Page 40 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

We’ll turn the rain on and off. . . . We’ll turn the oceans into farms [or carbon sinks].
We’ll control the weather [and climate]—no more hurricanes, no more torna-
does, no more droughts, no more untimely frosts. We’ll make the clouds release
their water over the land instead of dumping it uselessly into the oceans. All the life
process of this planet will be where they belong—where the gods meant them to
be—in our hands. And we’ll manipulate them the way a programmer manipulates
a computer. 6

Technology seems to provide the leverage to make all this possible, but, accord-
ing to Quinn, Taker culture is fatally flawed in that it lacks historical perspective
and the wisdom of how to live. The Takers, who act as though the world belongs
to them, are the enemy of the world and are on an evolutionarily recent, unsus-
tainable, and potentially world-shattering detour.
The older cultures, the Leavers, far from being savage, primitive, or degen-
erative, constitute the main stream of human evolution and trace their roots
back at least 3 million years. They respect the right to life and food of all other
creatures and live as members, not rulers, of the community of all life. They
live close to nature in relative abundance, free from worry, in the hands of the
gods, enhancing biological and cultural diversity and ecological sustainability.
The Leavers, who act as though they belong to the world, allow the creatures
around them a chance to fulfill their potential. In this sense, they share an evo-
lutionary destiny.
Quinn’s basic quest is to reform Taker culture by making people aware of what
has been lost. He argues that people need something positive to work for, rather
than something negative to work against. They need an inspiring vision more
than a vision of doom, more than to be scolded, more than to be made to feel
stupid and guilty:

There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with people. Given a story to enact that puts
them in accord with the world, they will live in accord with the world. But given a
story to enact that puts them at odds with the world, as yours does, they will live
at odds with the world. Given a story to enact, in which they are the lords of the
world, they will act as the lords of the world. And, given a story to enact in which
the world is a foe to be conquered they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevi-
tably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now. (84)

This is the voice of Ishmael, an articulate, Bible-reading, telepathic gorilla whom
Quinn uses as a transcendent messenger to humanity. Ishmael’s students, in effect

StorieS of Control | 23