I have been moved to write a few deep thoughts of mine about the nature of Homo Sapiens.
Disclaimer:if anyone recognises themselves as having influenced this post, let no offense be taken!
Too often, one hears the phrase "It's human nature" or a variant of the "Humans will destroy the earth" kind. I'll be brief:it's a cop out. Either that or it's an attempt by those whom it best serves at 'brainwashing' the masses.
Personally, I don't buy the 'human nature' explanation. I am a human(or so it would seem). Yet, I do not view myself as one intent on destroying the MOTHERSHIP in order to satisfy my own greed. As far as I can remember, I have never picked up a weapon and lunged at my fellow human beings, and I certainly have never declared pre-emptive war on some guy/girl down the street 'cos he/she wouldn't play by my rules after I'd helped he/she beat up his/her neighbour.
What's more, I am a human being, and I am capable of rational thought. This means I am able to see the difference between what is right and what is wrong. I know that it is wrong for me to hate someone because they are of a different colour, religion, culture, birthplace or whatever. I know it is wrong to beat someone up because they don't live on my side of town. I know that ideally we would all live in harmony respecting each other's choices, tastes and opinions. In addition to that, I know many people who can see the difference between what is right and what is wrong. What I cannot understand is why among these people some continue to talk about 'human nature' being the root of all evil.
The war in Iraq was started by the US and UK governments with the help of big oil-not by the human race.
The Iran-Iraq war was a war between two sets of fanatical(in different ways)dictators-not by ordinary Iranians and Iraqis, and most definitely not by the human race.
Six million(give or take a few)jews were gassed by the Nazis, not by the german people, and not by the human race.
Need I go on ad vitam eternam?
I think the point I am trying to make is this: there are people who are responsible for atrocities and the destruction of our environment. We, the people are responsible for demonstrating our disaproval, and doing all we can to stop the pain, misery and environmental destruction going on around us, but we as humans are not responsible for the acts. There is much opposition to the evil powers that be, much of it in Britain and America.
It is all too easy and at the same time it is a magnificent gift to the elites to blame all the world's problems on 'human nature'.
You are indeed right, Jez. Blaming "human nature" for the ills of the world as though everything is beyond the control of man IS a cop-out.
RépondreSupprimerDo we use the expression like some sort of blanket excuse to cover our own feelings of helplessness at the awful things the "elites" do, supposedly in our name?
I agree with you that the term "human nature" is a cop out. It is used by people who have no argument whatsoever as an attempted trump card (like our old exceptionally dopey friend Alcazar, who had used the term a few times).
RépondreSupprimerLeaving that aside entirely, and leaving aside the fact that the world is ruled by people who are more concerned with hegemony than survival, there is the issue of the exponential function.
The exponential function describes what happens when there is growth in a system. For example, the population of India is growing at 2% per annum. This doesn't sound like too much, I suppose. But what does 2% per annum really mean? What it means is that if the population growth continues at that rate, the current population will be doubled in slightly less than 35 years.
Considering that any organism has both demands for inputs and produces waste, two things would occur. First, the demand for resources would outstrip the availability of those resources (they have this problem with their current population). Second, the pollution created by those people would turn their own wastes into population crashing pollution. The same thing would be seen in any organism's population if it continued exponential growth unabated.
Another thing that exponential functions describe is the use of finite resources. Consider that the global demand for oil is increasing by 2% per year and that the available global oil reserves are just about at their all time peak production capacity. How is it that this system is to continue? The modern agricultural system uses the equivalent of 500 million barrel of oil's worth of natural gas (a resource that has likely peaked already) just to produce the fertiliser it needs yearly - not to forget about the fact that the entire system of monoculture farming runs on oil. How is it that human beings are going to get the food they need?
So one simple little mathematical equation has already invited two of the horsemen of the apocalypse to the party and at least one of the other two will necessarily follow. This doesn't mean that "mankind will destroy the earth," or even itself. It does, however, mean that things are going to change very soon and that change will very likely bring about a population crash. Population crash or no, not liking the change will not prevent it from coming, nor will not believing in the change. Reality takes little interest in people's beliefs.
None taken :0) xxxx
RépondreSupprimerDJEB, you know I agree with you. However, the point I was making was that it is not inherent to human nature, and that therefore it is not 'the human race' which is destroying the environment, but human individuals. This may seem to some like pontificating with words, but words are very useful to those who wish to hide the truth.
RépondreSupprimerAlso, surely you are not saying theexponential function is human nature?(Probably you're not and it's just me misunderstanding.)Humans (including those in the third world...)are capable of making informed decisions, given access to the right information. Don't you agree? Or are you saying it's too late and there ain't nothing we can do and we are heading for anihilation whatever we do?
I am not saying that the exponential funtion is human nature. I'm saying that it is a reality of both biological systems and finite systems.
RépondreSupprimerI'll say this: do you see a way in which mankind is going to escape the calamity that will arise when the very lifeblood modern petro-farming becomes too expensive to use? I've looked into coal. Coal will do for 40 years at current rates of usage if we are lucky. Nuclear, which relies on oil for contruction and mining, has got 50 years at current rates of usage. Natural gas has peaked in North America and perhaps the world. There is no energy system to step up to the plate. The realities of mathematics have come knocking on the door.
Personally, I have come to discover this with a great deal of skepticism, but it is inescapable. To quote Huxley, "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."
That said, I agree with you that humans are capable of making informed decisions if given access to correct and relevant information. However, when they are given such access, many very often reject the truth in favour of what is easier, more comforting or more socially acceptable. To be incapable of making the logical decision, by definition, means to be an idiot. Most people are not idiots. Many are stupid: they have the intelligence to know better or do better, but they do not. They say things like "Sensitive issues leave no room for logical debate,”or "you foreigners really piss me off when you try to imply that the US ever was a "supporter" of Saddam," in an effort to prove this.
To address your last point, I don't see how all the people who are alive today are going to be kept alive on the denuded agricultural system we have today. Annihilation suggest everyone will die. I don't think they will. However, I don't see how to avoid a significant dieoff. So far the solution has been to either ignore or deny the problem. Neither of these attempts at solutions are very effective.