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At the present time, the United States represents the high point of maximum affluence that our civilization has reached. There's no place on earth where people have more, use more, or waste more than the United States. Though other nations haven't as yet reached this high point, they yearn to reach it. They have no other goal. There's only one right way for people to live, and the people of the United States epitomize it. Everyone in the world should have a house, a car, a computer, a television set, a telephone, and so on--at least one of each, preferably several. This I call "the culture of maximum harm," a culture in which all members are dedicated to attaining the high point of maximum affluence (and to forever raising the high point of maximum affluence). Beyond Civilization

New book from Daniel Quinn! If They Give You Lined Paper, Write Sideways "One of the most troublesome questions I've been asked--and it's been asked hundreds of times--is: 'Where do these strange ideas of yours come from?' In the beginning, I thought it was just the usual where-do-you-get-your-ideas? question that all authors receive. My readers soon set me straight. Read more ... Excerpt 1 Excerpt 2 Excerpt 3

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UNIT 36 No One Right Way

Who are "the folks who gave us powdered wigs"?

Once again Quinn describes his faltering efforts to fulfill a promise made to his readers, in this case to articulate "another story to be in." Does this help you understand what he's doing when he finally articulates it here?

Does "There is no one right way for people to live" seem to you to qualify as "a story"?

In what sense was this "the story that was enacted here during the first three or four million years of human life"?

How do you feel about Quinn's suggestion that our story was "just a special case of a much wider story, written in the living community itself from the beginning, some five billion years ago"?

How do you think Quinn would answer this challenge: "Aren't you saying that the way we currently live is the wrong way for people to live--or at least a' wrong way?"

How do you think Quinn would answer this challenge: "Wouldn't you agree that having one right way for people to live is a wrong way for people to live?"

Back to UNIT 35 A New Way To Go

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