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Author: Denis Frith

Homo sapiens’ delusion

I have just read an interview with Lord Rees of Ludlow, President of the Royal Society. He is regarded as one of Britain’s foremost scientific brains. He has expressed concerns about the future of our society in his book, Our Final Century, but focuses on possible natural disasters. He has, however, the typical scientific view of the ability of humans to understand how natural forces work and how we can devise systems to make use of these forces. He believes in the ability of science to provide insight and the ability of technology to provide useful systems using natural resources. He assumes, as is common, that these natural resources are gift from nature.

A number of natural laws of been enunciated. The Laws of Thermodynamics and Newton’s Laws of Motion are well known but specialists use many others in their considerations. However, the current spate of advances in the frontiers of knowledge indicates how little we knew about the role of natural forces in the past. A sustainable organism has been evolving over millions of years under the control of these natural forces, even though we have yet to learn how some of them operate. There is still the presumption that we can devise means of using some of these forces without evoking unintended consequences. We have still to learn that devising the means to use natural forces to unleash the power of fossil fuels was a horrendous mistake. It produced the material waste that has precipitated rapid climate change. There is no recognition of the degree of self-regulation and self-organization that the vast array of natural forces has developed over eons. There is just the presumption that we can devise measures with the necessary inherent natural degree of control.

The fact that so many of the measures devised by humans have used natural forces successfully tends to blind us to the failures. The use of fossil fuels to provide the energy that has powered industrialization without understanding the impact of the wastes produced on the climate and on the marine ecosystem is one example of the unintended consequences of our inventiveness. The heavy dependence of agriculture on artificial fertilizers produced using depleting natural resources is another and it is very worrying due to the consequential growth of the global population. One that will cause much concern in the future has been the construction of cities and the associated infrastructure using irreplaceable natural resources without having sufficient material resources to continue their operation whilst protecting them from natural forces such as wind and rain. Consequently, there is virtually no understanding that our civilization will have a relatively short life, in evolutionary terms, simply because our systems are dependent on using natural capital which is running out.

What will happen to our materialistic civilization in the coming decades is quite clear but how people will react is not. The masses will not be able to understand why there are so many unsuspected environmental problems making it harder to survive. There is bound to be much talk about what should be done about energy, food, water, sanitation etc by the powerful in conferences. There may even emerge the likes of Gandhi and Mandela to provide a degree of real leadership. But it would not be easy, given the widespread lack of understanding of the dependence on natural forces coupled with the faith in the wisdom of our politicians! The rich will continue to play their money games in the belief that they will be immune from the powering down force. But the disenchanted young will doubtless think otherwise and use their emerging entrepreneurial power in an endeavor to get their share of the crumbs. Competition and conflict seem certain to grow rapidly amongst countries around the globe with the East leading the way as the West falters.

There is bound to be smart people who have some understanding of the stark reality and adopt prudent measures but they are likely to be a small minority even in the longer term. Many of them will seek employment in fields providing the necessities and do their best to wake up families and friends to the ecological realities. Most of the educated people, however, will still believe in the power of money and technology even as the cities and their hopes disintegrate. They will look back in wonder at the pontification of economists about booms and busts while realists provided details of the coming supply problems for a number of raw materials, with oil heading the ratings. The belated response of many businesses, like the aircraft industry, will be more surprising than that of most governments. It is fascinating to speculate on how long the climate change denialists will be listened too as countless other species strive to adapt to the unfamiliar habitat.

The die is cast. Can Homo sapiens rise to the challenge of coping with the reality of what civilization has done wrong? Can smart youngsters provide the sane view of our place in natural operations that their elders lacked. It would be pleasing to believe that measures can be implemented that will enable the declining population to retain most of the better features of our culture.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/homo-sapiens039-delusion-2021104.html

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