Infinity

My biggest intellectual failure is my inability to understand infinity in both space and time.  I have been to school and I definitely understand the meaning of the two concepts, but I can not honestly get my head around either one.  Were I in a classroom, I could repeat the definitions, but out here in real life, I instinctively seek limits that I increasingly believe do not actually exist.  Were I to accept infinity, it would revolutionize the way in which I look at what is happening all around me on this small, spinning rock.  I would see an imbalance between humans and resources that was being "corrected," just as every imbalance before this one has been corrected.  There are too many mouths consuming a finite amount of "resources" and the correction necessary is built into the makeup of the individual human.  Greed and fear being two of the more important elements.  What we call "intelligence" being a close second.  We humans have invented the tools necessary to dramatically correct the planet's overpopulation "problem" and our emotional state is encouraging us to use them.  The chatter that clutters communication is governed by "greed and fear" while the forces that will significantly reduce the overpopulation "problem" are driven by "intelligence."  If "we" do thus and so, "they" will have to accept our wishful thinking and the inevitable failure will, because of our "intelligence," result in a major reduction in the number of mouths.

A two bit Russian KGB colonel is ridiculously facing off with a worn out, rudderless American politician in a corner of Europe, while a constantly changing mix of ethnic hoodlums are disrupting life throughout Africa, an authoritarian Chinese leader is seeking to establish himself as the new arbiter of things international, a fairly large group of religious zealots are trying to win a millennia old conflict in the Middle East and organized crime is taking over ever larger parts of the Americas (to include this one).  The details are infinitely complex and all-absorbing for the eight billion mouths presently eating enough food to keep seven billion people alive.  Our "intelligence" seeks to address the fundamentals of the situation with the thought that the real problem is climate change caused by too much carbon dioxide being released into the air.  Not too many mouths.  Too much carbon.  This approach not only does not address the actual situation, it intensifies the effort to engage in conflict.  Unless we wake up, you and I are going to trigger a significant reduction in the number of mouths eating whatever can be grown on the rock after nuclear war has changed growing conditions.

None of that matters to us because we have to determine the age of the fetus, the proper use of pronouns, the proper price of gasoline, and exact phrasing of the sign on the bathroom door, while, all the while, protecting our individual sensitivities.  If I were not stuck in middle of it all, it would be outrageously hilarious.  My present pessimism derives from the impossibility of changing the course of events, because we are caught up in a process that is infinitely bigger than our minds are capable of managing.  The world will change and it will continue whether we humans manage to keep up adequately to remain a part of it or not.  The next question is who or what is really in charge.  I, of course, do not know if God exists, but I currently suspect that it doesn't make any real difference.  Infinity is enough all by itself to explain whatever happens on this little tiny, insignificant, spinning rock. 

All of this will sail right over the average reader's head and I can't do anything about it right now because I have to go get more milk for my morning coffee.  All eight billion of us are literally too busy with the minutia of daily life to save ourselves.