Page 66/82: "If humanity becomes extinct ~~~~~~~~~


WE
WILL BE
GONE AS IF
WE HAD NEVER BEEN:"
But, for all your appropriate
reluctance to indulge too much in
language games, there is a distinction that
makes a difference between "as if we had never been"
(an entirely predictable if hardly imaginable future state) & "we never were."

The latter is NOT a possible outcome for us in the historical future, I think.
The difference by Benjamin's observation that when we speak of something that is "unforgettable,"
this is not so much a hortatory insistence on its importance for human memory as an assertion
that it has a place "in G d's memory"! Similarly {?} there is something
about the inevibility of our having been that makes us aspire
to the status of the best species
we could possibly
have been.

For now,
we do that,
not so much
by predicting
the future as,
through our discipline
of predicting the future, trying to help
make it possible.

Welcoming
the future
stranger.
14 mrt 2013 - bewerkt op 16 mrt 2013 - meld ongepast verhaal
Weet je zeker dat je dit verhaal wilt rapporteren? Ja | Nee
Profielfoto van Asih
Asih, man, 80 jaar
   
Log in om een reactie te plaatsen.   vorige volgende