12 On Solutions

And a scientist said, Speak to us of solutions.
And he answered and said:
Pocky sticks.

Imagine a world in which we all stirred our coffee using naught but Pocky sticks. The chocolate or vanilla coating would add a marvelous hint of flavor, and there would be no need to use onerous plastic or wasteful wood.

Would this solve all our problems?, the scientist asked skeptically.

The prophet spoke:
No, it would not. In this technocracy that is the modern world of marvels, we seek bigger and bigger solutions to bigger and bigger problems. There is nothing wrong with technology as long as you recognize this: The bigger the fix, the bigger the leak it will eventually spring.

Your collective madness can be traced to one simple itsy bitsy teeny weeny fallacy. Mistakenly you cling to the idea that through the massive application of energy, you can create a greater degree of order in the world around you, than was there before. This is plainly false.

Is not the bridge that crosses your vast river a monument to the ingenuity and skill of your engineers? Is not this magnificent bustling hub of activity that is the city of Orphalese testament to the achievements of modern man?

Ay and nay, for entropy must needs always be on the take. The bridge may be of great benefit to the people of Orphalese today, but it will have crumbled into the river before the generation that is to pay for its construction will have even been born.

And even as this pathetic excuse for a ship, which did bring me here, dissolves into the vast ocean, so the infrastructure of Orphalese will begin to erode, until your fair city requires more energy to sustain itself, than the sum total of what you can produce.