Summary Of 'Learning How To Die In The Anthropocene'?

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The global climate changes have brought devastating geographical changes over the last century. With unfunded solutions and internal political conflicts driven by pure ignorance, our species has begun digging its own grave. Roy Scranton, author of “Learning how to Die in the Anthropocene”, has already begun contemplating the inevitable. By incaptivating his readers with his detailed description of his military past; he draws a parallel to the future he describes as inescapable. Using descriptive logic and overwhelming emotion, Scranton successfully convinces that in order to live in the new age us humans have forged, we must learn how to die. Scranton begins his essay with an elaborate portrait of the Baghdad landscape, described as a ravaged land riddled with distortion and turpitude. …show more content…

I for one believe his prediction is accurate, in that we have already opened the door to our own demise. Of course Scranton doesn’t mean to sit and die but to delay our death. Also his use of the “humanistic and philosophical questions… “What does it mean to live?”” really digs into the backbone of the reader. Scranton thoughtfully placed his audience in a setting beyond what they can imagine forcing them to question their religious views and what is in store for them. I believe that in order to avoid making his work into a depressing foretelling of the future, he should have mentioned how measures can be taken to lighten the view instead of waiting for the disaster. Although I question his last line “If we want to live in the Anthropoece, we must first learn how to die.” Because is seems he is trying to say that there can be hope but we must come to term with our death, but it contradicts itself with what I mentioned above how most people simply will not accept death be it ignorance or religion. So for him to simply end the article with a “cool” finish throws me

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