If This Were A Football Game
A few weeks ago, I heard KPCC’s Patt Morisson interview author, thinker, and merry prankster Stewart Brand about a book he wrote: Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto. I appreciated SB’s impromptu metaphoring, so here’s a link to the interview, and here’s my transcription of its metaphorical core…
PM: If this were…dealing with global warming and environmental issues…if this were a football game, are we at the two minute warning in the fourth quarter as far as what our species can do?
SB: Two minute warning in the fourth quarter… I think what we’re doing is discovering that it wasn’t a football game after all.
PM: Oh. All right. So, still, where does that leave us?
SB: The football game…lets’ see if there’s anything more in that metaphor…the football game is what’s going on down on the field. This game involves everybody in the stands and everybody that’s watching on television. How weird is that?
PM: That’s a different kind of game altogether.
