Dear Subscriber,
As a Caltech teacher and supervisor of Management Development, I learned a lot about science and its purpose. The sad truth (Caltech’s motto: “The Truth shall set you free”) was that even though the technological geniuses at the school had figured out how to save energy and propel vehicles without the use of fossil fuels, even as far back as the 1980s, the “true powers” that ran Caltech were the oil companies, and they were international in scope and reach. They said what got promoted and eventually put on the line for consumption. This kind of “Truth” is true today as well. Just as soon as our Administrations say we’re going to cut-back on oil, they increase its use in war, and increase the cost we pay at the pumps. And just when we think “Green Energy” is a real thing, we see that it’s not. This occurs for the exact same reasons I saw at Caltech. Power always trumps genius.
At any rate, we consumers must revert to a non-scientific mode of dichotomous thinking to stay sane. Why? Because either scientists (most of them) are correct, and we’re destroying our environment with Global Warming, et al, or we’re not, and we’ll invent something as in our Superhero Movies, which will come in at the last moment to “save the day/month/year/decade/century.” Or not. Or maybe. Back and forth, until we reach a crisis, as we did with our World Wars. You can only proceed in one direction at a time, despite Big Brother’s dictum of “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength.”
With my genius intellect as an artist, I wrote two parodies and pastiches about our civilization. One is a serial that’s into its fourth episode. It’s called Auschwitz Dancer. The other is a stand-alone novelette called Castaways of Mar-a-Logo. They are both related to science fiction in that in the first drama time is frozen in 1943 in a horrific but romantic death camp parallel dimension. That’s String Theory, in case you were interested. And, so is the frozen-in-time absurdist comedy at Mar-a-Lago where the most important members of the White House can’t leave a dining room due to paranormal forces beyond their control. They can control nuclear holocaust, but they can’t control where they go to the toilet.
I hope you enjoy your week and find time to read to get you out of your real world adventures for awhile. Frankly, I believe the art world and the “real world” are connected. But that’s just me. I always stare the real monsters right in their faces.
Thanks,
James Musgrave
