Live Fast And Die Young.

“In order to become fully human, man had to pull himself out of the slime. And all this is the result. As the Takers see it, the gods gave man the same choice they gave Achilles: a brief life of glory or a long, uneventful life in obscurity. And the Takers chose a brief life of glory.”

I find this quote able to be applied to a number of things. I think this can reflect the lifestyles of the Takers, but also how their lifestyles affect the life of the Earth. The Takers may have had a massive period of growth and expansion, glorified by mankind, but all this at the cost of the Earth and it's resources. I honestly think most of mankind would choose this lifestyle to live short and with glory. We are all about living for the moment, and I think mankind craves attention and action. I know my choice would be to live fast and die young.

Ishmael (School)

What are Ishmael's thoughts on how things came to be?

My idea as to what Ishmael's thoughts on how things came to be are not exactly clear. I understand the point of the creation story he told about creation ending with jellyfish, or at least I think that I understand it. The meaning I got out of it was, despite humans' nature to use logic, observations, and science, the understanding that the appearance of humans was the crux of evolution has no scientific basis. What gives us the thought that we are the vital species/generation, besides our presence in both? Nothing does, so the thought is obviously egocentric.

I also am curious that, although Ishmael's exact ideas aren't directly displayed, what makes his views omniscient. My thinking would be that his thoughts would be just as self-centered as ours.

"'But finally,' the creature said, turning quite pink with pride as he came to the climax of the story, 'but finally jellyfish appeared!'"