Time Again to Celebrate Human Achievement!, The Atlas Society

今年もヒューマンアチーブメントアワーがやってきました。3月28日、人間の心の努力の結果として、現代世界が私たちに提供しているすべてのものを祝福しましょう!

Our friends at the Competitive Enterprise Institute came up with this idea to crystalize the efforts and sentiments of many other groups and individuals opposing the morally ugly trend of marking what is called “ Earth Hour.” This is the call for everyone turn off their lights between 8:30 and 9:30 pm local time to “protect the planet.”

But this is another way of saying that we humans are actually a burden on the Earth. We don’t belong. We should apologize and feel guilty for every blade of grass we step on, every tree we cut down to build our homes, every bit of food we eat—in other words, we should feel guilty of our own existence. Of course, Earth Hour is wrapped up touchy-feely theatrics to the effect that turning off our lights expresses our caring about “Gaia” without requiring us to actually think about what values we are actually accepting.

So during Human Achievement Hour, reflect on humans as the source and object of all that is of value. Reflect on the fact that you are reading this message on some marvelous device that did not exist even a few decades ago, a device that allows you instant access to an almost unlimited amount of information and gives you the capacity to communicate with almost anyone anywhere in the world at any time. What an achievement! Reflect on the new applications of technologies that are doing everything from helping us better educate ourselves, to curing our diseases, to expanding the lengths of our lives. Oh yes, and our technologies allow us to eliminate real—as opposed to imagined—environmental problems: ones that actually can harm us.

When a blackout occurs because of a storm or some other cause, when the lights, refrigerator, AC, heat, computers, and TVs go out, we don’t cheer, we curse the darkness. Earth Hour asks us to bring a curse down upon ourselves.

So on the evening of March 28, turn on all your lights, celebrate all that humans have achieved, and commit yourself to more achievements in the future!