Chapter 17

By the time I finished this article I wanted to rename it one of two things: A Tale of Too Many -isms and Geology Made Fun. The first half of the article was a lot more jargon than I am used to concerning Sumner but, as he often does, he finds a way to make it all make sense and enjoyable to read. If it was anyone else writing this article I probably would have bailed on it fairly early. To be completely honest with you, geology is not really my idea of fun reading after work. Still, the way that Sumner plowed through the "-isms" and then built upon those to help bring relevance to the idea of looking to the present to find the past and predict the future. There was a lot of credence to Sumner's argument especially when placed beneath the failing societies microscope. Looking at it in that way really helps bring everything else that Sumner has talked about in his other articles full circle. Sure, you can sit there and talk to no end about how the world will end, but when we can actually look at areas today that are failing and coming to an end because of dwindling resources, it really forces you to stop and think about things. Hopefully, as Sumner suggests, we can as a whole rewire our brains to either start slowing down the damages we are doing now or find a way to start adapting and reverse the effects.