Wintertime conversation between two nameless primates huddled over a fire in in 2122.
Unnamed 1: What were Europeans and Americans thinking a hundred years ago when they stopped using fossil fuels?
Unnamed 2: Something about the climate. And, by the way, it is offensive to use designations like European and American today, so whisper because the sound carries into the next cave chamber. Ostracism for using names isn’t a good outcome. The accepted terms are “primates living on the northern landmasses on either side of the north-south, S-shaped ocean that once bore the name of a mythical Titan who carried the world.”
Unnamed 1: Conversations were faster when names were used instead of lengthy descriptions. People, sorry, primates are freezing now, because there is no way to get coal, oil, or natural gas in quantities that would meet heating needs on those landmasses during winter. The wood is mostly gone. What are billions of primates to do?
Unnamed 2: Seems that a century ago, primates on those landmasses rid themselves not only of fossil fuels but also of personal references and all designations. If two primates held this conversation back then, both would have a lively conversation. One would self-refer as “I” while the other would self-refer the same way, and both would other-refer as “you.” As primates understand the past today, one in a conversation might say, “I wonder what Europeans and Americans were thinking a century ago?” The other person in the conversation might answer, “Your guess is as good as my guess. I think you know, however. One hundred years ago, people decided to eliminate convenience. People were probably tired of “civilization” and the affluence fossil fuels provided. And people were tired of all designations because such words were “offensive.”
Unnamed 1: Keep the sound down. No need to shout. Okay, then this might seem to be offensive, but “I” want to self-refer. “I” want to be warm this winter. And “I” would like to have a name to which “I” might refer and “you” might use.
Unnamed 2: Careful. Primates might be listening in the next chamber. Such offensive language is punishable. But the point is clear to me. Conversations today are probably more convoluted and boring than conversations were a century ago when people were allowed to use pronouns and names. And heating in the winter was obviously easier, also, with natural gas, coal, and oil.
Unnamed 1: Now that this conversation has begun, “I” don’t care anymore. “I” am tired of this. Call “me” by my self-designation. “I” want to be called “Aurora.”
Unnamed 2: Risky, but if “you” want, then “I” will call you that in secret. “I” might even self-designate, but “I” don’t know what name “I” would choose. “I” guess “I” am more concerned about finding a cheap and abundant source of fuel to keep this cave warm.
Aurora: “I” want to start a family.
Unnamed 2: Which one of “us” should carry the organism that grows inside and that suddenly upon birth becomes a primate?
Aurora: Look what primates have become after 250,000 years of evolution. “I” seem to have the body parts sufficient for the task. If “you” carry the organism, in what body part will you gestate it and from what body part will it emerge? Can “you” conceive and carry?
Unnamed 2: Shhhh! Asking such questions indicates a forbidden phobia.
Unnamed 1: What were Europeans and Americans thinking a hundred years ago when they stopped using fossil fuels?
Unnamed 2: Something about the climate. And, by the way, it is offensive to use designations like European and American today, so whisper because the sound carries into the next cave chamber. Ostracism for using names isn’t a good outcome. The accepted terms are “primates living on the northern landmasses on either side of the north-south, S-shaped ocean that once bore the name of a mythical Titan who carried the world.”
Unnamed 1: Conversations were faster when names were used instead of lengthy descriptions. People, sorry, primates are freezing now, because there is no way to get coal, oil, or natural gas in quantities that would meet heating needs on those landmasses during winter. The wood is mostly gone. What are billions of primates to do?
Unnamed 2: Seems that a century ago, primates on those landmasses rid themselves not only of fossil fuels but also of personal references and all designations. If two primates held this conversation back then, both would have a lively conversation. One would self-refer as “I” while the other would self-refer the same way, and both would other-refer as “you.” As primates understand the past today, one in a conversation might say, “I wonder what Europeans and Americans were thinking a century ago?” The other person in the conversation might answer, “Your guess is as good as my guess. I think you know, however. One hundred years ago, people decided to eliminate convenience. People were probably tired of “civilization” and the affluence fossil fuels provided. And people were tired of all designations because such words were “offensive.”
Unnamed 1: Keep the sound down. No need to shout. Okay, then this might seem to be offensive, but “I” want to self-refer. “I” want to be warm this winter. And “I” would like to have a name to which “I” might refer and “you” might use.
Unnamed 2: Careful. Primates might be listening in the next chamber. Such offensive language is punishable. But the point is clear to me. Conversations today are probably more convoluted and boring than conversations were a century ago when people were allowed to use pronouns and names. And heating in the winter was obviously easier, also, with natural gas, coal, and oil.
Unnamed 1: Now that this conversation has begun, “I” don’t care anymore. “I” am tired of this. Call “me” by my self-designation. “I” want to be called “Aurora.”
Unnamed 2: Risky, but if “you” want, then “I” will call you that in secret. “I” might even self-designate, but “I” don’t know what name “I” would choose. “I” guess “I” am more concerned about finding a cheap and abundant source of fuel to keep this cave warm.
Aurora: “I” want to start a family.
Unnamed 2: Which one of “us” should carry the organism that grows inside and that suddenly upon birth becomes a primate?
Aurora: Look what primates have become after 250,000 years of evolution. “I” seem to have the body parts sufficient for the task. If “you” carry the organism, in what body part will you gestate it and from what body part will it emerge? Can “you” conceive and carry?
Unnamed 2: Shhhh! Asking such questions indicates a forbidden phobia.
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