Our love of detailed knowledge often blinds us to the bigger picture.
For example population forecasters and intellectuals like Bjorn Lomborg in his recent book ‘False alarm’, carefully extrapolate detailed trends into the future based on past experience. They fail entirely to take account of the inevitable deaths that will arise from climate and ecological collapse.
The Quiz
We love to do quizzes
In the pub on quiz night
To test our knowledge
And to feel we are right
Our favourite questions
Soap operas or sport
Nothing to challenge
Our old ways of thought
When will the Arctic
Give up its last ice?
We don’t like such questions
We don’t think they’re nice
But if we can’t answer
Such questions as these
What happens to quiz night?
It’s dust in the breeze
Until we ask questions
That matter the most
And think of some answers
Our future is toast