Curated Quote - Dr. Irwin Corey
“If we don’t change direction soon, we’ll end up where we’re going”
-Irwin Corey (American Stand-up Comic 1914-2017)
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Well this quote has a lot of relevance for where we might ourselves as we look to where we think we are going. I have published this quote a long time ago within the context of the Climate Crisis and I will end with that.
The reason I picked this quote for this week is that it is so timely. Try to watch the David Letterman clip below and not think of the recent Presidential Debate. Watch the Mike Douglas clip or the Laugh-In clip and not think of all the “pundits” and “experts” who come on air, and with the attitude of someone knowing they are saying something profound, speak the most pedestrian of ideas. Dr. Irwin Corey mocked cable news before it ever existed. He would have been truly prescient if he had used the words “at the end of the day” or “the bottom line is” or” we need to get on the same page here” instead of his patented way to start a sentence; “However”.
A significant group of humanity is concerned about the direction we are headed. Where in the world is our species going with the climate crisis? Continue onward in our current trajectory and it will be an extinction event to some degree. Where are we going with the tension between democracy and autocracy? Where are we going with the still expanding wealth inequality between the top 1% and everyone else? Where will we end up with a angry society that comes from anger and fear of “the other”.
Now, to focus this quote from all our problems to simply the biggest one: the climate collapse.
Last year \the UN stated that humanity does not have much longer to make necessary significant changes to avoid “thin ice”. We are on a road if not to absolute extinction, then to full-out civilization collapse.
The UN says soon. Millions of people have been saying soon, and for decades. I co-wrote a book that had as a primary theme the need to reduce fossil fuel use by 70% by 2030 from 2019 levels to avoid end-of-civilization collapse by 2100.
Extinction? 73-97% of all species perished in the first five extinction events. Our species is solely triggering a sixth extinction event right now. I am optimistic that humans will be part of the 3-27% species that survive. So while there are more than 150 species going extinct every day, I am not of the school that we may become extinct in the next two hundred years.
Civilization collapse by 2100 is certain “if we don’t change direction soon”
The fork-in-the-road metaphor works here. The road we are on leads to the collapse of civilization, so we urgently need to now detour over to the road that can take us to a different place. A future place that is the destination of our choosing. Our created Good Future. I support the Good Future Project as a different destination than the one we are now hurtling towards.
Irwin Corey was described by Lenny Bruce as being “one of the most brilliant comedians of all time”
Corey often showed up as the World’s Foremost Authority, though he usually had no idea what he was saying. He was Jewish, a far-left liberal, and was one of the many entertainers “blacklisted” during the 1950s anti-communism fever bubble. He was an active “lefty” all his life. His fan base was fervent. In addition to Lenny Bruce, Ayn Rand, Robert Heinlein, Steve Allen, and Kenneth Tynan all were fans.
When typing his dates at the top, I was impressed that he lived to the age of 102
Hollywood Reporter obituary
Professor Irwin Corey on Mike Douglas
Irwin Corey on David Letterman 1983
On the Smothers Brothers TV Show
Irwin Corey Turns 100