[1] From Bjornerud’s analysis and your own reflections, give several reasons for chronophobia that make time, and especially deep time, so difficult for people to face honestly.
[2] Explain how Bjornerud uses Descartes’ thought-experiment about “Being” (reality) as “real or an elaborate illusion created by a malevolent demon or god” (A Call for Timefulness, 2018, p.8). In what ways, if any, do you see deep time earth history and the place of humans in it, as a challenge to some religious worldviews and/or to the dominate worldview of modern global capitalism?
[3] In Bjornerud’s analysis, what is the difference between the so-called “pure” sciences and the science of geology. How does she connect the passion for pure science to Plato? And what do you think about her value judgment on prioritizing some sciences as pure and some as not?
[4] In light of this week’s materials on deep earth history, timefulness, and anthropocentric worldviews, search your own views and explain what you think now would be a more informed and honest view for yourself to take on humans, their place in the world, and their responsibilities toward the future.
