Francis Mont's Blog
September 12, 2023
The Big Picture
The big picture
When I was 18, I went to University to study Theoretical Physics because I wanted to understand the nature of the universe. After 6 years of studying and experimenting, I had a pretty good idea of what we knew, how we knew it and what were the limits of our knowledge. At least as far as the physical part of the universe is concerned. I never chose a profession my Physics degree qualifies me for because I wanted to understand the human part of the Universe as well, so I spent the next 50 years reading, thinking, writing and debating with other humans pursuing this goal. The basic questions I wanted answers to were:
- What were the major steps in the evolution of our species (how did we get here)?
- What is the direction this evolution is taking us (where are we heading)?
- What is the most likely outcome of this evolution (what is our fate and destiny)?
- What, if any, meaning we can attach to an individual human life (how do we fit in the big picture)?
- How are life, death, love, and sex related in a human experience?
Close to the end of this journey, I am reasonably sure that I have my answers to my own satisfaction.
All these answers make up a worldview that, for me, explains the countless new items I receive daily about my species as it struggles with ideological, political, economic and psychological conflicts.
This worldview has a dual effect on my life.
On one hand, it gives me the peace of not having to quest any longer and the quiet satisfaction of knowing all the answers to my all-consuming curiosity. On the other hand it makes me feel isolated from my society because I can not get involved anymore in debates and discussions.
Very few people are interested in discussing basic principles, fundamental facts, logical structures and inevitable consequences of conflicting forces that are shaping our human universe. Most people are interested in the many, many small pictures we are surrounded with every day of our lives. There is nothing wrong with small pictures and minute details, of course – many artists have created masterpieces of art in literature, painting, photography and cinematic production.
However, arguing about small pictures in order to answer big questions inevitably reminds me of the often voiced cliché about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Our world, restricted to this dying planet, dominated by this hopelessly misguided species, hurtling toward some inevitable catastrophe at the end, renders all arguments about inconsequential details moot and pointless.
This is the curse that pursuers of the big picture have to endure.
When I was 18, I went to University to study Theoretical Physics because I wanted to understand the nature of the universe. After 6 years of studying and experimenting, I had a pretty good idea of what we knew, how we knew it and what were the limits of our knowledge. At least as far as the physical part of the universe is concerned. I never chose a profession my Physics degree qualifies me for because I wanted to understand the human part of the Universe as well, so I spent the next 50 years reading, thinking, writing and debating with other humans pursuing this goal. The basic questions I wanted answers to were:
- What were the major steps in the evolution of our species (how did we get here)?
- What is the direction this evolution is taking us (where are we heading)?
- What is the most likely outcome of this evolution (what is our fate and destiny)?
- What, if any, meaning we can attach to an individual human life (how do we fit in the big picture)?
- How are life, death, love, and sex related in a human experience?
Close to the end of this journey, I am reasonably sure that I have my answers to my own satisfaction.
All these answers make up a worldview that, for me, explains the countless new items I receive daily about my species as it struggles with ideological, political, economic and psychological conflicts.
This worldview has a dual effect on my life.
On one hand, it gives me the peace of not having to quest any longer and the quiet satisfaction of knowing all the answers to my all-consuming curiosity. On the other hand it makes me feel isolated from my society because I can not get involved anymore in debates and discussions.
Very few people are interested in discussing basic principles, fundamental facts, logical structures and inevitable consequences of conflicting forces that are shaping our human universe. Most people are interested in the many, many small pictures we are surrounded with every day of our lives. There is nothing wrong with small pictures and minute details, of course – many artists have created masterpieces of art in literature, painting, photography and cinematic production.
However, arguing about small pictures in order to answer big questions inevitably reminds me of the often voiced cliché about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Our world, restricted to this dying planet, dominated by this hopelessly misguided species, hurtling toward some inevitable catastrophe at the end, renders all arguments about inconsequential details moot and pointless.
This is the curse that pursuers of the big picture have to endure.
March 8, 2023
The power of words
I realized something I had never thought of before: the incredible power of words. We recoil from words like ‘murder’ because the word refers to a single human being whose life was cut short by violence. We can identify with the victim as a human being because we all are. However, when the word ‘war’ or ‘genocide’ is used, we don’t think of mass murder on a grand scale because it’s impersonal.
