Ah, but even in the San Juans, you (presumably) stayed in a man-made
dwelling, possibly with some type of climate-control device (if only a
fan). You (I'm guessing) wore clothes made with the aid of modern
technology, made from cloth composed of cotton or other fabrics drawn from
modern agriculture, with all its technology and chemicals. You probably
ate processed foods and drank treated water. Even when we're 'roughing it'
we benefit from the measures our predecessors have taken to control and
adapt nature - the world. So you spent time in a possibly idyllic but
definitely already 'improved' world.
To those who like to say that we should just leave the world alone, I ask
whether or not we should still be illiterate, terrified savages, running
around forests, foraging or killing our food, living in caves, and dying
from every opportunistic pathogen to take a liking to us. I agree that
'control of nature' can be taken too far and eventually be detremental
(though where to draw the line I'm unsure) I'm unequivocally glad we live
in an 'improved' world.
>Now the "world" of men, the world I returned to back
>in the city (a poor mockery of the /real/ world, I must say), well, that
>could use some fiddling with to be sure. Or is it that all the "fiddling
>with" is the very thing that makes it so unstable and riddled with
>tension? Like a bubble on the verge of bursting.
>
Mark Hornberger