Response to Penn Jillette's "An Homage to Hummer"

Penn Jillette wrote "An Homage to Hummer" in the WSJ. He was trying to be funny and thought-provoking at the same time, and to some extent he succeeded.
The article is at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510004575186243922694492.html

A few thoughts:

First, the true freedom is choosing what is good (see http://www.acton.org/publications/randl/rl_interview_307.php) . The problem is that not that everyone knows what good is. Penn Jullete, for example. (Actually, it’s not clear that Schwarzenegger knows it either, judging from when, in his breakout movie Conan the Barbarian, he quoted Genghis Khan’s definition. OK, it was just a movie.).

Second, if Jillette’s Mini gets hit by a Hummer, he will be mincemeat. Not good. One point for the Hummer.

Third, the purpose of a car is not to feel good (applies equally to H2 and Mini drivers), but to get from Point A to Point B. Preferably in all sorts of weather and despite the lack of roads. Another point for the Hummer.

Fourth, most SUVs can double as tow trucks. I’ve pulled many people out of ditches with my Jeep. Of course, without warning lights it is a bit dangerous, as people have been killed by other drivers… But still, a point for the Hummer.

Fifth, the Hummer’s milage sucks. Granted. OTOH, the Army has been working on hybrid and electric Humvees (see http://dodenergy.blogspot.com/2008/09/hybrid-humvee.html ).

The current Hummer (H2) is a sissified non-off-road version of the converted military vehicle. The H3 is barely worth mocking. Ten points off for the H2 (and H3), and for the GM executives who decided to build them. Thank goodness they’re all getting fired (we should hope). Why didn’t they make a practical (i.e. normal wheelbase) off-road car with the portal gears so that they could keep the amazing 16” clearance?

Like Jullete, I’m not really a car guy either. My jeep is fourteen years old, and it’s my fourth one. What I really want is a transporter. But since they’re impossible, I’ll have to wait for the nanotech revolution and get Josh Hall’s aircar (see http://autogeny.org/aircar/index.html). Then we get global warming fixed for free.

Of course, then we’ll have other problems.

What do you want from life?

Everybody wants to be happy; the lucky few know that happiness is overated. And paradoxically, they are the happiest, for they know the meaning of their lives. The rest yearn for happiness and suffer in quiet desperation.

Deep down, we all want to be like Saints and Heros, who are utterly non-selfconscious about themselves;  They are aware only of their goals, and how they go about attaining them. But we draw back, frightened at the sacrifices they make.

The first Nobel Truth of Buddhism is that life is suffering. Therefore, if one wants to find meaning in life, then one must find meaning in suffering. The person who finds that has conquered the world.