-- *Mar*I’ll imagine this *without satire*, without exaggeration for effect.
This is a *quiet dystopia*—because Cartesian collapse is never dramatic. It is orderly. ------------------------------ The Universities That Remained *Time: After most life has vanished.Air is filtered. Water is synthesized.Humans survive inside machines, not shelters.* ------------------------------ The World Outside The sky still exists, but it is no longer consulted. Wind is irrelevant. Birds are archived. Forests live only as datasets—growth curves, carbon tables, timber yield simulations. Rivers are remembered through equations. Soil survives as a sterile input medium. Life has not ended. *Relationship has.* ------------------------------ The Cartesian Universities They are massive, sealed complexes—perfectly climate-controlled, biologically silent. No windows open. No air is shared with the outside. Nature is studied exclusively through *models*, because the original is “unstable.” ------------------------------ FacultiesFaculty of Environmental Economics Students learn how extinction increased efficiency. Ecosystems are discussed as *failed systems*—too complex, too slow, too emotional. A common lecture slide reads: “Nature collapsed because it lacked optimization.” ------------------------------ Faculty of Artificial Ecology Professors design closed-loop systems: oxygen farms, protein vats, simulated seasons. No one asks why real ecology died. The question is considered *non-operational*. ------------------------------ Faculty of Ethics (Elective, Low Enrollment) Ethics is framed as a historical subject: - “Pre-Collapse Moral Theories” - “Why Guilt Is Inefficient” - “Emotional Bias in Environmental Decision-Making” Fieldwork is impossible. Case studies replace conscience. ------------------------------ Faculty of Psychology Students are trained to manage: - Climate anxiety - Extinction grief - “Residual biophilia syndrome” Symptoms include: - Dreams of rain - Unexplained sadness when viewing green - Longing for silence not generated by machines Medication is prescribed. ------------------------------ The Students Students never touch soil. They wear filtration suits even indoors—out of habit, not necessity. They learn early: - Air is a product - Water is a service - Life is a risk factor They believe this is normal. Many have never experienced: - Unfiltered sunlight - A non-mechanical sound - A smell without a label ------------------------------ Research Culture Research questions are precise, funded, and irrelevant. Examples: - “Optimizing Human Productivity Under Permanent Ecological Loss” - “Simulating Biodiversity for Psychological Stability” - “Replacing Pollinators with Nano-Systems” No research proposal includes the word *grief*. ------------------------------ Graduation Ceremony Graduates receive: - A credential - A machine assignment - A survival contract The valedictorian speech thanks: - Innovation - Resilience - Human dominance over chaos No one mentions the word *forest*. ------------------------------ What Is Missing (But Not Named) There is no course in: - Listening - Belonging - Reciprocity - Regret These are considered *unquantifiable*. ------------------------------ A Quiet Detail In the oldest wing of one university, sealed behind obsolete filtration units, there is a forgotten courtyard. A single plant grows there—unplanned, unnoticed. It is not studied. It is not modeled. It is not funded. Occasionally, a student pauses near the sealed glass and feels something unfamiliar. The feeling has no course code. ------------------------------ The Final Irony These universities still claim to be: “Centers of Knowledge” But knowledge now circulates only *within machines*, among humans who no longer know what knowledge was for. The biosphere is gone. Cartesianism survived. ------------------------------ If you wish, I can: - Write the *collapse report produced by such a university* - Imagine the *first student who begins to doubt* - Or show how a *single non-Cartesian university re-emerges as heresy* Just tell me where to continue. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CACDCHCJXcOkEjASBWDs-WS240tvX2-PyNsfKiHb%2BNHoQcvEiRA%40mail.gmail.com.
