Yes, I know. I know! The world doesn’t need any more self-reflexive blog diatribes on the excesses of information and communication, and anyway, Nature would have a hard time finding a less-qualified spokesman than yours truly.
And I like the twitters and the tumblrs and the readers and the texts and autotunes and awards shows and earbuds and the myriad twinkling accoutrements of the post-whateverist land I live alongside and choose to inhabit and which my grandfather would grumble about. I like that stuff. And I’m not going to say It’s Dumb or It’s Fake because mostly it’s just People, and of course most of them are dumb and most of them are fake, but that’s nothing new, and dumb people have had radio shows and written pamphlets and carved hieroglyphs and talked, I’m pretty sure, since the world’s had them in it, and you just have to love them for it. We’re all pretty dumb to each other most of the time.
And I guess I’m just talking about wanting to remember how dumb we are, and proud and happy and insignificant and beautiful, by examining an anthill maybe, or walking at night, or smelling things. I can see why Grandpa grumbled. There’s a lot to miss. There’s a lot that’s pretty unambiguously real. And I’m not saying I want to throw my computer into the river. Or give up TV or hamburgers. I’m not trying to be pious. I guess I’m just thinking a little more about balance, and about appreciating what underwrites all this. Which ultimately is not even Nature. But I think Nature is a little step towards it. So's People.
