7 thoughts on “Your assistance is required”

  1. 1. From an environmental/political/(current) economical and consequentially military perspective: Extremely to completely.

    2. Who says there is no win? We will not be able to avoid the catastrophic disruptions to the ecosphere that we live in, leading to crass repercussions in all the sectors mentioned above. So right, no win there.

    We will have, albeit at times limited, sway over how we live amidst these tumultuous changes – if not always over outside conditions, certainly over our internal processes. Obviously, stomping on the dopamine-button via the growth of ever more and more material wealth is over even for the most stubborn among us. This might be due either to massive downturns of our exploitative economies or, given insight, to the realization that wealth generated within them just eats into all our livelihoods of tomorrow. If we don’t give in to despair and learn to remain (or to even be) playful in the face of havoc, we might just find a connected, meaningful (and fun) way of life, where joy is not fueled by material growth, but rather by the aforementioned connection, meaning, fun and the resilience that ensues.

    That’s why I choose to bother. It is material well-being, economic growth, functioning ecosystems, the so-called peace sustained by assured mutual destruction and, if given, food security that will be taken from us. Not our ability to find joy even in very adverse conditions.

    3. The whole process is profoundly unjust, generationally, spatially, financially, politically. It violates our most basic dignity. I don’t expect us to be able to make it just. If what I outline above should be attained, then I’d expect communities to be based on personal connection more than on a set of rules or code of law. Thus, justice would be established (would maybe even establish itself) on a very low, interpersonal level, determined by the immediate peers.

    These past years, I have been an extinction rebellion activist, and I cherish the freedoms and rights granted to us by the current central European (german) rule of law. And I would love for them to remain in place, flawed as components within the system may be. However, it is propped up by an exploitative economy that I do not expect to prevail through the changes to come (a downfall, let it be said, in which I would rejoice unwitholdingly, were it not for the experience that, no matter how bad something is, a worse successor is often not only possible but probable).

    In short, I don’t know. And I choose not to look into it much further than above. We have more than enough to contend with in facing the upheavals slated to come, and in forming communities that move beyond the way we have been organized and directed all our lives.
    Let’s not scheme to solve world hunger, even before the first spade has been picked up to plant a small plot of potatoes.

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  2. Sorry, I’ve lost my password and can’t post this officially. Here’s what I would like to say:

    How f****d? Last year was the hottest Earth year on record. Multiple critical tipping points have been passed (melting permafrost, Greenland ice sheet going fast, 1.5C limit exceeded, etc.) There is no stopping this juggernaut at this point. Plus, other factors (aerosol masking effect, time lag between cessation of GHG emissions and global temp rise, proliferation of nuclear plants that will spew radiation unless tended, cessation of photosynthesis of grain crops at 104F) make the prospects of survival of multicellular life on earth….diminishingly remote.

    Why bother? Our human dignity, I guess. As a species, we’ve f****d up Big Time. Nevertheless, I believe we should go out with as much honor and dignity as we can muster. And with as much knowledge about our past and present as we can assemble in the short time we have left.

    What’s Justice Got To Do With It? Justice–and the striving for Justice–is hard-wired into the human character, just like sexuality, securing of food and shelter, and play behavior. The striving for justice is evident even in small children. If we’re going extinct, I believe that we should go in the most human way possible. And that definitely includes identifying (yes, “pointing the finger at,” as some say) persons and institutions primarily responsible for this fiasco.

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  3. Here is a little video to help understand who is going to get injured and when during the next 80 years.

    Civilization’s: “Running out of gas” story. 5.0
    youtu.be/b5z5R6xqEG0

    After you view it please tell me why anyone would want to contribute a new child to experience this injury?

    Jack Alpert PhD Director:
    Stanford Knowledge Integration Laboratory http://www.skil.org
    (C) 913 708 2554 jackalpert@me.com

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  4. As a kid, I lived for a year in San Jose, Costa Rica, which coincided with the eruptive phase of Irazu volcano. There were days when the rumbling (24 km away) and ash fall seemed like it was the coming End of the World. I had a vasectomy at age 25 because I had my *one* replacement child.
    I write about and warn of the likely coming Collapse. BUT, I studied under futurist Jim Dator in Hawaii and was contaminated by the idea that the future cannot be predicted, and that there are many alternative images of the future. My Masters and PhD are in Alternative Futures.

    Currently, I give the Collapse future a 90% chance by 2050 (pretty soon!) and 95% by 2100. BUT there is always a slim chance we can wake up or that Gaia will trigger ocean circulation collapse (and cooling) or that geo-engineering will be tried and work (I am totally opposed to the idea–but many transhumanists advocate sunshades, etc.).

    I’m inclined to believe that Wallace-Wells is right that we will likely experience waves of catastrophe, cascades of collapse. Some are more fucked that others. Some sooner than later. I am a fan of Tainter (Collapse of Complex Societies) who make a pretty good case that we are probably fucked as things become more complex. I live among the indigenous peoples of the Southwest who have been living with the collapse of many of their societies for centuries. My suspicion is that decline and collapse will likely leave us to forage and subsist on primative permanculture. Bottom line: civilization is probably fucked (98% likely by 2200 AD), but small family and tribal groups may hang on.

    Win. Gaia wins, hopefully, and even if humans don’t make it, there will be enough biodiversity for Her to regenerate. On the other hand, nuclear or quantum or worse weaponry, “gray goo,” or bioterrorism could be far worse. I give a 5% chance that we could go extinct and .5% chance that we become planet killers.

    Justice! I hope mainly for justice for non-human entities and processes on the planet. Go Gaia! Justice should first come for indigenous peoples, colonized, and people of color who suffered from the West. Women, children, and the marginalized. Sadly, everyone will suffer through the Collapse.

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