The Long View
The past impacts the present, ad infinitum
On a post-family-Christmas ramble near the Gulf of Mexico, I was surprised to find myself ascending to this viewpoint on a high bluff above what was obviously a quarry.
Growing up in the Ramapo Mountains of New Jersey in a landscape of fascinating rocks and unique mineral deposits, quarries themselves don’t surprise me. I’ve spent weeks of my life chipping away inside them to unearth rare crystalline treasures. But the location of this one, north of Crystal River, Florida, did.
It’s deep, all right, as evidenced by standing on its edge and staring down into its crystalline waters, a dolomite mine deep enough to break into the Floridan aquifer, the source of Florida’s springs, and fill with clear water. Yet it sits within sight of a brackish man-made construct, a segment of the never-completed Cross Florida Barge Canal.
The slender rocky isthmus between the two is a bit unnerving. Worse is the interpretive signage that states a developer planned to blast between them to create a marina. That was never completed, either, and is one of many arguments as to why the barge canal was sheer folly. Allowing saltwater to creep further inland and up into the aquifer would’ve wreaked havoc on freshwater resources and beautiful springs.
I recall the fight to shut down the canal project, which ultimately was dropped in the 1970s. The worry that stuck out in my mind as a youngster was the probable damage to natural wonders like Silver Springs and Rainbow Springs by disrupting their floodplain and the aquifer, the hidden source of water for Floridians, itself.
History abounds with foolish decisions, often made in the name of progress. But who’s to say what that “progress” should be? Unfortunately, it’s usually driven by industrialists or politicians seeking more money and more power. For the average person, our lives are focused on our families, friends, and communities, both physical and interest-based. But we bear the impacts and disruptions caused by progress. Unevenly. Some examples:
Electricity. A net positive for humanity, but with the current push to power AI data centers, the impacts of generating far more will undoubtedly be negative.
Automobiles. The freedom to roam is a joy, but in our country, it created a ripple effect of dispersion of communities, traffic, and lessened support for public transportation outside cities.
Aircraft. The irony that the best markets for the Wright Brothers and their early competitors was the military is inescapable. Commercial air travel tanked the far slower but far more luxurious train travel, and I don’t believe that was a plus for us.
Satellites. Communications without physical cables. Back to military, but also, how many are too many? They are already cluttering the skies for astronomical observations. And their vulnerability is a proven fact. Back to military. See: the fate of the celebrated Telstar.
Internet. Being in on it since my college days, I believe it’s had more of an impact than all of the above (except electricity, which it wouldn’t exist without), both for the positive and the negative.
My long view? Progress is valuable when it lifts people up to live their best lives. Not the lives that advertisers have insisted you deserve if only you buy or use their products, but the life that grounds you in your sense of place. How you nurture bonds with family, friends, and community while nourishing yourself: physically, mentally, spiritually.
Retrospect is easy. Predicting the future is hard. The present is here and now. How you choose to live it, how you embrace or reject what others label progress, will ripple into the future: beyond you, across friends and family, into society.
Choose wisely.
PS. As for me and the “progress” I question these days, I’m making a conscious choice to reject the use of AI. A resolution, not for the New Year but for my own peace of mind as a creative soul and as someone concerned about its overall impact on society.
Great insights. These times have similarities to the industrial revolution, only much more impactful and dramatic. I wonder and worry for what the future holds.