What is our next step forward. How can we develop the capacity to create, regenerate, learn to be explorers instead of destroyers... to withstand, like the Stewart, the bombardment of forces currently trying to sink democracy and freedom without becoming cynical or destructive ourselves. A great opportunity to create something new out of the ragged psyche of Earthlings.
Thanks for these reflections. I find some light contentment when I read your personal stories as, like when you wrote with Dan, touches of humanity make the rougher edges of the conflict and confusion and hubris that takes up so much of the airwaves safer to wrap our hands and minds around for, on too many days, I feel uncertain about my strength in either of these later means. 😀
Elliot- this is the best definition of the newsletter. I am a subscriber because I come here for current news that is fact based, honest and transparent. “While neither image is taken literally “through the fog,” both embody the spirit of this newsletter—reflections on our human desire to observe and make sense of ideas and objects that are often obscured, difficult to find, or not easily discernible.” Thank you!!
What an inspiring and informative essay, thank you, Elliot. It does give one hope that, in the not too distant future, we may hope that Homo sapiens give up their lust for constant warring and desecration, and turn their attention to preservation and improvement. The old admonishment that 'wars create inventions for good' no longer holds a modicum of truth. While killing all your current enemies might rid you of temporary threat - that peace doesn't last long. A lesson we should have learned from the 'pax Romana" a couple of thousand years ago.
Thank you Elliot for your reflections on images of human activity that summons the humanity in me during moments of despair for what is happening on our fragile earth arising from human conflicts and Mother Earth’s climatic spasms. Your essay is touching and thoughtful.
Thank you so much, Elliot. I remember a trip to Lake George, New York, the day our astronauts first set foot on the moon. A magical time in my life and a more magical day!
Our species has such potential for great achievements, and we've proved that in many ways over the millenia, but then there are the MAGAts...We must do what we can in the next month to make them retreat to the slime they emerged from and maybe get them to start afresh.
Thank you, Elliot, beautifully and charmingly written as always.
The ideas that emanate from the human mind and soul are beyond phenomenal. In my tenure on earth alone we have gone from D-Day to Donald Trump. Consider the first Levittown, the Marshall Plan, Brown v. Board of Education, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Federal Highway Act, NASA, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Freedom Rides, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the March on Washington, the Twenty-fourth Amendment, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Selma Freedom March, and so much more, all before I turned twenty-one.
What is our next step forward. How can we develop the capacity to create, regenerate, learn to be explorers instead of destroyers... to withstand, like the Stewart, the bombardment of forces currently trying to sink democracy and freedom without becoming cynical or destructive ourselves. A great opportunity to create something new out of the ragged psyche of Earthlings.
Thanks for these reflections. I find some light contentment when I read your personal stories as, like when you wrote with Dan, touches of humanity make the rougher edges of the conflict and confusion and hubris that takes up so much of the airwaves safer to wrap our hands and minds around for, on too many days, I feel uncertain about my strength in either of these later means. 😀
Elliot- this is the best definition of the newsletter. I am a subscriber because I come here for current news that is fact based, honest and transparent. “While neither image is taken literally “through the fog,” both embody the spirit of this newsletter—reflections on our human desire to observe and make sense of ideas and objects that are often obscured, difficult to find, or not easily discernible.” Thank you!!
You have an uncanny ability to help us hit the “reset” button at just the right moment. Thank you as always.
Thank you.
What an inspiring and informative essay, thank you, Elliot. It does give one hope that, in the not too distant future, we may hope that Homo sapiens give up their lust for constant warring and desecration, and turn their attention to preservation and improvement. The old admonishment that 'wars create inventions for good' no longer holds a modicum of truth. While killing all your current enemies might rid you of temporary threat - that peace doesn't last long. A lesson we should have learned from the 'pax Romana" a couple of thousand years ago.
Good to remember wondrous things we've done and how very much we have yet to know.
Thank you Elliot for your reflections on images of human activity that summons the humanity in me during moments of despair for what is happening on our fragile earth arising from human conflicts and Mother Earth’s climatic spasms. Your essay is touching and thoughtful.
Thank you so much, Elliot. I remember a trip to Lake George, New York, the day our astronauts first set foot on the moon. A magical time in my life and a more magical day!
Amazing! Thank you for posting this. Informative and, yes, calming.
Great column. Truly great.
Our species has such potential for great achievements, and we've proved that in many ways over the millenia, but then there are the MAGAts...We must do what we can in the next month to make them retreat to the slime they emerged from and maybe get them to start afresh.
Fascinating 🖖. I wonder what Elon Musk would make of this.
Thank you for celebrating “our human desire to observe and make sense of ideas and objects that are often obscured, difficult to find, or not easily discernible.”. This is a rare and awesome planet that supports Life, These are great images thank you again for bringing them to my attention, I am excited about what AI can do to help us understand how the human body works and why we are what we eat. https://erictopol.substack.com/p/what-can-11000-proteins-in-our-blood?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=587835&post_id=149820016&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=f14pb&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
I wish I shared your optimism.
The unearthly picture of the sunken USS Stewart instantly reminded me of the cities in flight imagined by British sf writer James Blish.
Thank you, Elliot, beautifully and charmingly written as always.
The ideas that emanate from the human mind and soul are beyond phenomenal. In my tenure on earth alone we have gone from D-Day to Donald Trump. Consider the first Levittown, the Marshall Plan, Brown v. Board of Education, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Federal Highway Act, NASA, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Freedom Rides, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the March on Washington, the Twenty-fourth Amendment, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Selma Freedom March, and so much more, all before I turned twenty-one.
Human beings and the world we create are amazing.