h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Interesting post, eloquently put, plenty to think about

Thanks!

Now going back to the start of this ... the solution to present and near-future problems needs to exist at the level of human culture as well. It can't be all politics or science. And culture is not something that can be controlled. People all around the world decide for themselves what elements of culture to adopt or embrace. Yet ... it is possible to influence culture. Powerful ideas manage to filter through into the 'mass consciousness'. So ... the way to positively influence culture is to liberally sprinkle positive ideas into culture through a variety of media. Now in this regard I am working as hard as I can. As an artist, my art does convey the positive messages that I have for humanity. Wildife art shows people the beauty of the natural world and hopefully makes people start seeing that animals, too, deserve our consideration. This awareness is very sorely needed as the environmental problems look set to become very bad very soon. SO I want to produce much, much more wildlife art, and to get much, much better at it as well. And of course I'm not the only wildlife artist in the world ... thankfully! And all this art contributes to the same kind of goal.

But there are many other kinds of art I can and still want to produce. If I can get famous as an artist, then maybe I can have make a significant contribution to 'human consciousness'. Think of how famous artists like Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Vincent van Gogh, Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci and many others, are now parts of global human culture, with 'images' that are recognizable to most informed people in the world.

The thing is to have these 'images' convey messages. And of course, more direct and elaborate messages can be conveyed in other kinds of culture, like music or stories. And I want to do that, too. And I can, if I get the time and the opportunities! With visual art, you have to convey messages as images, but with music or writing, you can have words, and with words, say exactly what you mean. But of course there are messages that can be conveyed through art that *cannot* be put directly into words. So I think it would be good to 'speak' in words as well as in images and also with music, for a really complete spectrum of messages. There are hybrid media for instance movies or short animations that involve images, words and sounds/music.

Through these kinds of culture, elaborate messages can be introduced into human culture. If they hit 'hard enough', they can become part of mass human awareness. And that's what I'm aiming for.

Beyond the mere nature of the media, there's the content of the messages, and here's my contribution: I have a positive philosophy about the value of human life and of animal life - all life, indeed. I have a philosophy of what's important - not a complete and final philosophy, as I'm also fallible and limited - but I think it's enough to put people on the right path; exactly where and how far they go, is up to them. But I want to show people the beauty and the wonder and the miraculous nature of existence. I also want to say something about the power of gentleness ... we have a world and culture that worships money and power, which is indeed a huge mistake. My philosophy will stress how more important it is to be kind, nurturing and positively creative. And I can apply the same philosophy to various different aspects of existence: ordinary life, religion, politics, economics, science. Beyond the positivity of this philosophy - it's also a holistic philosophy. It helps people see how things belong together, what the connections are between different things, how everything affects/is affected by everything else. How everything *enriches* everything else.

I also have a thing or two to say about conceptual frameworks. Many people today operate with disjointed conceptual frameworks; they have one set of ideas/values for one role/situation, and a different set of ideas/values for another. Such disjointed frameworks leave people in a lurch when having to think holistically; also, such incoherent frameworks are not particularly strong, and can't support much. So ... having a truly holistic, coherent framework based firmly in reality is empowering to people. I want to stress that it is a *framework*. The frame hasn't been covered and filled in in full detail ... that depends on the person using the framework. On this frame people can hang their own individual bits of knowledge and experience, their ideas and ideals. But the framework itself is strong and robust and can accommodate just about everything. But it is not compatible with bullshit, bias, bigotry and brainwashing. It can rapidly expose nonsense - and this is going to become very, very important as the coming years will see a proliferation of fake news and political ideology which many people will fall for and which will divide people worse than ever. Whereas my positive, appreciative life philosophy is meant to unite and empower people. Conceptual empowerment. It is not just a framework of knowledge and guidelines towards gaining and evaluating new knowledge, it is also extremely fruitful, it stimulates new ideas - and better, ideas likely to be true, powerful, valuable and enriching.

So this is what I would like to convey by cultural means. And I can do it, if I can indeed become more successful as an artist/author or (I hope) musician!

My only talent, such as it is, is writing. I've written a few poems about wildlife and the environment: a couple are on h2g2, and there's a magazine called Dawn Treader which is prepared to publish a couple more.
I can and will go on doing this!


By the way, have you read 'The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy' by Michael McCarthy? He deplores the loss of wildlife over his lifetime and proposes a celebration of the joy it brings as a means of saving it.

It's great that you're doing that Minorvogonpoet! You've a more 'writerly' style than I ...

There are many people out in the world doing their little bit ... but another thing is that with communication becoming so easy as it is right now, more and more people can band together and cooperate, in fields such as nature conservation or various other kinds of vital projects. We need to also encourage each other. I don't know about you, but there are times when indeed I could do with some encouragement!

Talent ... I was blessed with an artistic talent, but I still have to work very hard at it, and I don't think I'm anywhere near as good as I could be ... but I think that things like passion and fervor for a cause is at least as important than talent.

No, I haven't yet read that book! I'll keep an eye out for it. But it's true ... all the wild things I've encountered in my life, from the little geckoes that share my home with me, to elephants and other huge and impressive things, have given me joy. The birds, animals, plants, all things around me, they're friends and family to me, and just encountering them gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. I am even kind to mosquitoes ... I mostly let them be, and strangely enough, they seem to be leaving me alone also! For many people a leap to this kind of communing with nature would seem insane. And it's perhaps not quite fair to ask everyone to become similarly loopy tree-huggers. But any bit of progress towards greater appreciation of nature by more people, is good. Still I have that ideal (perhaps achievable, perhaps not) of *everyone* on the planet being nature and wildlife-conscious! I'll do my work and there are many other people doing their work. Something good must come from it!