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Thursday, April 5, 2012 Issue 60
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Vol. 119
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Policy expert explores A-Bomb impact Blair Kuykendall Editor-in-Chief The Department of History announced its new atomic research initiative with a visit from Walter Russell Mead on Monday. “Professor Mead is one of our most noted experts on American foreign policy,” Vejas Liulevicius, professor of history, said. “This lecture is a cooperative venture, intended as the kick-off to a larger project on the history of the atomic age. This is a partnership between UT, Y-12, and parts of ORNL, to document our area’s role in a new age of history.” Mead delivered an address, “American Strategy in the Atomic Age,” to a crowd primarily composed of faculty members and graduate students. He characterized the often grim focus of his research as somewhat of a curse. “I’m interested in things a lot of people aren’t interested in: American foreign policy in the atomic age,” Mead said. “Historicization of the eschaton sounds very abstract, but is actually quite relevant to where we are today. Eschaton means last, last things. Eschatology is the study of the end of things. This concept we have that someday the world as we know it will end, is an important concept in the history of thought.” Mead views the creation of an atomic bomb as a major shift in human perception of the world’s end. “In the past, people couldn’t do anything that would bring about an end to the world,” Mead said. “Humanity was completely passive with regard to how the world would end.” Human perspective was largely influenced by religious ideology. Specifically, they believed the world was created to exist for a time before divine destruction. “This begins to change in early modern Europe, at the time of the Enlightenment,” Mead said. “With the Enlightenment people began to notice that we knew more than the Greeks and Romans did. They began to apply scientific techniques and ideas to gadgets that make life better or longer. They started to tame smallpox. People started to see history on an upward trend, with a concept of progress, thinking maybe someday mankind could live forever.” This realization gave life to new, seemingly radical ideas. “There begins to be this idea that human beings can escape history on their own,” Mead said. “We begin to see the historicization of the eschaton. Human activity, normal process of ordinary history, could lead us out of history into something new.” America’s early leaders applied this idea to their vision for the nation’s future. “In America, this idea is a very important concept. The American colonists were infused with this idea of progress. They came up with a different vision of history: the idea
• Photo courtesy of usembassy.gov
Walter Russell Mead speaks at a roundtable discussion at the US Embassy to Germany on Nov. 25, 2009. Mead, an expert in US foreign policy, spoke to students and faculty at UT about the new research initiative on the atomic bomb and how it has shaped public outlook on the end of times. that the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the rise of human freedom, the rise of the United States, were all part of God’s plan ... America was seen as the leading edge of God’s work of redemption, that new freedoms were all part of Gods plan that had been there from the beginning. Americans by and large get uncomfortable if you talk about putting a theological mantle on it, but we believe we are here to make the world a better place. America is on a mission to change the world.” This stream of thought had a powerful impact on the nation’s collective consciousness. “America was saying we are going to stop this,” Mead said. “War, tyranny and oppression was no good for anyone. That call to America to end history still lingers today.” Mead contends that the discovery of the atomic bomb forced perception to shift yet again. “In 1945 the world changed in ways that still profoundly affect us today,” Mead said. “The vision of life just getting better and better was changed in ways that still affect the way we think about ourselves. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the discovery of the Holocaust illustrate the emptiness of the hopes of the Enlightenment.” Disenchantment with Enlightenment ideals ushered in a new era of eschatological thought.
“Now we are talking about a very different kind of end to history ... human beings as a result of international politics have the power now to wipe out human life, and not in a very nice way,” Mead said. “The Holocaust is even more frightening in light of Hiroshima ... you see human evil come to life, here in Germany, the most Enlightened civilized nation in Europe. Absolute evil is now revealed to be in the heart of even enlightened man.” Mead sees that transition as a dismal foreshadowing to humanity’s future. “You combine Hiroshima and the Holocaust and you do not get a good post-millennial future,” Mead said. “Technological progress is making the world a more dangerous place. I am more frightened about biology than I am about physics. What humanity is now facing ... the onrushing power of technology ... is leading us into deeper and darker waters. We see apocalyptic fear entering politics.” Mead’s lecture highlighted the radical toll atomic advancement has taken on the world’s citizens. His address illuminated the need for UT to explore our region’s role in the development of the atomic bomb. “I hope my talk will inspire you guys to look at the way this is impacting the world,” Mead said.
Program offers summer Southwest adventure Sara Jung Staff Writer
Rebecca Vaughan • The Daily Beacon
Students break dance during a contemporary performance in the International Dance Competition at the University Center on March 28.
Those seeking to start their summers off with a physical challenge take note: This May, UT’s Outdoor Program (UTOP) is offering a Southwest multi-sport adventure trip. From May 12-29, three experienced UTOP staff members will lead eight participants through the deserts of Utah and Arizona and the mountains of Colorado, mountain biking, rock climbing, canyoneering and hiking. “This is a great beginner-friendly trip,” Ryan Worth, UTOP trip leader and senior in environmental science, said. “You don’t have to have previous experience doing any of the activities. We will teach anyone anything they need and want to know on the trip.” The exact locations of the trip are still being planned. Location details will depend on where participants want to go and what they want to do. “We cater to the group going,” Nick Shoemaker, trip co-leader and UTOP’s Bicycle Program Coordinator, said. “If more people like to mountain bike, then we can spend more of our time mountain biking. The trip will really focus on participants building up the skills they wish to.” According to Worth, most of the mountain biking trails are in Colorado, near Buena Vista. The trip will venture all over Utah, to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in the eastern part of the state to Antelope Island State Park,
the island in the Great Salt Lake. In southwest Utah, canyoneering is the main focus. The sport is a combination of hiking, caving, swimming and rappelling in canyons that have been carved slowly over time through the landscape by rivers. “Canyoneering is all about the aesthetics and having fun,” Worth said. “It can be physically challenging, but that is part of the experience. The canyons are incredible in the Southwest and this is a rare opportunity that we get to take advantage of.” There will also be some multi-pitch rock climbing, which is necessary when the climbing route is too tall to climb with the length of a rope. Each section climbed to reach the top of the rock face is called a pitch. A rock climber ascends up the rock, placing protective gear along the way, and then stops and anchors himself into the rock face at a safe and sturdy belay station. This type of climbing provides climbers with views of grand vistas that many people do not get to see. “The multi-pitch climbing that we will be doing is low-grade and not too hard, but still very rewarding,” Worth said. Shoemaker said the trip is open to anyone with enthusiasm and willingness to learn. “We don’t expect experts or really experienced people,” Shoemaker said. “This is a great opportunity to learn new skills because the Southwest is a world-class destination for mountain biking, climbing and hiking.” See OUTDOORS on Page 3