"That's, Like, Almost Not Cool..."

I think the troubled trajectory of the future of humankind can be summed up by this video (Hat tip: Scott Stein) Sorry about the ad -- also part of that troubled trajectory:



(Here's the link to it -- doesn't look like CNN wants this to work on mobile devices.)

Behold, the mighty jungle beast.

Behold, the little, vulnerable zebra baby, blissfully ignorant to its endangerment.


Behold, the human parents of the zebra baby, completely confident in integrity of the glass, despite the beast's ability to scent its prey through the seam in the glass; despite the prey's attempts to catch and rip that seam with its powerful claws.

Behold, the cuteness of the mighty beast as it strives to bat the zebra baby; to clamp its jaws down upon its head -- as it attempts to snap the zebra-baby's neck.

Behold the mighty jungle power; behold the grave danger; behold the ancient struggle for survival; behold the caged force of nature; behold the arrogance of humankind's trust in its own science; behold the mother's confidence in a science she doesn't understand; behold the mother who makes her child an object of attention.

Behold all of this rendered down to mere cuteness by a small width of glass that renders the horrific comical...

...except to one observer who -- timidly, but sensing the absurdity and the microscopic clarity of the situation, yet, riding the wave of nervous laughter -- says, "That's, like, almost...not cool."