Thursday, November 19, 2009

Question everything

Turned out to be George Carlin Day in Happiness 101, we didn't even get around to the Experience Machine. But that's ok, I think we're all sold on reality-- its necessity, not necessarily its superiority-- already.

George was too, and in his own words (and by the testimony of friends like Tony Hendra) he liked people... to a point. Not an unreasonable attitude at all. And wasn't George a (more-or-less) happy pessimist? A much better one than Schopenhauer, in fact, because he was (deliberately) funny.

So here's one more Carlin clip, the one I alluded to in class. He's not going for laughs here, this is about our future. He was a comedian with a conscience, and these are among his last public words. Characteristically profane, but from a distinctively humane source.

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