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| Professor Patrick Allitt |
The event, this time, was held at the new Alfond Inn in Winter Park. It's a beautiful new hotel full of great modern art. Dave and I hang out there from time to time.
Emory provides their very best representatives to speak at these events. This time it was Patrick Allitt. Who? I never heard of him so looked him up and he seemed to be a big time academic and a history professor to boot, so I didn't have my hopes set very high.
He was fantastic! He was funny. He was optimistic!
He started by saying we Americans love disasters and we love making dire predictions.
1950s - The Atom Bomb is going to kill us!
1960s - Pollution is going to kill us!
1970s - Cancer is going to kill us!
1980s - Population is going to kill us!
So far, we're still here. He gave a funny example in saying that, in the 1800s, scientists predicted that cities and towns across America would never get bigger - because - horses were our means of transportation and if we kept growing we would all be knee deep in horse manure. And then chest deep in horse manure!
According to Professor Allitt, we're great problem solvers. I agree. He also said this: "Resources are not finite. They are infinite." I agree.
I sincerely believe that, even with all of our world wide problems, planet earth is the best, most hospitable place it's been since it was a paradise in the Garden of Eden.
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