Further Thoughts on the Breakdown of Systems (IV)

You are riding in a car that is coasting down the highway at 70-ish miles per hour, and slowing. You watch what remains of the engine, smoking on the side of the road, recede in your side-view mirror. The driver continues driving. Let him. Wind resistance and friction will bring this thing to a stop soon enough.

So look around. What do you see?

Ahead of you, a car stopped in the passing lane, hazard lights flashing. It appears to be resting on its undercarriage. As you approach you can see deep gouges in the pavement--the car appears to have slid to a stop because the wheels fell off.

The driver in your car steers you around it. Soon you come up on another car. Flames pour out from the seams between the hood and the body. The paint on the hood blisters and blackens. Smoke billows. It seems the engine is on fire. You catch the driver's eye as you pass. You roll down the window and point. "There's no scientific consensus that anything is wrong," you hear him call out over the wind noise. "It's possible this is just a natural cycle," he says.

Further ahead, a man pedals a bike along the shoulder of the highway. Poor guy, forced to ride a bicycle. You pass him and wave. He waves back. As the distance between you grows--for now, anyway--you notice two things as you glance at him in the side-view. He's actually keeping a pretty steady pace. And he's smiling.

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