Our neighbor, Jim Gray, at East TN History Center

Join Jim Gray for a discussion of Too Much Magic: Wishful Thinking, Technology and the Fate of the Nation by James Howard Kuntsler in the East Tennessee History Center auditorium on Wednesday, November 18 at noon in the East Tennessee History Center auditorium at 601 South Gay Street.

Gray says “Too Much Magic is the latest in James Howard Kunstler’s effort to understand American life and to look into our future. It is an update of his best-selling The Long Emergency and a continuation of work that dates back to the early 1990s in The Geography of Nowhere.”

“Too much magic” is what Kunstler sees in the bright visions of a future world dreamed up by optimistic souls who believe technology will solve all our problems. Their visions remind him of the flying cars and robot maids that were the dominant images of the future in the 1950s. Kunstler’s image of the future is much more sober. With vision, clarity of thought, and a pragmatic worldview, Kunstler argues that the time for magical thinking and hoping for miracles is over, and the time to begin preparing for the long emergency has begun.

“Too Much Magic is essentially about the need to get the facts—and our thinking—straight about America’s (and the world’s) future,” Gray says.

Gray is co-founder and Executive Director of the East Tennessee Permaculture Research Institute. Since coming to Knoxville in 1995 Gray has worked at a variety of positions including Operations Supervisor for the United States Census, chair of the Knox County Democratic Party, and Operations Manager of Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development. He has also produced—and sometimes hosted—Democratic TeleVision, a weekly talk and call-in program on Community Television, for eleven years. Gray is developing a book proposal based on a recent essay entitled “Farming as an Act of Rebellion.”