Each victim is a human being, just like the murder victim was, each death is a horrible waste and tragedy, hidden in plain sight under cumulative labels like ‘war’ and ‘genocide’ and such. People say: “oh well, it’s a war, people get hurt”.
Nothing changes the fact that war is mass murder of individual human beings. War becomes a number game for politicians, presidents, and generals. They brag about how many enemy soldiers they killed during an ‘operation’. Each death is the same as it is in the case of murder. A life is snuffed out, a body is shattered, loved ones are devastated, children become orphans, accumulated knowledge, experience, future accomplishments become extinguished. The fact that they did it hundreds, thousands, or even millions of times does not justify the bragging. Rather the opposite.
Each victim is a human being, just like the murder victim was, each death is a horrible waste and tragedy, hidden in plain sight under cumulative labels like ‘war’ and ‘genocide’ and such. People say: “oh well, it’s a war, people get hurt”.
Nothing changes the fact that war is mass murder of individual human beings. War becomes a number game for politicians, presidents, and generals. They brag about how many enemy soldiers they killed during an ‘operation’. Each death is the same as it is in the case of murder. A life is snuffed out, a body is shattered, loved ones are devastated, children become orphans, accumulated knowledge, experience, future accomplishments become extinguished. The fact that they did it hundreds, thousands, or even millions of times does not justify the bragging. Rather the opposite.
February 7, 2023
Back from writer's hell!
I've been away for a long time (2 years) because so many of my readers requested a sequel to my first novel: "House Arrest". Of course, when I was finished with the sequel, I realized that I wasn't finished with the story, so now it has grown into my Valley Trilogy.
The first volume "House Arrest - A Story of Liberation" described how survivors in the Sacramento Valley, after a nuclear war, start to rebuild their lives and defeat a tyrannical government in the town of Sacramento. The second volume "Rainbow Valley - A Story of Choices" continues the saga by describing how six towns in the valley organize their lives according to different economic principles choosing a social organization that works for them. Finally, this third volume: "Valley of Hope - A Story of Consequences" talks about how consequences of past mistakes, like ignoring climate change, catch up with the folks in the Valley, threatening their survival. They have only one hope: find another planet where they can start with a clean slate. In the meantime, they have to hide in underground cities when life above ground becomes too dangerous. The chickens have come home to roost and our abused and exploited planet Earth demands justice.
These books took a lot out of me because I had to cover all the important issues humanity faces today and I feel very passionate about the future of our species. Are we going to survive this tsunami of crises, or we are heading for extinction?
The first volume "House Arrest - A Story of Liberation" described how survivors in the Sacramento Valley, after a nuclear war, start to rebuild their lives and defeat a tyrannical government in the town of Sacramento. The second volume "Rainbow Valley - A Story of Choices" continues the saga by describing how six towns in the valley organize their lives according to different economic principles choosing a social organization that works for them. Finally, this third volume: "Valley of Hope - A Story of Consequences" talks about how consequences of past mistakes, like ignoring climate change, catch up with the folks in the Valley, threatening their survival. They have only one hope: find another planet where they can start with a clean slate. In the meantime, they have to hide in underground cities when life above ground becomes too dangerous. The chickens have come home to roost and our abused and exploited planet Earth demands justice.
These books took a lot out of me because I had to cover all the important issues humanity faces today and I feel very passionate about the future of our species. Are we going to survive this tsunami of crises, or we are heading for extinction?
February 25, 2021
We are on the wrong road, going in the wrong direction.
I am going out on a limb here and make one of my sweeping generalized statements about the human species. Here it comes: we are royally screwed up by our evolutionary history.
We, as a species, have hundreds of thousands of years of evolutionary history behind us that follows its own logic. It’s like an express train with millions of tons of inertia that is unlikely to be affected by anything individual humans can do. Yet, individuals, billions of them, act on it all the time and some of it may add up.
What I have been noticing is the huge discrepancy between the small and the big effects individuals play on the overall direction of our express train we all cling to. Here is the rub: while billions of people, every second of our species’ march toward some not too distant terminus. are making the right decisions, sane and rational in their context, when it comes to big decisions, we, as a species, are hopelessly lost.
What no one has figured our yet, from the beginning of our history, is that we are on the wrong road, going in the wrong direction.
Our obsession with size, speed, power, the demented mantra of bigger, faster, stronger is by definition better, keeps pushing us in the direction of extinction. What no human agency has ever attempted to do was to examine how bigger, stronger, faster actually contributes to overall human happiness. It’s just assumed, as an absolute truth.
