"philosopher"

I was getting a coffee at one of the coffee stands in the "campus" this morning and some blowhard was making a joke about how all people are driven to react against a basic fear of three inevitabilies in life: death, decay, and something else.

That might have been amusingly negative if he hadn't then brayed that he really would have liked to be a philosopher and investigate and explain life's mysteries, but decided to become a consultant instead -- and he *wasn't* joking. [The vast majority of my fellow borg-employees don't do irony, in case you were wondering.]

Anyway, I am suspicious of any unitary theory of why people do what they do. Well, except for my basic misanthropy about people in groups of more than about 25, which is usually a bad idea.

I suppose I might fear death and decay if I paused to think about it, but what's the point? I could be killed commuting tomorrow, I could be blown up while downtown at a meeting (unlikely, but not impossible) and if I were reacting to that, I'd suggest to the missus that we stop joking about starting an organic tofu co-operative in Vermont, and make it happen.

I can't believe I'm wasting brain and blog space on this. Back to work!