“Once upon a time…” It isn’t at all unusual for a writer, meaning those compelled to write, to begin a story without knowing how it will end. The way the world is going brought this to mind, especially since the history of our species seems to be more of a Rube Goldberg approach than anything well planned, let alone anything approaching the principle of parsimony. As a professional writer I have experienced the 1,200 pages of manuscript I have written that eventually turns into a 500 page book. In some cases this is somewhat like a Rube Goldberg machine, but one in which all that proved unnecessary, did not fit the purpose or was found to be superfluous to eventually be winnowed out. But I have also experienced beginning a story that seems to take on a life of its own, and one that compels me to continue writing just to see how the story will end. And I ask myself whether God may have done the same thing?

There are many my age that recognize the destructive forces at work changing our planet for the worse, able to compare the present course of events and these forces with what happened in time past and the quality of life that once defined Norman Rockwell’s America. But most of us realize there is no turning back to that era and can only recall it with a melancholy nostalgia. Those quick to disparage that era choosing to emphasize the inequalities and inequities seem unaware of the things that made America great, a nation the envy of the world and in fact saved the world from the Axis threat. Even now the detractors of America choose to ignore the distinction between how many want into America compared with how many want out.

But I have thought about the many inequalities and inequities of our species throughout human history and speculated while acknowledging the good points the Creation Research Society and Ben Stein make the gods are given to a Rube Goldberg approach to the workings of the universe, of our planet and our species, putting together enormously over-complicated machines that could be simplified in many ways. Who decided the dinosaurs, lions, tigers, bears, sharks, venomous insects and reptiles, foxtails were a good idea? Then too, perhaps such things were decided in a “council of the gods” much in the way of Congressional committees; in which case we could easily understand the Rube Goldberg approach to the way things have happened and the direction of destruction in which we seem to be headed.

Thoreau wrote of the “machinery of government,” that we seem to need to hear the whir and clank of this machinery though most of it is far from being either efficient or even serving the basic needs of people. And in this age of electronics and computers, the whir and clank of the machinery of government is taking on an ominous sound to our ears as it takes on a life of its own defying any human intervention in the best interests of either our planet or our species. It is as though some malevolent force has invaded the machines that govern our lives and that of our planet, one against which we poor mortals are at a loss to circumvent, one against which we seem powerless to provide the necessary friction Thoreau mentioned in order to frustrate its malevolent purpose.

If we were to consider all the SciFi scenarios, all the Frankenstein experiments, all the unintended consequences of our scientific and technological accomplishments and lump them together it is a worst case portent for our planet and our species. It may turn out the best of science and technology cannot save us, but on the contrary the worst consequences of these may doom us. And if we question why we could not simply have the best of these things without their being turned against us we are left without an explanation other than perhaps the author began a story without knowing what the ending would be, but kept pressing on to see how the story would end.

Scheherazade kept the stories going in order to stave off calamity, and in the end she triumphed having educated the King and won him over. But her life depended on making the stories so interesting to the King that he continued to spare her. Our species may be a continuing story of interest to the “King,” but what if he becomes bored or angry?

Margaret Mitchell had no idea “Gone With The Wind” would be successful and Harper Lee had no idea whether anyone would want to read “To Kill A Mockingbird.” A whimsical thought has occurred to me whether the “author” of our species just might have the same reservations? But I hold on to the hope that despite any reservations on the part of the author we may yet prove a worthy effort and our story one of continuing interest and well worth reading. And after all, even Rube Goldberg machines though not designed for efficiency hold and invite much interest and eventually succeed in completing the assigned task.