The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

I would just like to touch on a specific paragraph that Burroughs talks about. He says that "The astronaut is not looking for Space, he's looking for more Time to do exactly the same things." Burrough's opinion is that an astronaut is simply looking for another place to be, almost as if to move away from his problems and the problems of the world, but in reality space only holds more space for us to put all the same problems that exist here on earth. I have never thought about space exploration in this way, but now I've been forced to wonder... What is even the purpose? I suppose one could argue that finding life (aliensss) on other planets is one of the biggest reasons. More crucial to my point is the reason that's been tossed around recently, which is that somewhere in the not-so-far-away future, earth might not be sustainable to life- due to the actions of humans- and so people are looking for a life-sustaining planet... but that raises the question: will a new planet be any different than this planet? Humans will still be the same; they will still have disregard for the place they live and soon enough that planet won't be able to sustain life either!! Then we'll all have to live on the Axiom, float around on lounge chairs, and drink cupcakes from a cup and straw. (But even in Wall-e, earth still had the ability to sustain life (how??) so I guess that's beside the point). I guess what I'm trying to say is that I now feel like I don't even understand why we are exploring space (don't judge me on my ignorance... there are probably lots of good reasons that I just don't know about). Burroughs also makes the point that once we go into space, who knows if we'll ever go back?? Like the fish who grew feet during a drought and never gave up those feet (because evolution is one-way only, says Burroughs), who knows if we would ever go back to earth once we left?

9/18/14 Ian Crowley

I found "The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse" by William S. Burroughs to be a very interesting read. Burroughs explains in his reading that the Four Horseman (the four contributing factors to the apocalypse) are Famine, Plague, War, and Death. Burroughs states that at the moment humans have the ability to somewhat control the Four Horseman, and I agree when he says that this may not be beneficial to us. For example, humans can control these four factors through chemical warfare. The idea that we have the capability to introduce viruses in order to wipe out entire races and civilizations is frightening to me. I understand that it is in human nature to explore scientific possibilities, however, I believe there is a point where science can be taken to far.

I also found Burroughs ideas about humans not working to their full potential to be quite compelling. I do disagree, however, that humans do not reach their full potential. For example, Burroughs reveals that humans didn't invent exploding cannon balls until five hundred years after the cannon was introduced. In my opinion, at that point in time, humans were living up to their full potential given the knowledge and resources they had access to. I believe that inventions and ideas can always be improved. It would be impossible for the Wright brothers to create a current commercial jet, with the little knowledge they had on the subject at the time. Based on Burroughs philosophies humans will never reach their full potential because we are constantly gaining knowledge and trumping past creations.