The Brilliant insight: Times have been worse

At a Silicon Valley party last week for Larry Brilliant, whose new memoir is “Sometimes Brilliant: The Impossible Adventure of a Spiritual Seeker and Visionary Physician Who Helped Conquer the Worst Disease in History,” it was said that there was a time that Brilliant couldn’t give a talk without mentioning smallpox.

Brilliant, co-founder of the Well online community and the first leader of Google.org, is now deeply involved in philanthropy as chair of the Skoll Global Threats Fund. But he took his first steps into the international arena as a doctor, where his work led to the eradication of the pandemic of smallpox. Later, with Wavy Gravy, his best friend, Brilliant founded the Seva Foundation, to provide cataract surgery to people in Third World countries.

Brilliant describes himself as a hippie seeking enlightenment in Asia at the start of his medical journey. The inscription in the front of his 1974 diary, pictured in the book, is in Hindi: “Until I have completed God’s assigned work, I cannot rest.” In recent years, his work has been with foundations harnessing the profits of tech.

So he’s a rare figure who bridges generations — Boomers to Millennials — that often seem far apart. And that bridge was on his mind when he talked to guests at the book party. (Sorry to anyone tired about reading about the election, but it’s all that’s on people’s minds at most public events nowadays.)

Brilliant said he’d been thinking about the ’60s, “trying to recount the feelings that we had during those times.” They weren’t mistake-free, said Brilliant, regretting, for example, war protesters’ disdain for returning Vietnam veterans. “But a list of the things we did right was long. We had this feeling that as bad as things were ... that right around the corner was a better world.”

Brilliant referred to times “when things were worse than they are now,” when, during World War II, “you didn’t have to say that guy is like Hitler”; during the Cold War, when “we were close to nuclear annihilation . ... We’re not there. You have to remember how bad things were.”

Brilliant recalled going to the U.N. to speak about smallpox, coming into a room filled with people of every hue, “all the faces in the world. Call it psychedelic or messianic or crazy. That’s what it was like for me to work on eradicating smallpox.”

He talked about a girl who was the last patient with the disease, “the end of an unbroken chain of transmission that killed billions of people . ... Even with Trump in the White House, I can never again think that we can’t conquer evil. We’re going to get through this.”

Brilliant will be on TedMed on Thursday, Dec. 1, and at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center at 7 p.m. Feb. 6.

“Dude, they don’t have any Folger’s. These are all f— organic.” Man on cell phone in coffee section at Trader Joe’s in Castro Valley, overheard by Phil Bennett

With marijuana now legal in California, an offer was emailed: “Get $60 of free marijuana delivered. Enjoy $30 off your first three on-demand deliveries at eazeup.com.” The pitch says it’s “faster than pizza” (and probably a better high than pepperoni).

And if you have just used the services offered in the item above, perhaps this is something to set your high-minded self to thinking about:

A survey reported by Meow Mix (which definitely has a dog in the race) has found that “28 percent of cat parents say they can tell their kitties secrets they’ve never told anyone else.” Once again, it’s Christmas season, which, according to an email flood of warnings and bad forecasts, brings the annual Days of Dismal Dysfunction. And once again, we report herewith — sporadically, as gloomy clouds loom on the horizon — on reasons to feel bad.

Today’s first installment, results of a survey taken by academics at Niagara University College of Business Administration, is directed to middle-aged parents. Perhaps they were on the verge of rejoicing that their offspring, in their 20s and 30s, are finally making it on their own.

“Millennials between the ages of 20 and 25 will spend less on gifts than your average holiday shopper. However they plan to spend money on themselves this holiday season. Cnet.com said ‘a whopping 75 percent of shoppers under 35 plan to buy presents for themselves.’ ”