Saturday, December 31, 2016

Goodbye 2016

Through the wonders of Al Gore's Internets, I've become aware that there are a lot of people whining about 2016 being the worst year ever, blah, blah, blah? Not hard to avoid, as one is constantly being barraged by the whinesturm.

Really?

I'm not even going to go back to history to discuss 1939, 1347, 476, 2001, and personally 1959.

But I am going to put it in context (I hope)... 

What do we remember about Western history from 2,000 years ago - the year 16? Mostly what we have from the Romans, right? The ironically named Germanicus kicked butt in Germany, Drusilla was born, cough, cough...

Get to the point Lenster!

Here's my theory: In 5,000 years or so, the only thing that will be taught about the 20th century will be one name.

Note that I piled on the centuries: 5,000 years from now, or the year 7016.

WWI and WWII will be little blips in the multi-millennial history course - unless some Ivy League college will have a quaint "History of the second millennial" history course. No one will know off the top of their heads who Hitler was, or Roosevelt, or Kennedy, or Castro, or Ghandi.

The only name who will anchor the 20th century will be Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on another world, and possibly Yuri Gagarin, the first man technically in space.

Odds overwhelmingly favor the existence of other civilizations, and although our solar system's remote location in the outskirts of the Galaxy make it hard for any enterprising civilization to find us, I suspect that in the next few hundred years or so, first contact will be made, and that will be an important milepost in human history.

In comparison to Gagarin, Armstrong, and First Contact: Trump, Hillary, Obama? 2016? Naaah... no one will remember any of that in a few years... in fact, by the time the next President is elected in four years or eight years, it will be a dim memory, sort of like Carter, or Ford...

Just sayin'... and whine on...

Friday, December 30, 2016