that would be popular but eventually
there will be little choice.
What do I suggest right now? I would talk with Saddam
Hussien and others in the Arab areas. I would say "We
in the United States have been wasting oil and other
resources. We have been careless with our farm lands,
forests and water. We suffer from pollution, as in much of
the world. No one can win a shooting war but we and you and
all of us are losing the war against nature which could lead
to a breakdown in what we call civilization."
THE SLAVE OWNER ATTITUDE
The late Walter Lippman, the
great columnist, in his book, THE GOOD SOCIETY, states that
people want special privilege rather than Justice.
Most young people are encouraged to go to College. There,
they too often get the impression that if they get a
certificate to hang on the wall, they will never be expected
to earn a living doing so-called menial work, usually with
their hands. They can have a career.
They desire what is often called THE GOOD LIFE, with lots of
personal services. This creates, what I call THE VACUUM.
An example: There are so many Arabs pouring into France from
the South shores of the Mediterranean, that most French
people feel that they may become an Arab country.
This may be caused by what I have called the VACUUM People
want personal services. This creates a demand for unskilled
labor. About 2O% of the work force. This appears to be
happening in most parts of the world.
In my country, people are increasingly eating in restaurants.
They buy T.V. dinners. (A form of maid service .) and great
quantities of junk food.
More of us should try to create a SOCIAL SURPLUS by improving
our life style . I have talked to many people about this
but have not aroused much interest.
I have written articles about the coming energy crisis,
the exploitation of our renewable resources such as farm
land. The deficiencies in our schools. The decreasing
health of our people,(With present knowledge and facilities
most sickness is out of date.,)
Humans are the supreme group mammals. The groups that
survived through history , developed a way of life worth
passing on to succeeding generations. The late Sir Julian
Huxley tells us that people have not changed much physically
in the past 2OOOO years. He states that people lived in
small groups with varying patterns for survival which could
be called cultures, The groups with the better cultures
tended to survive. The willingness to forgo present
pleasure for future security would be part of such cultures.
An example that I admire is about a tribe of Indians living
in Northern Canada. They lived in isolation with no contact
with the outside world. About 60 years ago a couple of
explorers stumbled on them. These Indians were friendly and
appeared happy and healthy and contented with their way of
life.
What most impressed the explorers, was that if a child cried,
practically every one in the community came over to find out
what was the trouble,
Apparently food and resources were adequate and they had
developed essential skills. But the climate was harsh.
In such a climate, neglected children do not survive,
In such a situation, people tend to become cooperative and
willing to sacrifice for the group and sustain the natural
resources. Otherwise, no long term survival.
Historically, our ancestors lived in small groups. with
various degrees of cultural success.
If people break down into gangs or pressure groups or mere
money making machines, the future is dim.
I still live with guarded optimism. Enough people may be
learning.
