Panglossian:
Dr. Pangloss, professor of “métaphysico-théologo-cosmolonigologie” (English: “metaphysico–theologo-cosmolonigology”) and self-proclaimed optimist, teaches his pupils that they live in the “best of all possible worlds” and that “all is for the best”. [Wikipedia]
Noted in “This year could come to be regarded as a turning point in history,” Graham Lawton, NewScientist (19 December 2020):
As Nobel prizewinning economist Esther Duflo at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has pointed out, the pandemic is a “dress rehearsal” for the much greater challenge that is climate change. I think the world has performed the dress rehearsal better than expected, and there is now cause for confidence that we can meet other problems ahead.
The defeat and imminent defenestration of that one-man environmental wrecking ball, Donald Trump, also adds to my cautious optimism.
I am no Panglossian – no new dawn is ever as bright as we hope – but my feeling is that 2020-21 will come to be regarded as one of those turning points in history, like 1848, 1918 and 1945, when the old world order was swept away and something new emerged. New doesn’t necessarily mean better. But I believe it is possible. Then I will happily go back to being a dog in a time of tranquillity.
Methinks Mr. Lawton should spent a month in the United States. Reports of vaccination sites being blockaded by anti-vaxxers are vastly disquieting.
