2017 in review

What a year, gang.

We’ve seen political upheavals mingled with newly energized activism. Lazy intellects, desperate anger, slick marketing, and pathological distrust of expertise resulted in everything from Trump’s election, Brexit, serious Flat Earth conspiracies, anti-vaccination movements, pseudoscience, and the disastrous return of Lysenkoism to Russia. We’ve seen brave, fierce scientists, journalists, and ordinary people standing firm against blind ideology, snake oil sales, and craven greed. I’ve never been prouder of my fellow liberals.

A rising drumbeat of climate change warnings is shifting the human equation from ‘prevention’ to ‘mitigation’ and ‘adaptation’. Some geographic areas may benefit, many others will not. In delicious schadenfreude, the places most benighted by narrow religious and pseudoscientific beliefs may be among the worst affected by climate change side effects. But make no mistake: we’re all in this mess together.

Science did cool things in 2017. The solar eclipse was amazing. We’ve proven that gravity waves exist, and can be used for cosmological exploration. Paleontologists have found more ‘missing link’ hominid fossils that show humanity is a vast sprawling bush with an ancient lineage, not a narrow tree. New technological advances like CRISPR and gene therapy herald major changes in medicine.

Personally, it’s been a year of triumph and terror. I’m thrilled at new options to bring my art and writing to the public. Look for some great art and fun projects in 2018.

I’m now intimately acquainted with the US costs for kidney failure (a friend’s, not mine): $235,000 and counting, even with decent insurance.  It’s made me coldly and carefully consider my own responses, if I have a major medical issue. People who don’t live in the US don’t understand the choices that poor to middleclass Americans must make: balancing earnings to maximize insurance subsidies, long term healthcare vs family bankruptcy. The Baby Boomers are the last generation of Americans with even a chance at retiring on liveable pensions…and many of them are discovering their planning has fallen short.

I have no idea what 2018 will bring, much less the next decade. I live, therefore I hope.