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Mikolaj's avatar

Tremendous! The only possible levity in man made apocalypse is how utterly ridiculous it makes Pinker look. Almost worth a go. Perhaps there is even salvation of sorts therein (as you suggest). If only Cormack McCarthy's characters had read Pinker... The Road might have afforded some maddening comedy that perhaps Balzac also saw.

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Nik Prassas's avatar

My other idea for a story was that of a young self-propelled terrorist who ignites global nuclear war just to own Pinker

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Mikolaj's avatar

Hahaha! Amazing! That is excellent - can't rebel against God as he's allegedly dead, so all that's left is rebelling against Pinker! A Dostoyevsky grade depth of despair and futility that for all its self destruction remains merely pathetic.

Would love to see that! probably a psychodrama with a lot of internal dialogue - good material.

There might be a little genre you have hit upon there - the Pinker Tragedy

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Peter Whisenant's avatar

I'm reminded of the final line of Robert Browning's "Love Among the Ruins": "Love is best." I pray that the angels of peace will shed their blessings not just on Martha, but on all who strive and suffer.

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Nik Prassas's avatar

And there’s a very good little novella by Waugh that took its title from Browning, which was somewhere in the back of my head. Thank you for reading Peter.

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David A. Westbrook's avatar

This is both funny and sad and has got me thinking -- there is something about this kind of mind (a disproportionate number of economists) that another kind of mind (like mine, and I am fairly certain yours) finds downright offensive, abhorrent, in a visceral way. Maybe even heretical, at some psychological level. Too much to say in this comment.

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Naucratic Expeditions's avatar

Exquisite and uproariously funny

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Nik Prassas's avatar

lol thank you

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