All these fables of Shangri La, Utopia, Atlantis, Kazohinia, Ozimord are never taken seriously enough to consider that we, as a specie, would be happier by just living within our evolutionary heritage, instead of attempting to be gods, flying to the sun like Ikarus.
We, as a species, collectively, would be a lot happier if we just lived and let each other live, instead of killing ourselves and each other for the unattainable goal of building the tallest skyscraper. A goal unattainable because no matter how tall we build, anything we can possibly build will forever be only half the size of its double and, sooner or later someone will do that and then the vicious cycle will go on until we will have finally destroyed ourselves.
We, as a species, have hundreds of thousands of years of evolutionary history behind us that follows its own logic. It’s like an express train with millions of tons of inertia that is unlikely to be affected by anything individual humans can do. Yet, individuals, billions of them, act on it all the time and some of it may add up.
What I have been noticing is the huge discrepancy between the small and the big effects individuals play on the overall direction of our express train we all cling to. Here is the rub: while billions of people, every second of our species’ march toward some not too distant terminus. are making the right decisions, sane and rational in their context, when it comes to big decisions, we, as a species, are hopelessly lost.
What no one has figured our yet, from the beginning of our history, is that we are on the wrong road, going in the wrong direction.
Our obsession with size, speed, power, the demented mantra of bigger, faster, stronger is by definition better, keeps pushing us in the direction of extinction. What no human agency has ever attempted to do was to examine how bigger, stronger, faster actually contributes to overall human happiness. It’s just assumed, as an absolute truth.
All these fables of Shangri La, Utopia, Atlantis, Kazohinia, Ozimord are never taken seriously enough to consider that we, as a specie, would be happier by just living within our evolutionary heritage, instead of attempting to be gods, flying to the sun like Ikarus.
We, as a species, collectively, would be a lot happier if we just lived and let each other live, instead of killing ourselves and each other for the unattainable goal of building the tallest skyscraper. A goal unattainable because no matter how tall we build, anything we can possibly build will forever be only half the size of its double and, sooner or later someone will do that and then the vicious cycle will go on until we will have finally destroyed ourselves.
January 26, 2021
Cause-and-effect chains in history.
Anything that happens in nature, including human history, has underlying causes. Often more than one, often a whole slew of contributing factors. However, there are always critical causes, without which the same event would not have happened or, at least, would have been fundamentally different.
This train of thought was started by a FRONTLINE documentary called “Trump's American Carnage". In its advertising blurb it says: “Our film identifies how, for years, the country’s political leaders missed, ignored and discounted clear warnings of the violence and chaos that was to come.”
Warning signs translate into cause and effect chains. How was it possible? One level down Frontline blames “the country’s political leaders” and probably it will stop there. But the question remains: who caused the political leaders to support Trump? The answer: 70-odd million of American voters. Next question: “What made these voters embrace Trump’s “distrust, divison, anger and racism”? The answer is twofold, but without the critical one, none of it would have happened: the unbelievable level of stupidity and lack of critical thinking among Trump’s supporters. Next question: what is responsible for this stupidity and lack of critical thinking? The answer: the Capitalist economic system that has been systematically dumbing down the population to maximize profit by making people think that $999.99 is cheaper than $1000.00 – and many other tricks like that to make people react without critical thinking.
So the cause-and-effect chain in play behind the “Trump carnage” is Capitalism-dumbing down-opportunistic leaders-Trump. I doubt that the Frontline documentary will go that deep. And, without identifying the “Prime Mover”, the chain will never be broken.
Of course, the backward chain doesn't end with the Capitalist economic system, and the next legitimate question is: "what makes this system possible?", but the answer to that belongs to another blog, maybe later.
This train of thought was started by a FRONTLINE documentary called “Trump's American Carnage". In its advertising blurb it says: “Our film identifies how, for years, the country’s political leaders missed, ignored and discounted clear warnings of the violence and chaos that was to come.”
