[extropy-chat] uh oh, something's right

[spike]

Friends,

Today we had another hit with the THAAD missile system, the seventh
consecutive success.  Most remarkable is this, considering that when trying
to hit a missile with another missile, there is so little target and so damn
much sky.  THAAD development is now three years ahead of schedule; likely
deployment will be in 2009 instead of 2012.

But I noticed another remarkable thing.  The mainstream news agencies
uttered not one word about it, and nary a syllable about the previous two
hits in January or September.  Think this over: to achieve kinetic kill
represents an astounding technological achievement, control systems at the
bleeding edge of technology, sensors at the limit of our ability, a
supercomputer flying at four times the speed of sound on a mission to
destroy a mass destroyer of life.  

Back in the 90s when we couldn't hit a barn with these things, the press
couldn't get enough of the story, all the drooling rage it was.  But now
when we are smacking out of the sky everything that we aim at, they find it
far less newsworthy than the latest shaven-headed movie harlot or the
playboy bunny who managed to slay her self by devouring everything in the
medicine chest.  This is news.

I was pondering this as I drove home, and suddenly noticed that everything
around me is basically functional.  I see utter competence everywhere.
Anyone who wants a job can get one, even if not their dream career.  Traffic
is dense, but it moves along.  We go weeks at a time between even seeing a
traffic accident.  We often go months between malfunctions of household
appliances, years between being a victim of even a minor crime, decades
between an untimely death of a close friend or family member due to anything
other than natural causes.  Things are working.  They are working damn well,
working early and often.  Something is right.

But we are afraid to congratulate ourselves.  Why don't we all take some
time to recognize all the things that are working right, such as the THAAD
missile, the highway system, capitalism incorporated.

Let us congratulate ourselves unapologetically, shall we?

spike