We are no longer in a state of growth;
we are in a state of excess.
We are living in a society of excrescence,
meaning that which incessantly develops without being measurable
against its own objectives.
…growing out of control at cross purposes with itself…
This process can be compared best with cancerous metastases –

                               ***

As long as there is contradiction and dysfunction
in a system, as long as the known laws governing its functioning
are disobeyed,
there is no great problem since there is still the possibility
of reaching a solution by overextending.
What is worse –
when it already has left its own goals behind and thereby
has no remedies at hand.

A lack is never dramatic;
it is satiation that is disastrous,
for it simultaneously leads to lockjaw and inertia.

Something escapes us;
we escape ourselves in a process of no return,
we have missed a certain point for turning back,
a certain point of the contradiction in things,..
and have entered a universe of noncontradiction alive, of blind rapture,
of ecstasy, of amazement about the irreversible processes that
nevertheless have no direction at all.

                              ***

Look at money:
the mass of floating money encircling the earth.
It is the only really artificial satellite.
Money has become a pure artifact,
an artifact of celestial movement, of a momentary exchangeability.
Money has finally found its proper place,
one far more unusual than in the stock exchange:
the earth orbit, in which it rises and falls
like an artificial sun.

                              ***

As the movement spins out of control like this,
something in each one of us slows down
until it vanishes from circulation.
…all society begins to gravitate around this pole of inertia.
…it is as if the poles of our world were converging,
and this merciless short circuit manifests both
overproduction and the exhaustion of potential energies at the same time.
It is no longer a matter of crisis but of disaster,
a catastrophe in slow motion.

-excerpt, The Anorexic Ruins by Jean Baudrillard, pub. 1989

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WTF was that? – you are asking.  Its a beautiful fall day yet you begin this post with such a grim quotation of dark desperation…  Indeed the morning is sublime, as pleasant as I can remember.  This morning’s issue of the New York Times featured a report of a Chinese fishing fleet operating 24×7 in the international waters off Argentina, Peru and Ecuador, a fishing operation accounting for 80% of the catch in these waters.  The Times reports: 

In recent years, hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels have begun to operate almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week, off the coast of South America. The ships move with the seasons, from Ecuador to Peru to Argentina…. You can see the project here — including the story of Hai Feng 718, a large carrier vessel that keeps the fishing boats supplied and ferries their catches back to China, so that the boats can keep fishing, without pause.

Tonight a group of us will discuss the commonly held assumption that the content of  belief is “up for grabs,” no guardrails upon belief, anything-at-all being “fair game” for belief.  As is always the case with us humans, — belief is inexorably linked to what one takes to be true.  It is impossible to sever the link between belief, and what one holds to-be-true, the facts.  Belief and truth are intersecting circles.  Yet it appears that belief/truth is idiosyncratic.

This is no more sustainable that exhausting the fish stock in the world’s oceans. 

Catastrophe in slow motion.