Warning signs translate into cause and effect chains. How was it possible? One level down Frontline blames “the country’s political leaders” and probably it will stop there. But the question remains: who caused the political leaders to support Trump? The answer: 70-odd million of American voters. Next question: “What made these voters embrace Trump’s “distrust, divison, anger and racism”? The answer is twofold, but without the critical one, none of it would have happened: the unbelievable level of stupidity and lack of critical thinking among Trump’s supporters. Next question: what is responsible for this stupidity and lack of critical thinking? The answer: the Capitalist economic system that has been systematically dumbing down the population to maximize profit by making people think that $999.99 is cheaper than $1000.00 – and many other tricks like that to make people react without critical thinking.
So the cause-and-effect chain in play behind the “Trump carnage” is Capitalism-dumbing down-opportunistic leaders-Trump. I doubt that the Frontline documentary will go that deep. And, without identifying the “Prime Mover”, the chain will never be broken.
Of course, the backward chain doesn't end with the Capitalist economic system, and the next legitimate question is: "what makes this system possible?", but the answer to that belongs to another blog, maybe later.
January 17, 2021
"Too little too late" and "too much too soon!"
These are the two most harmful maladies of the human species. Both of them highlight the irrational nature of the species, both point to our inability to analyze, plan and organize in a scientifically sound manner.
“Too little too late” is the easier to spot in our society. Our leaders don’t plan ahead based on danger signs, but react to the previous crises they had not been prepared for before it happened. They are always fighting yesterday’s battles, trying to prevent what had happened from “ever happening again”. However, the next crises will be different, totally predictable by the dynamics of the forces clearly visible, yet the leaders lack the imagination and the ability to systematically and rationally analyze the data all around them.
“Too much too soon” on the other hand, while seemingly opposite to the “too little too late” syndrome, comes from the same lack of imagination and ability to analyze and plan ahead. It manifests mostly in the area of technological innovations when they introduce, helter-skelter, totally unnecessary and, at the same time, not properly thought through design ideas, like the software system in the Boeing 737 MAX plane that killed hundreds of passengers by overriding the captain’s instructions to the plane, because the software “knew better”. One of the biggest shocks to me in recent times was the realization that there is no mechanical connection between my brake pedal and the brakes of my car – when I press the pedal, it will submit my request to the software to activate the brakes.
The more safety features they introduce to modern technology, the more dangerous they become. I remember, years ago, a busload of children were killed by an oncoming train because the doors popped open by some mechanical malfunction when it was crossing the railway tracks and the software immediately stopped the car, overriding the driver’s frantic efforts to get off the tracks because it was ‘unsafe’ to drive with the doors open.
Of course, the primary reason for both of these maladies is the profit motive fundamentally embedded into the Capitalist system where the mindless competition forces companies to release products before they are properly thought through and then, try to prevent the exact same thing happening again, instead of thinking ahead and trying to prevent the next one clearly visible just around the corner.
With the “too little too late and too much too soon!” attitude our species is on track for the fast approaching extinction, after which trying to prevent the next big one will be a moot point.
“Too little too late” is the easier to spot in our society. Our leaders don’t plan ahead based on danger signs, but react to the previous crises they had not been prepared for before it happened. They are always fighting yesterday’s battles, trying to prevent what had happened from “ever happening again”. However, the next crises will be different, totally predictable by the dynamics of the forces clearly visible, yet the leaders lack the imagination and the ability to systematically and rationally analyze the data all around them.
“Too much too soon” on the other hand, while seemingly opposite to the “too little too late” syndrome, comes from the same lack of imagination and ability to analyze and plan ahead. It manifests mostly in the area of technological innovations when they introduce, helter-skelter, totally unnecessary and, at the same time, not properly thought through design ideas, like the software system in the Boeing 737 MAX plane that killed hundreds of passengers by overriding the captain’s instructions to the plane, because the software “knew better”. One of the biggest shocks to me in recent times was the realization that there is no mechanical connection between my brake pedal and the brakes of my car – when I press the pedal, it will submit my request to the software to activate the brakes.
The more safety features they introduce to modern technology, the more dangerous they become. I remember, years ago, a busload of children were killed by an oncoming train because the doors popped open by some mechanical malfunction when it was crossing the railway tracks and the software immediately stopped the car, overriding the driver’s frantic efforts to get off the tracks because it was ‘unsafe’ to drive with the doors open.
Of course, the primary reason for both of these maladies is the profit motive fundamentally embedded into the Capitalist system where the mindless competition forces companies to release products before they are properly thought through and then, try to prevent the exact same thing happening again, instead of thinking ahead and trying to prevent the next one clearly visible just around the corner.
