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Governments, companies, NGOs, etc. are all just collections of people. At the end of the day, I do think the issue is that we’re fundamentally selfish creatures

by yashap 8y ago

Governments, companies, NGOs, etc. are all just collections of people. At the end of the day, I do think the issue is that we’re fundamentally selfish creatures, only able to really make decisions for the good of ourselves, or maybe also a few close friends/family members. We understand that we’re destroying the planet, but we figure, why should I consume less, if others might not limit their consumption the same way? It seems that we’re incapable of making decisions that prioritize the welfare of the human race. I do think that apocalyptic sci-fi is probably right - on the scale of 100s to 1000s of years, we’ll likely drive ourselves to extinction, or something near extinction. The tragedy of the commons seems like an unavoidable consequence of the way we think, and I don’t see us getting past it.

joe_the_user 8y ago
Governments, companies, NGOs, etc. are all just collections of people. Sure, and people are just collections of molecules. And the structure involved in arranging elements matters. Further, the problem is hardly that humans are selfish but that we have developed complex structures that allow large scale exploitation of resources (and each other) but which don't allow large-scale protection of resources and situations that we (selfishly) want. Of course, if we were just random configurations of humans spread-about the landscape doing hunting and gathering, we wouldn't have the ability to burn massive fossil fuel resources to generate climate change, however selfish we might be.
- yashap 8y ago
  My point is that due to the way our brains work (looking out mostly for ourselves and those close to us, placing very little importance on things happening on the scale of 10s to 100s of years from now), it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to form global, effective ways to protect the environment, until the environmental degradation is having a MASSIVE negative impact on our lives. We form organizations to exploit resources at scale, because that benefits us as individuals quickly. But protecting the environment is bad for us as individuals in the short term, AND it relies on global buy-in, so I can’t see humans doing it anytime soon. FWIW I think this is a tragedy, but also a likely reality.

by yashap 8y ago

joe_the_user 8y ago

Governments, companies, NGOs, etc. are all just collections of people. Sure, and people are just collections of molecules. And the structure involved in arranging elements matters. Further, the problem is hardly that humans are selfish but that we have developed complex structures that allow large scale exploitation of resources (and each other) but which don't allow large-scale protection of resources and situations that we (selfishly) want. Of course, if we were just random configurations of humans spread-about the landscape doing hunting and gathering, we wouldn't have the ability to burn massive fossil fuel resources to generate climate change, however selfish we might be.

yashap 8y ago
My point is that due to the way our brains work (looking out mostly for ourselves and those close to us, placing very little importance on things happening on the scale of 10s to 100s of years from now), it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to form global, effective ways to protect the environment, until the environmental degradation is having a MASSIVE negative impact on our lives. We form organizations to exploit resources at scale, because that benefits us as individuals quickly. But protecting the environment is bad for us as individuals in the short term, AND it relies on global buy-in, so I can’t see humans doing it anytime soon. FWIW I think this is a tragedy, but also a likely reality.