Looking at my eight 2nd great grandfathers, they were born in: 1797, 1806, 1823, 1827 1833, 1835, 1836, and 1846.

They all made decisions in their lives that eventually led to me (among other things.)

That reaches back 226 years. I can track decisions they made that were crucial to them ending up in the locations they did, and marrying the women they chose.

But - I can’t do the opposite. I can’t look ahead 226 years and see what the future will be and how actions people make today will shape the future, in detail.

This I think is the crux of the problem with the big issues of day and society, like climate change. The future is not connectable, emotionally and existentially, to an individual today. That’s why it is so easy to brush off warnings about the future by academics and those ascribed to the “ivory tower.”

The impact of anything beyond the next Powerball drawing is greatly diminished. Indeed, I’ll offer up the continued growth of the lottery scam industry as proof that Americans are becoming even more shortsighted.

That states are expanding their lottery programs in lieu of raising tax rates on the top incomes is particularly damnable. It strikes me as one of the biggest step backwards since the War of the Rebellion.

I wonder how the people (if there are any, or any who will be able to read) in 226 years will think of us when they look back.