With the “too little too late and too much too soon!” attitude our species is on track for the fast approaching extinction, after which trying to prevent the next big one will be a moot point.
January 3, 2021
What’s missing from the ‘dialogue’
When scientists, doctors, engineers have a difference of opinion, they discuss it calmly, intelligently, listening to each others’ arguments, considering and weighing the points raised and try to achieve a consensus based on facts and logic. Without that process we would still be living in caves. Instead, we live in a technological environment that protects us from the elements, most accidents and illnesses.
What we have now, from the top level of governments to the emotionally incensed masses is almost total lack of intelligence, rampant emotional outbursts and wild accusations against each other, precluding any chance of coming to an understanding and solutions.
There used to be at least some pretense of logical justification for what the adversaries wanted – now all we have is naked, blatant rage demanding concessions without a shred of truth behind the accusations. Truth is now replaced by repetition of lies, the more outrageous the lies, the louder they are being repeated.
You can’t tell anymore which is the moving source: the dumbed-down masses incapable of critical thinking, or their leaders catering to their lowest emotions of fear, envy, hate, greed, intolerance and bottomless pit of stupidity.
They are in a symbiotic relationship and it can end only one way: as Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted recently: "If a predatory enemy to our species can’t unite everyone on Earth to fight it, I'm left wondering what hope remains for Civilization."
My answer: none whatsoever – the predatory animal is our own stupidity.
What we have now, from the top level of governments to the emotionally incensed masses is almost total lack of intelligence, rampant emotional outbursts and wild accusations against each other, precluding any chance of coming to an understanding and solutions.
There used to be at least some pretense of logical justification for what the adversaries wanted – now all we have is naked, blatant rage demanding concessions without a shred of truth behind the accusations. Truth is now replaced by repetition of lies, the more outrageous the lies, the louder they are being repeated.
You can’t tell anymore which is the moving source: the dumbed-down masses incapable of critical thinking, or their leaders catering to their lowest emotions of fear, envy, hate, greed, intolerance and bottomless pit of stupidity.
They are in a symbiotic relationship and it can end only one way: as Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted recently: "If a predatory enemy to our species can’t unite everyone on Earth to fight it, I'm left wondering what hope remains for Civilization."
My answer: none whatsoever – the predatory animal is our own stupidity.
November 25, 2020
The two pandemics sweeping over the Planet
One is the virus we can’t stop hearing about. The other is the stupidity, misinformation, deranged conspiracy theories sweeping over the internet.
- The coming vaccination will insert microchips into every human being to turn them into obedient zombies
- The 5G technology (completely non-organic) is spreading the virus
- A dead Venezulan dictator stole the election for Biden
Just a few from the top. It feels like I am locked into a lunatic asylum and there is no escape.
Stopping the virus from spreading would be the simplest thing to accomplish. I wrote about it in March or April.
- The virus does not have legs or wings
- It needs transportation to spread from human to human
- If we don’t move it around from victim to victim, it will die.
- All non-essential workers and children should stay home
- Government should provide Universal Basic Income so everyone could buy the necessities and pay the rent/mortgage
- Essential workers should be given maximum protection
- Merciless contact tracing and quarantine for those who get sick
- The virus will die out in a few months.
Instead, we keep doing the same thing: partly close down, partly open up, partly close down, partly open up, partly close down, partly open up, … with exactly the same result.
The newest trend is announcements like "we will close down for two weeks" or we "will close down for 28 days" or we will close down till the end of the year, except during Christmas". I can just see the virus shaking in its tiny boots on its tiny legs. We gave it an ultimatum.
Welcome to the Planet of the Lunatic Asylum.
- The coming vaccination will insert microchips into every human being to turn them into obedient zombies
- The 5G technology (completely non-organic) is spreading the virus
- A dead Venezulan dictator stole the election for Biden
Just a few from the top. It feels like I am locked into a lunatic asylum and there is no escape.
Stopping the virus from spreading would be the simplest thing to accomplish. I wrote about it in March or April.
- The virus does not have legs or wings
- It needs transportation to spread from human to human
- If we don’t move it around from victim to victim, it will die.
- All non-essential workers and children should stay home
- Government should provide Universal Basic Income so everyone could buy the necessities and pay the rent/mortgage
- Essential workers should be given maximum protection
- Merciless contact tracing and quarantine for those who get sick
- The virus will die out in a few months.
