Dragon Reserve

The name of the dragon is Shiva. Remarkably, Shiva is pregnant. She was found thousands of years down in the ice in Siberia. She is being kept on a reserve in California. She cannot fly, but she can glide long distances. Her behavior is reminiscent of a bird, but her size is closer to that of a blue whale. She consumes as much livestock in one week as the entire population of Sacramento consumes in one day. There is a chance that in several months their will be three new dragons in the world. It is doubtful that the species will survive multiple generations. If they do survive that will certainly have drastic consequences for humanity. Caring for and containing one dragon alone is very expensive.

empathy q

Humans are no longer the same creatures they once were.

Late in the 21st century we began through the world council to legislate the future of our species. It was now possible to update the genetic make up of the human species with each new generation. The first piece of legislation stated simply that humanity could not be allowed to lower the average empathy quotient. It was, and is still believed, that reducing the empathy quotient of our species would be the single most dangerous thing we could do. It is, after all, the keystone of our sense of universal ethics. It is what allows us to understand and weigh the motives of others and what allows us the ability to feel compassion and charity. Without empathy it would only be a matter of time before war broke out. A species of human that feels no empathy but has increased levels of strength and intelligence or extended life could be a terrible scourge upon the universe.

Several years after the initial vote was made on the empathy quotient, a vote was taken to raise the empathy quotient. Earth’s religious right protested the legislation. Many believed that God set our basic sense of empathy deliberately in order to test or challenge us and that to tamper with this particular aspect of human nature was to trample upon the sovereignty of God. In the end, no evidence surfaced showing that increased empathy could cause harm and quite a bit of evidence suggested drastic improvement would ensue throughout civilization. As to the god question, people by and large accepted the idea that if there was a God that God gave us the tools to tamper with our own nature. We had been tampering with that nature for a long time, since well before the empathy question came about. In any case, the empathy quotient was increased with the next generation and several more times over following ones.

Ironically, because of this global increase in empathy, the world at large found it increasingly difficult to justify forcing the few, small groups of people who still wished to return to traditional levels of empathy to produce more emphatic offspring. Thus a small group of people was allowed to remain unaltered.

As the majority became even more empathetic two problems began to arise. Individuals started to find it difficult to separate their own opinions, perspectives, and feelings from those of others and also found it just as difficult to hold someone accountable for wrong doing as they found it to difficult to wrong someone. Thus, the opinions of that tiny minority that still had some inclination toward selfishness started to gain influence. As long as the self-interested few framed their ideas as being harmless, the masses felt inclined to follow them. Those with a strong sense of self-interest were able to accumulate far more wealth than others and, if they wished to, could get away with causing great harm. And great harm some did indeed.

Fortunately, the initial legislation that stated that the average empathy quotient could never be reduced maintained its integrity. Those who would use others for personal gain remain few in number. However, those individuals that are capable of great abuse remain a terrific and hidden threat, not only to the human, or rather meta human, majority, but to all living things, and perhaps to all things.

And yet, there still remains the small chance that at some point they will be able to perceive and protect others from the treat of whatever creatures may exist who are more dangerous and selfish than themselves.

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Is it worth it?

Health care is nearly passed. Do you think the legislation is good enough? Are we okay without a public plan?

I’m not so sure. However, I expect that this will at least be good enough for us to better understand the fundamental problems with health care over the next few years. Maybe some of the costs will come down, but probably not substantially. As long as the health insurance industry has a common profit motive and no alternative philosophy to compete with this, I think we will be forced to over pay for the right to our own well being. I think public health care is an obvious win for the US in the same way that the postal service is an important aspect of the shipping industry.

Lastly, perhaps the best thing that we can do for our health in the US is cut some food items such as high fructose corn syrup out of our collective diet. Perhaps such a step will make up for any shortcomings the passing legislation may have.

Here is what I see as the greatest possible danger of leaving the system essentially as is.

It is about a decade after the legislation passed. American eating habits have continued to decline. Those who have jobs do alright in terms of health insurance. Many of those without jobs or in between them have trouble affording it. Luckily, credit card legislation has helped to keep those who miss health care payments from slipping deeper into debt. Due to lack of preventive care, our emergency rooms are still overburdened. US health care is now five times as costly as the closest nation’s health care system. Most of the burden has fallen on businesses. Larger corporations are able to shoulder the burden but smaller ones are not. They must seek subsidies from the government to stay in business.

Without a public plan the public ends up paying more. They just pay it to insurance companies instead of to the government. Without a public health care plan to compete with insurance companies suck up a larger portion of the US GDP each year. Health care shareholders become some of the happiest (and healthiest) Americans.

This is my worst case scenario.

of pods and plants

It is the year 2070.

We must all live indoors in airtight spaces. Even a small leak can be fatal. Many of us live far from the city, isolated in our small condominiums. I must water the plants today. My life depends on it. I, like most people, cannot afford to purchase outside oxygen, so I must keep several plants to produce it for me.

The light in the living room went out last month. I panicked. There is no natural light. Without the light my plants would wither. Several were in fixed planters and could not be moved to a different room. I also need constant light to make sure my eyes don’t go bad. At first I thought the generator had failed because it isn’t normal for the lights burn out. I complained about the faulty lighting tube. I have plenty of spares now.

For now, all of my needs are being met. Life on the dark side of the moon can be quite peaceful.

Lines

Glen was in line and the corner store. The mints caught his eye. He licked the lens of his glasses, partly so that he could see better. Glen had a pointy head with lizardly features. He reached out for some mints. Wait, no. He reached out for another. He was second in line now. He started to panic as the knobby fingertips danced between the various brands.

Glen left the store with three fists full of various mints. He slipped an entire pack into his mouth as started his car and idled out of the parking lot. The mint burned like ice in his lungs.

The pine trees were particularly green.

Merry Christmas and stuff

Great Job Santa and Baby Jesus!

drinkendriven

So, what are you in for?

They asked if I had been drinking and driving. I said that I had. I had had a lot to drink, actually. They didn’t ask me what I had been drinking, though.

What had you been drinking?

Water.

a shared thought

in a bedroom somewhere there is a child listening to the freeway as she slips into slumber. the child imagines the world outside as it may be. Trees and street-lamps, clouds and stars. the child imagines another child like herself in one of the cars on the freeway.

she is looking out of the rear window up and the same moon with the same halo of clouds wondering if in one of the houses near the edge of the freeway there is a child like her, thinking and dreaming about the same strange world.

from one of the distant stars in the sky another child gazes upward into the vastness of the milky way. she wonders if their are other children somewhere who are looking up at the same sets of stars, sharing her thoughts and weaving the same dreams.