
Why are we so fascinated with the end of humanity?
First it was Alan Weisman's "The World Without Us." Then it was History Channel's "Life After People." Now the National Geographic Channel channel has "Aftermath: Population Zero." The question asked in all these works is the same -- what would Earth look like if humanity disappeared?
What would the Earth look like? And why are we so fascinated with the question?















Thoughts
Eschatological Language
Submitted on March 8th, 2008 by AnonymousIt's pretty obvious that notions of beginnings and ends influence our culture all the way down to the level of language. Historians note it in distinguishing notions of linear and cyclical histories among ancient peoples. Religions are consumed with it, even calendrical notions of great ages in observed astronomical cycles frequently are translated as book ending events rather than individual chapters. Why a Mayan zodiacal calendar restarting around 2012 is different from Babylonian or equatorial systems is as much a matter of culture as it is latitude. We find eschatology in all past and contemporary ideologies. To the last they almost almost invariably contain utopian themes of a near mystical end state "after the revolution." None are excluded, neither socialism, nor corporatism, nor classical liberalism, nor anarchism. We find it in ancient western philosophy and argument predicated on the notion of prime movers, grand unity of the sciences, and hidden truths yet to be revealed. Some say that the language we have is what limits our ability to form new ideas. It's hard to believe we would go out looking for evidence of any of it if we didn't already have some notion of that for which we were hunting.
I have always been fascinated by the apocalypse.
Submitted on March 8th, 2008 by AnonymousBooks like the The Stand, and shows like Jericho, have always intrigued me on a high level because it is such an interesting subject. I love the interactive timeline on his website about what happens to the world within a week, a month, a year, etc. to the planet.