Edward Abbey, Antinatalism and A Roman spring

 Dear Barry, 

     As you probably know, we are expecting an addition to the family shortly. So I found it funny the other day as I was wrapping up Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire that I came across this quote: 

"We need coyotes more than we need, let us say, more people, of whom we have already an extravagant surplus, or more domesticated dogs, which in all fairness could and should be ground up into hamburger and used as emergency coyote food, to raise their spirits and perhaps improve the tenor of their predawn howling."

Some days I feel that about people and most days I feel that about dogs. I'm of the opinion the best animals are those in the wild, not bred into captivity, but I know you loved your dog so we'll probably disagree about that. The funny thing was right after reading  that, I read about David Benatar and his philosophy of Anti-natalism. So instead of taking the side of no people for nature's sake, I was reading about no people for people's sake. 

I'm sure you've read about it, but it was my first introduction to this theory which posits that procreation is morally bad. He goes further in stating there's an asymmetry between pleasure and pain. Pretty much meaning that while existing involving both painful and pleasant experiences, not existing involves neither pain or pleasure.. As absence of pleasure is not bad and abesence of pain is good., it is (in his argument) better to not exist(and not experience pain) than to live. He stresses he is not proposing suicide but rather the moral imperative to not expose unwitting (and non-consenting) future generations to a painful life. .

While interesting, I don't buy it. 

And as you know me well, there is no way that I am going to articulate myself well enough to present a convincing counter-argument to a world renowned philosopher but I know I'd rather live through all the goods and bads of this life than not-exist at all. And all I can say is that I will do everything in my power to ensure my children are exposed to so many more good experiences than bad that there is no chance they'd ever regret being born. I know this doesn't get to the root of no bad is still better than any bad, but still, I'm standing firm.

In other news, did you see that wealthy people perceive their lives to be longer? The thought behind it is that they have the ability to experience more novel tasks throughout their lives which ingrains more memories and distinct time points that then can be looked back upon separately and thus giving the sensation of a longer more rich(I wish pun was intended) life. 

But you don't have to be rich to do this. You just have to be willing to get out of your comfort zone and do and try new things. It was once thought that the brain cells you were born with are all that you ever will have but new evidence shows that the brain can be stimulated to continue to grow and adapt well into adulthood. The key is to provide to novel tasks. This doesn't have to be a trip to Seychelles but just doing something different or even just looking at something from a different perspective. 

Probably nothing new learned for you today but I thought I'd write to you anyway.

I've attached a few pictures from my run today. Yes those are Roman carvings from 2-4th century CE only about 1 mile from my house. Cannot wait for you to come and visit, though it feels like you're already here with me.

Until next time my friend,

Danny

Ode to my Dad

 Dear Barry, 

 

   I just assembled an IKEA end table and night stand. Yes, you can probably sense the smugness in my satisfaction that after a mere three hours of arduous labor, I was able to assemble an equivalent to a color by numbers piece of furniture. And don't give me too much credit, remember the time change and that it's almost 11pm here. Yeah, not much pride should be had here.

It's crazy, ya know. My dad had me 5 years younger than I had had Matilda but he had his $#!t so much more together. Besides making the best move in his life marrying my mom, he already had a good career, a successful side hustle(before that was even a thing), and could build an addition on his house. I barely assembled this piece of furniture. In all honesty, I had to disassemble and reassemble it due to my inability to follow the pictograms on the directions. 

Meanwhile, my father went on(while parenting two children at the time) to buy a house and then a second, get his Masters(before the Academic Arms Race era in which we currently reside), proceed to have two more children and become a Superintendent of schools.

All the while putting his family in front any/all of his own dreams.

Dad, an avid photographer, nearly disappears from view due to the nearly constant documenting of each of his children's lives(well before the advent of cameras on our supercomputers we have in our pockets). His photography hints at a love of the outdoors but that had to take a backburner to each of his children's numerous, and often disparate activities. None of which was more time consuming than basketball. A hockey fan and player, dad nonetheless, crossed over the Rubicon and converted to an devoted(if not boisterous) basketball fan. Teaching himself as he taught us, he coached our teams and watched every game he could, even when my younger brother and sister played collegiately meaning he'd be going hundreds of miles to see a game. 

Remember when when I was singing along to a song, you made a comment about my tone. I think it was something like:  I like how when you attempt to sing different notes you just sing louder or softer. Yes there is a good chance, in addition to being an incompetent handy man, I also am tone deaf. Imagine my dad's chagrin in hearing me (nearly constantly) signing off pitch all day and many long car rides. My dad, a musician like you, probably had to hold back everything he could from just yelling at me to stop the GD singing. But he never did. He never made me or my siblings feel like our little lives were anything other than the single most important part of his every day. He and my mom made us feel like we could do everything and achieve anything. 

I know I'm rambling on here so thank you for your sustained reading efforts. I just wanted to let you know that I am trying. Every day, I am trying to be half the man my father is to Matilda and baby Danny(Kenny has assured me that WILL NOT be his name). 

First things first: I'm going to try to cut down my furniture assembly time.

Until next time,

Danny

PS. Here are a few pictures from our recent trip to Amsterdam and Antwerp. Can't wait for you to join us over here.