Quoting Bertrand Russell - "Most people would rather die than think".
It's a fitting quote because it captures the essence of human nature and ultimately concludes what the challenge for humanity really is - even when we entered into the "polycrisis" era as a collective. I think Daniel Schmachtenberger, John Vervaeke, and Iain McGilchrist did a wonderful discussion on this topic a few months ago. The key takeaway I got from the 3-hour long talk was "we need to make people fall in love with being again". Very true and very hard in the current climate of things.
I need to finish listening to that talk; I listed to a good bit of it, but I love that take away. So powerful, and highly related to my larger interest in disenchantment and re-enchantment. Thank you for sharing.
Polycrisis and hyperobjects are brand new to my lexicon, and helpful words to make sense of these too-big-to-comprehend concepts. Thanks, Spencer. This is an important piece.
Spot on. Nevertheless I believe that there is a role for capitalism in our world, provided due recognition is given to the finite nature of resources and the fundamental impossibility of infinite real growth. Furthermore any long-term viable capitalist system, like any stable ecological system, must be constrained via negative feedback control. For those not conversant in engineering terminology, breaking up monopolies to prevent price gouging is an example of negative feedback control.
Quoting Edward Abbey, "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell."
Glad you enjoyed :) I agree with that too, I think markets are useful but need a lot more regulation!! I actually talk about this a bit in my Information Asymmetry essay and my If capitalism is a cancer, what are we essay!
People’s suicidal maladaptive “strategies” for confronting the polycrisis and hyperobjects is what horrifies me the most. I have to keep repeating to myself, over and over and over, “human beings are irrational creatures.” My best friends - intelligent, good people - all have their various reasons for not engaging with it. It’s alienating us, as I increasingly view them as clueless fools and struggle to maintain my respect as they live materialistically and make babies without even considering examing the state of the world and its likely future (is that unethical or merely grossly irresponsible? I can’t decide).
This is the curse of virtues and strengths: the better you are, the more you recognize and suffer from the lack of it in others, be it empathy, intelligence, wisdom, or, as in my case, rationality.
Quoting Bertrand Russell - "Most people would rather die than think".
It's a fitting quote because it captures the essence of human nature and ultimately concludes what the challenge for humanity really is - even when we entered into the "polycrisis" era as a collective. I think Daniel Schmachtenberger, John Vervaeke, and Iain McGilchrist did a wonderful discussion on this topic a few months ago. The key takeaway I got from the 3-hour long talk was "we need to make people fall in love with being again". Very true and very hard in the current climate of things.
I need to finish listening to that talk; I listed to a good bit of it, but I love that take away. So powerful, and highly related to my larger interest in disenchantment and re-enchantment. Thank you for sharing.
Polycrisis and hyperobjects are brand new to my lexicon, and helpful words to make sense of these too-big-to-comprehend concepts. Thanks, Spencer. This is an important piece.
Spot on. Nevertheless I believe that there is a role for capitalism in our world, provided due recognition is given to the finite nature of resources and the fundamental impossibility of infinite real growth. Furthermore any long-term viable capitalist system, like any stable ecological system, must be constrained via negative feedback control. For those not conversant in engineering terminology, breaking up monopolies to prevent price gouging is an example of negative feedback control.
Quoting Edward Abbey, "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell."
Glad you enjoyed :) I agree with that too, I think markets are useful but need a lot more regulation!! I actually talk about this a bit in my Information Asymmetry essay and my If capitalism is a cancer, what are we essay!
People’s suicidal maladaptive “strategies” for confronting the polycrisis and hyperobjects is what horrifies me the most. I have to keep repeating to myself, over and over and over, “human beings are irrational creatures.” My best friends - intelligent, good people - all have their various reasons for not engaging with it. It’s alienating us, as I increasingly view them as clueless fools and struggle to maintain my respect as they live materialistically and make babies without even considering examing the state of the world and its likely future (is that unethical or merely grossly irresponsible? I can’t decide).
This is the curse of virtues and strengths: the better you are, the more you recognize and suffer from the lack of it in others, be it empathy, intelligence, wisdom, or, as in my case, rationality.
Yes. Just yes. And also: trophic pyramid.