The Sustainability Conundrum

Abstract

For a Drosophila growing up in a jar in a genetics laboratory, there should be no uncertainty about at least one central feature of existence: there is an all-powerful God. That God supplies the requirements for selfmaintenance, creates fascinating new conditions for evolutionary exploration, and ultimately delivers life or death without consultation or understanding. In other words, there is no sense in which our Drosophila can sustain its world or its existence for a moment longer than will be decided by an ultimate power over which it has no control or influence. To be happy, therefore, it should live life as a fatalist and take maximum pleasure from current conditions.