Expand on the thoughts coming from A Short History of Progress. Specifically from the parts of chapter 3 talking about the floods in the Mesopotamian city of Ur and Uruk and the story of the man who survived to tell of it. Of the roles of gods and how we've lost that in our current (American) theology, and of the true role of the bible in history as a document rather than an object of worship. Why was it created, if it tells the stories of those from the start of civilization in the Middle East? How far has it strayed from the original works that inspired it to become what so many people know today? When did we lose the connection between nature and the heavenly?
The contrast between what we saw and recorded in the past and the things we view as common knowledge or an easy conclusion to come to is also so interesting. After the floods, the line stating that "scribes reporting that the land had 'turned white'" is obviously about the salt from the water that did not evaporate and was thus left behind. If I had been there, would I have known this? Would anyone? How much of what I know is due solely to the work of others throughout history and how much would I be able to deduce alone?? Decucing alone, I guess, has never truly been done. Everything human is a work of collaboration throughout time.
"Able to thrive almost anywhere, goats often create an environment in which little but goats will survive." Goats, like people, are bad at limiting excess.
Reflecting on the slow revival of fertility and its eventual promise, they might have agreed with Kafka: “There is hope; though not for us.”