Instead, we keep doing the same thing: partly close down, partly open up, partly close down, partly open up, partly close down, partly open up, … with exactly the same result.
The newest trend is announcements like "we will close down for two weeks" or we "will close down for 28 days" or we will close down till the end of the year, except during Christmas". I can just see the virus shaking in its tiny boots on its tiny legs. We gave it an ultimatum.
Welcome to the Planet of the Lunatic Asylum.
November 11, 2020
"Epicycle Physics - The Road to Modern Physics"
The title of this blog is also the title of my new book that will be published on Nov 30th (subtitle: "psst…we make it up as we go along"). Any of you who read, and maybe reviewed, my first volume: "Humane Physics - Book I - Classical Physics" might want to know that this volume deals with Relativity Theory, Atomic Physics, Quantum Mechanics and Cosmology. With this volume I completed a survey of the science of Physics from Ptolemy in ancient Greece to Stephen Hawking still going strong in the 21st Century.
The title of this volume refers to Ptolemy's attempt to deduce the observed irregular motion of the planets from a silly idea of the planets traveling around the Earth in a complicated Ferris-wheel arrangement of circles. The metaphor is used because Physics in the 20-21th Century reverted to this pre-Newton methodology of trying to come up with theories, however fantastic, that could explain the (up to now anyway) inexplicable phenomena in atomic and nuclear Physics, as well as produce some cosmological theories explaining how the Universe works.
In case any of my readers want to have a better understanding of the mystifying, yet confusing, concepts such as quantum theory, string theory, dark matter and dark energy - this volume might be a handy introduction to what the science of modern Physics has become in our age.
If anyone is interested in reading, and maybe reviewing, it before the publication date, I am offering an advanced reading copy for free for the next 3 weeks. I have already received one very complementary review, please see at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The title of this volume refers to Ptolemy's attempt to deduce the observed irregular motion of the planets from a silly idea of the planets traveling around the Earth in a complicated Ferris-wheel arrangement of circles. The metaphor is used because Physics in the 20-21th Century reverted to this pre-Newton methodology of trying to come up with theories, however fantastic, that could explain the (up to now anyway) inexplicable phenomena in atomic and nuclear Physics, as well as produce some cosmological theories explaining how the Universe works.
In case any of my readers want to have a better understanding of the mystifying, yet confusing, concepts such as quantum theory, string theory, dark matter and dark energy - this volume might be a handy introduction to what the science of modern Physics has become in our age.
If anyone is interested in reading, and maybe reviewing, it before the publication date, I am offering an advanced reading copy for free for the next 3 weeks. I have already received one very complementary review, please see at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
November 3, 2020
Why does it feel like waiting for a biopsy result?
You guessed it right - I am talking about the American election night.
According to dictionary definition: "A biopsy is a sample of tissue taken from the body in order to examine it more closely. A doctor should recommend a biopsy when an initial test suggests an area of tissue in the body isn't normal. Doctors may call an area of abnormal tissue a lesion, a tumor, or a mass"
In my past I did spend anxious days to find out if a biopsy result was going to be a death sentence (it wasn't) and I remember the fear, anxiety and dread, spending those days in uncertainty. You want to know if the body was being attacked by a malignant tumor that was going to kill it.
Right now I, and millions around the world, want to know if the body of the American society was terminally ill, with the malignancy already spread so deep that no amount of human intervention could save it. The answer is still in the future and nothing can relieve the fear, anxiety, dread and hope that permeates the minds of those who hope for the doctor coming out and telling you that everything is going to be all right - the patient can be saved.
According to dictionary definition: "A biopsy is a sample of tissue taken from the body in order to examine it more closely. A doctor should recommend a biopsy when an initial test suggests an area of tissue in the body isn't normal. Doctors may call an area of abnormal tissue a lesion, a tumor, or a mass"
In my past I did spend anxious days to find out if a biopsy result was going to be a death sentence (it wasn't) and I remember the fear, anxiety and dread, spending those days in uncertainty. You want to know if the body was being attacked by a malignant tumor that was going to kill it.
Right now I, and millions around the world, want to know if the body of the American society was terminally ill, with the malignancy already spread so deep that no amount of human intervention could save it. The answer is still in the future and nothing can relieve the fear, anxiety, dread and hope that permeates the minds of those who hope for the doctor coming out and telling you that everything is going to be all right - the patient can be saved.
