This is the World Clock.
A neat idea.
On the surface.
But the damn thing is soooooooo subtley negative. Right there, under the coolness of it all.
Negative.
Which is really ironic.
Considering Peter Russell is a spiritual kind of guy. And a bit of a pioneer. He's had a website going since 1996.
That's the stone age, as far as the Internet is concerned.
Back then, you coded by hand.
In Notepad.
And uploaded on a 56K modem on your house telephone line.
The hell with everyone else in the house wanting to use the phone at the time.
But to return to the point.....
I don't think the negativity is intentional.
But the choice of what's being tracked is what's doing it.
Births. Deaths. Population growth.
Deforestation.
Communicable/noncommunicable diseases.
Species Extinct.
Abortions.
Hot-button items, all of them.
Each stat is rising, of course, because the figures on the clock are approximations based on past stats and estimates, and then aggregated since the thing started counting, whenever that was.
And when you're done being impressed with the stats, the negativity kicks in.
The world sucks. People suck. We're killing ourselves.
<sigh>
Where are the counters for:
- successful organ transplants
- dollars donated by individuals for disaster relief
- babies and older children adopted
- spayed and neutered puppies and kittens
- teenagers getting their driver's licenses
- weddings
- barrels of single-malt whiskey
- pounds of aluminum, glass, and paper recycled
I mean, if you're going to seek spiritual enlightenment--using these clocks--why not leave a little joy around for others to find?
Comments