I’m not saying the World (Civilization) is worse and getting worser; all I’m trying to say is that this world (planet) isn’t getting any bigger. Still, for the last few hundred years especially, Human population has been increasing at an unprecedented rate. Something to think about: world population was about 700 million people (six zeros after the 700) at the start of the Industrial Revolution (1750 CE) or Ebenezer Scrooge, factories. heavy machinery and wholesale burning of fossil fuel. After another 250 years (Now) population has surpassed 8 billion (nine zeros after the 8) an increase of about 1,040.% from then to now; a mind boggling gain in just 250 years. In the 240 years before factories and fossil fuels (1500 CE) Christopher Columbus, world population increased by about 450 million or 55.%. In the previous 250 years before Columbus, that would be (Marco Polo), world population increased by only about 50 million or 12.%. I see a pattern developing? For tens of thousands of years, human population gains using arbitrary 250 year increments were relatively modest. From 12% to 55% in two and a half centuries is significant but from that to over 1,000% in the next period is absolutely mind boggling.
If you plot human population out on a proper line graph you get a gentle slope (increase) over thousands of years, until civilization shifts into the Industrial Revolution. After that, the line takes a steep angle upward in what is described as a population ‘Spike’. Since people first started collecting data and plotting graphs, it has been accepted universally that the spike itself is unsustainable. One way or another there will be a significant correction (die off) that reduces the species to a sustainable number with the possibility of extinction. We have been caught up in a population spike for the past 250 years, brought on largely by our own collective ignorance and tunnel vision greed. The ‘Crash’ can come in the form of a cataclysmic catastrophe, pandemic, meteor strike, etc. or take several/many generations. When breeding adults become scattered or so few they can’t find each other the writing is on the wall. The process is arbitrary, does not recognize the Gregorian calendar or a human lifespan; no one in charge and the numbers do not play favorites.
So why am I detailing such an obvious flaw in the human psyche? For one thing, people do not behave the same way in large groups like nationality, (kill the stranger) as they might in small, familial groups (feed the stranger and see what we can learn). Immersed in a large, cultural construct it is nearly impossible to resist the tide of conformance. Being different is asking for trouble and people generally act accordingly.
There is a great line from a movie (I’ve forgotten its name) where the Director of the CIA is being chastised by his superior for an unforgivable blunder. He says, “You’ve been given a Maserati (an expensive, high performance car) and you treated it like a lawnmower.” It was a warning if not a threat; if you can’t fix the problem it will come back on you. I make the obvious corollary; “We’ve evolved a wonderful mind but we treat it like a penis, play with it like a toy and think ourselves great thinkers and problem solvers when we pee downwind. For hundreds if not thousands of years, civilization has burned the candle at both ends, breaking natural rules in a quest for more material wealth and more power than we need. Dr. Robert Sapolsky (Stanford Univ.) neurologist and primatologist observed: “Male baboons are extremely violent in defense of their harems and territory and likewise in acquiring additional females and expanding their domain.” Then he adds, “The most common cause of death among male baboons is male baboons.” I get it.
I love this self awareness and creative, problem solving nature with its language and collaboration. But they come with the warning; don’t treat it like a lawnmower. Not from a movie, rather an observation on human nature; Two passengers in an airplane flying over a wilderness. One, the smartest man alive and the other an illiterate laborer. The pilot has them secure seat belts, engine trouble, may have to ditch. The smartest person in the world asks, “Are there any parachutes?” The pilot tells him “Yes, there is one in the gear locker back by the door.” The smartest man on earth is not about to take a chance with the laborer who surely must be thinking the same thing and runs back to the locker, puts on the parachute and jumps out. The pilot feels the plane respond to the open door and wants to know what is going on. The illiterate guy answers; “The smartest guy on earth just jumped out with my backpack full of dirty laundry.” People, even me, we think that we think and it's a powerful feeling. I hate to admit, but I suspect that having the 'think we think' suspicion gives me an edge. But I have no idea what to do with it.
