Dear Bill,
There is a joke about science and scientists that goes like this:
Under a lone street light on a dark city street a man is seen on his hands
and knees, searching for something. "Sir, what are you looking for?" a
passerby asks. The man answers "My keys. I lost them while walking home,
but I don't know where." The passerby asks "Then why are you looking for
them here?". The man answers "It's the only place I can see."
My impression from your post is that you are one of the scientists
who is quite snugly entrenched under the lamp. Many of us (some of us
scientists) who are working out in the metaphorical dark streets, believe
there are many significant phenomena which science has not yet uncovered,
and that we can learn a lot from the non-scientists who have a feel for
these phenomena. This mail list is one place where information from the
metaphorical "dark streets" is processed. Granted, there is a fair amount
of implausible stuff being discussed, but then remember some of the great
science which was implausible before it was accepted as truth.
Granted also is that there are some pretty worried and apparently
insecure people who post on this list, and they are often the people who
seem to be able to sit at their computers for hours and write very long
postings. I actually had the same initial response as you did when I started
on SANET. But there is also a lot to be learned by a scientist from this list.
Don Lotter
Dept. of Entomology
UC Davis
(a scientist)
P.S. It is interesting to me that you came to SANET through the Graze-L
list. The cattle industry, at least in the western US, (and this is no
unsubstantiated claim, see Fleischner 1994) is the most destructive and
unsustainable of all of the agricultural industries.
Fleischner, T.L., 1994. Ecological costs of livestock grazing in western
North America. Conservation Biol., v.8:629-644
cc. SANET
Bill Tucker's posting to SANET
Dear Listers:
Was connected with your list via a post on Graze-L recently. Having
been subscribed and lurking for several days now, just wanted to
summarize what I've learned.
1) The United States government is evil.
2) Fidel Castro is first and foremost a humanitarian.
3) World petroleum reserves will be depleted very soon.
4) World destruction (via global warming, rampant consumption, etc.)
is imminent.
5) Persons working for ag companies (Monsanto) can be neatly
compartmentalized into one of two categories--evil or having "sold
out" their values.
Review of your posts has stirred vague and unsettling memories. I
recall as a child, a country boy from Mississippi, being scared
breathless by reports that world petroleum reserves would be
exhausted "momentarily" ("What will we do?", I thought). Now,
many, many years later, I hear the same reports (although I
understand that, this time, it's really, really, really true).
The overall tone of your list strikes me as that of a group of people
who are extremely dissatisfied with their environment, their country,
other humans, and their "lot in life". I sincerely wish for each of
you peace in resolving these conflicts.
As an affirmed "evil scientist", my next post shall be to unsubscribe
from this list. However, feel free to flail away at me directly via
my e-mail address. Again, peace.