Nietzsche To Springsteen
You can’t start a fire
Worrying about your little world falling apart
This gun’s for hire
Even if we’re just dancing in the dark
–Dancing In The Dark by Bruce Springsteen
Discussed with a friend, what to do about the yawning gap in perception between republicans, some supporting Trump unconditionally, maybe more who support him warily, and the rest of us we who believe that the nation on the cusp of a tempestuous 21st century, — that we will have to improvise. Climate warming, wild fires, fierce storms bringing floods, with tornado devastation are now normal.
And there is generative AI, the new technology which learns in order to autonomously compose texts, offer diagnosis, make novel art forms… Will we impose humane values upon the application of the new technology? What would you guess?
To paraphrase the words of Nietzsche, to pivot his reference from early 20th century Europeans, to early 21st century Americans:
Is there a hidden Yes in us that is stronger than all Nos and Maybes that afflict us and our age like a disease? And when we have to embark on the sea, we emigrants, we, too, are compelled to this by –a faith. What faith lies hidden within, by which we will “get over ourselves” to do what we must do, knowing full well that we are dancing in the dark? —The Gay Science, Book 5, Section 377 by Friedrich Nietzsche
As for a tune that’s suited to this day, we cannot do better than Bruce Springsteen’s biggest hit, Dancing In The Dark.