I’m afraid the Barons of Business and Lords of Government all qualify as the smartest guys onboard with their contingency plans stowed away in a locker near the exit and we (the masses) we pick one of them to follow, like sheep, nose to butt with the next sheep in line. Most sheeple believe in a mysterious, supernatural, omnipotent, omniscient, angry, loving, self righteous god who punishes and rewards people as he sees fit. I was raised to believe that myth but it didn’t take. I’m lucky to be out from under that yoke. I enjoy the benefits that I have been afforded and both the affection and loyalty of friends and family. I’m not trying to make the world a better place or take more than my share, just treat people the way I want to be treated and also treat my lawnmower like the marvelous vehicle that it is. At the bottom of it all, I just don’t want to be lumped in accidentally with ultra-ego-inteligencia who see no downside from spending my grandchildren’s future for a profitable bump in the GDP.
If you plot human population out on a proper line graph you get a gentle slope (increase) over thousands of years, until civilization shifts into the Industrial Revolution. After that, the line takes a steep angle upward in what is described as a population ‘Spike’. Since people first started collecting data and plotting graphs, it has been accepted universally that the spike itself is unsustainable. One way or another there will be a significant correction (die off) that reduces the species to a sustainable number with the possibility of extinction. We have been caught up in a population spike for the past 250 years, brought on largely by our own collective ignorance and tunnel vision greed. The ‘Crash’ can come in the form of a cataclysmic catastrophe, pandemic, meteor strike, etc. or take several/many generations. When breeding adults become scattered or so few they can’t find each other the writing is on the wall. The process is arbitrary, does not recognize the Gregorian calendar or a human lifespan; no one in charge and the numbers do not play favorites.
So why am I detailing such an obvious flaw in the human psyche? For one thing, people do not behave the same way in large groups like nationality, (kill the stranger) as they might in small, familial groups (feed the stranger and see what we can learn). Immersed in a large, cultural construct it is nearly impossible to resist the tide of conformance. Being different is asking for trouble and people generally act accordingly.
There is a great line from a movie (I’ve forgotten its name) where the Director of the CIA is being chastised by his superior for an unforgivable blunder. He says, “You’ve been given a Maserati (an expensive, high performance car) and you treated it like a lawnmower.” It was a warning if not a threat; if you can’t fix the problem it will come back on you. I make the obvious corollary; “We’ve evolved a wonderful mind but we treat it like a penis, play with it like a toy and think ourselves great thinkers and problem solvers when we pee downwind. For hundreds if not thousands of years, civilization has burned the candle at both ends, breaking natural rules in a quest for more material wealth and more power than we need. Dr. Robert Sapolsky (Stanford Univ.) neurologist and primatologist observed: “Male baboons are extremely violent in defense of their harems and territory and likewise in acquiring additional females and expanding their domain.” Then he adds, “The most common cause of death among male baboons is male baboons.” I get it.
I love this self awareness and creative, problem solving nature with its language and collaboration. But they come with the warning; don’t treat it like a lawnmower. Not from a movie, rather an observation on human nature; Two passengers in an airplane flying over a wilderness. One, the smartest man alive and the other an illiterate laborer. The pilot has them secure seat belts, engine trouble, may have to ditch. The smartest person in the world asks, “Are there any parachutes?” The pilot tells him “Yes, there is one in the gear locker back by the door.” The smartest man on earth is not about to take a chance with the laborer who surely must be thinking the same thing and runs back to the locker, puts on the parachute and jumps out. The pilot feels the plane respond to the open door and wants to know what is going on. The illiterate guy answers; “The smartest guy on earth just jumped out with my backpack full of dirty laundry.” People, even me, we think that we think and it's a powerful feeling. I hate to admit, but I suspect that having the 'think we think' suspicion gives me an edge. But I have no idea what to do with it.
I’m afraid the Barons of Business and Lords of Government all qualify as the smartest guys onboard with their contingency plans stowed away in a locker near the exit and we (the masses) we pick one of them to follow, like sheep, nose to butt with the next sheep in line. Most sheeple believe in a mysterious, supernatural, omnipotent, omniscient, angry, loving, self righteous god who punishes and rewards people as he sees fit. I was raised to believe that myth but it didn’t take. I’m lucky to be out from under that yoke. I enjoy the benefits that I have been afforded and both the affection and loyalty of friends and family. I’m not trying to make the world a better place or take more than my share, just treat people the way I want to be treated and also treat my lawnmower like the marvelous vehicle that it is. At the bottom of it all, I just don’t want to be lumped in accidentally with ultra-ego-inteligencia who see no downside from spending my grandchildren’s future for a profitable bump in the GDP.
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