Skip to main content

State of Fear

Just read a pesudo fiction from Michael Crichton which highlights the challenge faced by modern man in any nation on earth; more so in the United States - the preponderence of media and marketing associated to incite fear amongst the citizenry.

The book at times is repetitive in its plot and has the usual good guy escapades from serious calamity including getting eaten (as in kid stories) but drives a good point until the very end where apparently Mr. Crichton has disclosed his personal position on the 'state of affairs' and ends by stating that 'he for one has no agenda'.

That I found hard to believe in its absolute since clearly the very notion of publishing the thoughts was motivated by monetary opportunity. None the less its not as outrageously disturbing or hilarious as Larry King interviewing guests about their marital situations and issues, or one of the Kardashian sisters attempting to rescue an animal.

But back to the main idea in the 'Title' of the story. People on this planet are gullible and getting lazy and scared by the day, leading to the marketing and legal industries having a respective field day in advertising 'fear' and supposedly working to protect the common bloke from those that cause it.

From warning labels on plastic bags advising clients to not consume the product (this in the day and age of Green Movement that has spread like weed), to temperature warnings on everyday hot beverages that amplify consequences of consuming super heated liquids to serious planetary warming, people have been coerced to freak out.

Marketing and legal professions have made it hard on a manufacturer to get their product into market since they assume people are born not being able to distinguish edible from non and can stay in that ignorant state for several years well into adolesence. This may be true in some handful of cases where the assumption continues to believe that the parent in question has perhaps not digested this unappetizing fact that plastic consumption has not yet been approved for human race - other bizzare species of organisms are approved but not products generated from use of ancient peat.

People for their part seem to want to have these warnings as a way of getting back (or in some cases ensure their existence) at the idiot that defies their recommendation to say 'I told you so and its not my fault'.

When you see a young kid that is learning to ride a bike or check out a swing for the first time without the notion of fear you want to continue believing that we may yet come out unscathed if we found a way to nourish that confidence, innocence and the courage to test the unknown into their adulthood.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A few good books

 On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...

Back in DC

This time for a tech conference in the realm of what else? AI. But applied to an oft neglected space called Knowledge Management. The latter is a community of practice that focuses on analyzing, organizing and making available reams of data that have been gathered over time by various functions within an organization for anyone in the company to utilize. This function or process is ripe for applying AI agents (or agentic AI framework) and optimize for better outcomes. It was informative. More rewarding was getting acquainted with folks who practice this craft as well as learning of what they see in the corporate or public sectors. Since the venue was Washington DC it also afforded me the chance to take evening strolls albeit the weather was trying. With wind chill in the single digit it still is a glamorous place to perambulate through history absorbing what this country has been through since its founding days. I was able to visit the place Lincoln was killed along with his monument t...

Costa Rica

 Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry.   Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while.  Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...