What Am I Trying to Accomplish Here?

At some point in our lives, we have all pondered not only our own mortality, but the mortality of our society, our species and our planet. For many, the prospect is so enormous that we become overwhelmed. We decide to become activists, have deep and sometimes very passionate discussions, or we just decide to ignore the idea altogether. There's no right or wrong reaction. Thinking about when, how and if the end of everything will happen is one of major catalysts for the development of our own personal philosophies.

There is clearly a widespread fascination. Why else have the confusing and ominous prophecies of Nostradamus endured for five hundred years? Why else is there a feature film coming out that is all about the dire interpretations of a calendar from a long dead society?

I'm certainly no different. I remember my own developing fascination while watching a scene from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome where a group of children recount the tale of a nuclear holocaust through cave paintings and dramatic storytelling. Ever since then, I made it a hobby to read about and learn all of the different ways that we, as a species, have predicted our own end of days. But somewhere along the way, my morbid fascination transformed into a kind of positive cynicism. The end of the world is one of those rare subjects where being a cynic actually makes you an optimist.

Let's set the Wayback Machine for about a decade ago. In the latter half of 1999, there was something of a widespread panic. People believed that, at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2000, all of the computers in the world, unable to recognize the year "00", would simultaneously shut down, plunging all of society into a technology-free dark age. I myself was working in computer tech support at my college's law school, racing against the clock to make all of its embarrassingly outdated computers Y2K compliant. Even I became convinced that something sinister and devastating was going to happen once the ball touched down in Times Square.

But do you remember what happened that fateful New Year's Eve? Absolutely nothing. The world didn't end. It didn't even hiccup. We all woke up the next morning with the same hangovers and resolutions as always.

Since then, I changed my whole attitude about this constant fear of the end. Maybe things aren't that bad. Maybe we're not actually on the brink of utter catastrophe. Maybe...just maybe...everything is going to be okay. And that's when my own personal interest actually increased. I wanted to learn about why we're so obsessed with our own demise and to try to see the positive in such a dreary subject. Believe it or not, it can be positive.

And that's what I'm hoping to accomplish with this blog. I want to bring my own exploration of all of the ways we can be destroyed into a public forum. I want to bring my cynicism to it and hopefully start a new discussion about how we're not that close to destruction. In a time where we're bombarded by bad news on a daily basis, I want to bring some positive light by shining it on the most dreadful subject of all.

While I have done a good deal of research, I am but one person. Odds are I won't get all my facts correct, or I might miss a detail here and there. And if I do make a mistake, I hope to be (civilly) corrected. This is primarily my own opinion and philosophy based on what I've learned and continue to learn. This is not a personal blog, so there won't be too much about what's going on in my actual life here (that's what I have Facebook and Livejournal for).

Just a couple quick ground rules: While I do hope to spark some discussion and/or debate, belligerent comments will not be tolerated in any way. It's perfectly okay to get passionate about subjects, but let's keep it civil. I don't expect everybody to agree with what I say. I am primarily giving my own opinion on things after all. The bottom line is this: treat commenters and myself with respect, and you will be treated in kind.

So let's have fun. Let's have discussions. Let's get positively cynical about the end of all things.