10 Minute Must Read Books Pt.2 - Letters to a Young Contrarian by Christopher Hitchens

Our words can never hurt each other the way a fist, a bullet or a nuclear weapon can. And the day we forget that we have to use our words and our voices to problem solve, is the day modern civilization can perhaps wave goodbye to this trajectory of progress we've been on for over half a century.

What does it mean to be a contrarian in the modern world? There are a growing number of people who refuse to believe the Earth is round, that's a contrarian position. Climate change: not real – contrary to what the overwhelming consensus – I think it's up to nearly 98% of the human beings who study the climate, agree that climate change is real, and a threat. This is not what Hitchens had in mind. Being a contrarian, or being a “deep thinker”, not accepting the orthodox story that is handed down from those who control the narratives does not mean rejecting reality, or rejecting facts. It's difficult to analyze the present from a historical perspective, but it's quite apparent that we are in the middle of multiple revolutions. I've said it before: digital, automation, and oft overlooked is the information revolution.

Here's where Hitchen's comes in. I'd never claim to know what he might say or how he might say it, but I'm going to try to dig into my reservoir of Hitch knowledge and respond to a “space is fake” argument – as if Eddie Bravo were in front of me.