Malachi knew (but seldom said to his neighbors except for Tad Doremus the blacksmith) that the rise of waters was engulfing the dry land because of the determined blundering of expert technological man in the recent past. What else but man-made fumes, particularly those of humanity’s dearest buzz-toy, had heated the atmospheric greenhouse the critical few degrees that hastened the melting of polar ice ? And choking on atmospheric garbage meant Progress : so choke. All toward what conclusion – who tried to know ? Not the engineers – it wasn’t their job. They were earnest and righteous about that : it was never their job to foresee anything beyond the immediate achievement and immediate profit. They could only build and grow – one says that of cancer.
Edgar Pangborn, The Children’s Crusade
Ça date de 1974, ça n’a pas pris une ride… Et pourtant, tout le monde continue à s’en foutre.
Les gens ont tendance à ne se préoccuper que du futur proche.