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Boiling Frogs

The title of this post might seem a little mysterious and weird to the reader. Yes, it is. But you will understand the meaning of this title when you get through reading the post.


There is this popular anecdote, which tells a very interesting story. 

If you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, the from will desperately try and get out of the pot. But, if you put the frog into a pot containing normal water and start boiling the water slowly, it will sit in there calmly. The frog doesn't have the ability to detect the small but steady rise in temperature of the water. It will just float there, oblivious to the impending doom. And in due course, the frog will just die, unresisitingly, boiled to death.

For me, this story is very similar to the way of life we are leading. Humans are aware of global warming, depletion of ozone layer and melting of snow caps. But, we don't care. The water is boiling slowly. We might just be feeling it, but rather than feeling alarmed, we are actually more comfortable. Like sitting in a warm water bath.

But eventually, the water will boil beyond our capacity, and then, panic and fear will burst the bubble. If there is anything history has shown us, it is that humans are careless and reckless and ignorant of their problems. You might read this and think, "Bah, this guy is a pessimist. A doomsday fanatic". But that is exactly the attitude the frog has.

According to many scientific researches and projections, the end of the world (or at least life as we know it), is near. No, it will not be 21 December 2012. But Maybe a hundred years from now (or even sooner), the human way of living WILL collapse. Only a miracle, like avoiding the use of fossil fuels, caring for the environment, can save the Earth from its disastrous future.

Recent explorations to different planets and natural satellites have show that there are or were traces of water on their surfaces. Venus, Mars and Moon are just some of the well known planetary objects that are known to have had liquids flowing on their surfaces.

Maybe, just maybe, some species like human destroyed those planets too. Nothing is new under the sun (or in the grater perspective, in the universe). The circle goes on and on. The frogs don't learn the lesson.

Comments

  1. Totally agreed! I belong to a similar stream of thought! I wouldn't be surprised even if the world ends this December!

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