Why Fish Don’t Exist
Lulú Miller
David Starr Jordan had spent his career identifying new species of fish.
He carefully stored and tagged thousands of them in glass jars. Then the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 hit — leaving his life's work in pieces on the floor.
In her part-history and part-memoir Why Fish Don't Exist, Lulu Miller, former host of the NPR podcast Invisibilia, writes of how Jordan — and his reaction to that moment — inspired her.
The book is unexpected in the stories it tells as it weaves her quest for identity and an odd life story of David star jordon .
Actually a well written book, suprizing, not necessarily aligned with all of it.
“ ignorance is the most delightful science in the world because it is acquired without labor or pains and keeps mine from melancholy.”
“ web of chaos leads to a chill pessimism of everything and then there’s grand in this view it says the opposite is equally and as probable of happening”
“ and what kind into glitch helps you achieve grit - positive illusions
Maybe David Starr Jordan is proof that a steady dose of hubris is the best way of overcoming doomed odds”
Evolutionary biologist supported eugenics as a way to protect the degeneration of the species of man
An Arab proverb puts the matter bluntly: “ father a weed, mother a weed; do you expect daughter to be a saffron root”.
For Miller the core of the issue was do we matter or not ?
and she would say no we don't matter because we don't matter the odds cconfirm that there is equal chance of good as here is bad so we good
positive and false negative but we still believe in God believe that we matter so there is room for some hope.
Miller does acknowledge possibility that minor interactions of people keeping one another afloat the charity people offer for one another ,and the kindness of people looking out for one another might be the very thing that tethers one to this planet ; the possibility of a web-like that are tangible interactions with people and enrich the society around them reflecting more light back into society / people/ the world and thereby strengthening it
“Humans downplay similarities between us another animals as a way of maintaining our spot at the top of our imaginary ladder.” - or perhaps we sit on the ladder at the top the field recognize that these other creations are closer to us though they are still not us.
How do you grow up and learn to stop believing peoples words about you
When I give up fish (labels). I get the promise that there are good things in store not because I deserve them not because I work for them because there is as much a part of chaos destruction and loss. Life - the flipside of death; growth of rot . Examine each object in the avalanche of chaos with curiosity with doubt. look at both sides wonder about the reality waiting.behind our assumption.
Be wary of words remember that a category is at best a proxy at worst a shackle.
To turn the key to new possibilities all you have to do … is stay wary of words.
