When Iern and Ronica discuss the devious doings of Mikli Karst and Wolf Lodge:
"Stones scrunched underfoot. A raven flapped past, blackness momentarily blotting out the sun, and croaked, startlingly loud." (p. 384)
A raven commented on the action when Terai met Ronica's mother. See Cat And Raven. This time, the raven "comments," as I see it, first by blocking the light, then by croaking startlingly.
Continuing the conversation, Ronica says:
"'Nor do I suppose we humans, any bunch of us, are more than glorified apes. Sure, we'll fuck up in space same as we've done on Earth. The point is, we'll be there, beyond the death of the sun.'" (p. 385)
That is one reason for going into space, certainly. But, meanwhile, we need to stop f ----ing up on Earth because that is where most people will continue to live for the foreseeable future. We are more and other than a kind of ape, having developed both reason and morality.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree!
Sean
Reason is just a tool, like a thumb or a saber-tooth's fangs. The uses of the tool are the same. As for morality... well, some people believe in fairies, too.
Well, I think that we sometimes transcend our evolutionary origins. Thus, hands with opposable thumbs that were developed for merely grasping and manipulating the immediate environment can be used to play musical instruments, also to write poetry or philosophy. Reason has generated scientific method. The biologically based motivation to help others either because they bear the same genes or because they might help us in return has become, in some, disinterested morality.
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