DON'T LOOK UP

Dylan Skurka marvels at the human capacity to ignore existential threats.

- Dylan Skurka

One morning in the marketplace, as the townspeople are enjoying what they think is the beginning of a day like any other, a dishevelled man holding a lantern appears out of nowhere. "I seek God! I seek God!" he begins to scream indiscriminately at both no one and everyone. Soon enough, a crowd forms around this spectacle of a person, and once they understand what's happening, the townspeople can't help but burst into laughter at the ridiculous sight of someone crazy enough to be out looking for God with a lantern. The madman, getting more and more impatient about not being taken seriously, finally snaps back at his audience: "Where is God? I will tell you. We have killed him and I!"

Dumbstruck, the townspeople aren't laughing anymore, and now just stand there in a daze. Fed up with his failed efforts to be heard, the madman finally smashes his lantern on the ground in one last fit of rage, and leaves, issuing the townspeople a last cryptic warning:

"I have come too early; my time is not yet. This tremendous event is still on its way, still wandering; it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time; the light of the stars requires time; deeds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than most distant stars - and yet they have done it themselves." (The Gay Science, Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882)