We were in small-town Pennsylvania last week. We were there to record a series of conversations with Frederick Ferré, who literally wrote the book on the philosophy of technology. But the upcoming Democratic primary there merged at every turn with Dr. Ferré's mind-bending Constructive Post-Modern philosophy. (He's quick to apologize for "post-modern" but that phrase is less clumsy than "We-Don't-Yet-Know-To-Call-What's-Coming-Next-But-It's-Dramatically-Different-From-The-'Modern'-Now-Passed Era.")
"Huge" is how Dr. Ferré describes the changes irreversibly upon us. They're so overarching, in fact, that he's created a beautiful new philosophy which is sufficiently "muscular" to inspire and guide entirely new ways of being, knowing and living. It starts with being open to those changes.
The "modern" is stoutly represented by Senator Clinton. She's absolutely confident we can tweak the existing ways of doing things sufficiently that we won't have to really change the status quo very much. After all, she is the status quo ... except. of course, for the very post-modern notion of a woman President.
Senator Obama? He's confidently taken to the path we're all treading into a new era, willingly or otherwise. Obama's already over-the-horizon, into the future emerging all around us. He is the "post-modern". That's what is so exciting (or threatening if one holds onto the withering past). He's seen the future and we are it.
So it was no wonder that excitement about Obama simmered under the surface of practically every encounter. (Maybe Bill Clinton being in town also contributed.) Senator Casey went from neutral to Obama while we were there. Rowhouses and bumper stickers sported the signature "O". Obama buttons shyly peeked out of business shirts as surely as on the proud breast of the student rehearsing her "Population Bomb" speech.
Come what may, business-as-usual has clearly lost its lustre. Fortunately, there are the Frederick Ferrés and Baraka Obamas who are ready, willing and able to walk with us, and maybe help guide us, into uncertainty. Sounds like democracy to me.
P.S. Just so you know: if there's anything more fun than a roadtrip in a Prius, it must be a new puppy.
You will find a variety of wide wonderfully articulate people including Dr. Ferré and other Guests on "The Paula Gordon Show: Conversations with People at the Leading Edge"(sm), at our website, http://www.PaulaGordon.com.