Collapse has a lot of information on these types of problems.
Short version is: I'm not super optimistic that, if we haven't been able to solve these problems in the past, we suddenly will going forward.
I'm a socialist with anarchist/Marxist sympathies, so I'm probably more receptive than most people to the economic/materialist critique you're offering, but just about everything you wrote here is wrong. It's historically uninformed. It romanticizes and idealizes. And it badly misses the point:
> Consumerism was forced upon the populace by profit-creation machines like corporations and advertisement agencies to drive our natural need to consume up beyond sustainable or even logical levels
Human beings have been destroying ecosystems since long before the birth of capitalism. The indigenous people you romanticize are guilty of it as well. It's not the fault of the elite. The elite are exactly what the rest of us would be and do what we'd do if we had their resources and power.
Humans are no different from any other animal, and the rich are no different from the poor; when you let us, we'll devour everything in our path until there's nothing left.
> Humans didn't always seek status and elevation - in fact, most peasantry throughout history was quite content with the wealth given to them by the natural world.
This isn't true. To the extent that it's even a claim that can be tested, it's false in every single instance I can think of. Human beings have always sought power, status and resources. Always.
If all you were saying were that corporations are parasitic, disastrous, amoral and hostile to the flourishing of any and all life that can't be extracted and converted into profit, I'd agree with you. But your historical critique is wrong -- and also dangerous, misguided and irresponsible. It deflects blame. It goes out of its way, very, very incorrectly, to argue that this is all the fault of a single economic system and a small sliver of the population.
All people are the problem, not just the rich or people who live in first-world countries. All social and economic systems have contributed to it, not just capitalism.
The primary source is the Greenland chapter in Jared Diamond's "Collapse Another book on the pre-Columbian North American ivory trade is Farley Mowat's "the Far Farer's Mowat's book "West Viking" in 1961 had endorsed the theory that the Vikings had really made it to North America. When they found the Viking settlement at L'anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. Mowat realized that it was not an agricultural settlement but a pirate outpost to prey on existing shipping.
Even Columbus sailed off the shores of Greenland in 1477. His brother was in Bristol England advocating for a trans-Atlantic voyage, when Columbus made his first 1492 voyage. When news of his success reached England, the Bristol traders sent Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) to re-establish their trade with North America. They made more money off fish and fur than the Spanish made in gold.
We can always dream that politics and short-term interests won't overshadow an existential crisis.
If that’s a bit too micro, I’ve finally got around to starting Collapse, the sequel to Guns, Germs and Steel.
WOW
I love your deep thinking.
>The more I think about things the less the old ideologies matter to me.
I was in this place a few years ago. I am far less concerned about these as a global issue, and I see them now more as an aspect of national decline for those nations that embrace surveillance and a culture of thought control on their people.
>And now, quite rapidly...it is all becoming my worst nightmare.
My first guess is that you were originally enamoured with tech, and now you are opening your eyes to the very real human component, and the evil within human nature.
>I am truly worried about the effects of corporations and governments having unlimited access to information and the technology to both quantify and analyse this.
These are very real concerns, and the topic of countless dystopian literature.
This is worth reading - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed
look at the amazon reviews
>I am worried about alternative realities becoming the new proletariat drug of choice.
I don't understand this.
Are you thinking of VR, like in Ready Player One
>I'm worried about tolerance replacing care.
This is already happening, and has always been an issue with increasing population and higher levels of contact, like in big cities, without a sense of community between people.
>we begin to tolerate each other not because we care about each other but precisely because we no longer do.
Exactly this, it is not so much tolerating people, but ignoring them in the narcissistic way of a person only concerned with self.
>Im worried about tolerance replacing human interaction, both love and hate and all inbetween.
Most research I have read says that we can only cope with a certain number of personal interactions without starting to deal with people, not as individuals, but as a class (nameless people I see on my walk to work).
As a pastor in a Baptist church, many of the authors I have read on this subject are those teaching pastors and Christians of the need to form communities with a high level of interaction to overcome this "no deeper than a facebook friend" tendency.
>The only people I've seen come close are some radical nihilist anarchists in Southern Europe and I guess, perhaps a bit paradoxically the modern cyberpunk and hack-activist movement which seeks to fight technology through technology.
I missed this - good catch
There is a push in many churches to help fight this problem by building "small groups" into the life of every church attender. I live in eastern Canada in a city of 120K people. It is interesting to see how it is less of a thing here, than where my youngest daughter lives (Toronto, GTA > 6 million people)
We have coincidental meetings with people all the time in my small population area . . . this happened last week
I was out the other day and a homeless girl was begging. It was cold (-17) and I asked her if she wanted to join my friend and I for coffee. While we had coffee my friend asked what she was trying to get money for. She said smokes, so my friend also gave her his pack of smokes (and a few grams of weed he forgot were in the pack). 3 days later she shows up at a Bible study I do Monday mornings at a homeless shelter. I suspect we will have a higher level of contact in the months ahead. I suspect that this doesn't happen so often in a real big city
Great summer reads and just in time:
https://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Societies-Choose-Succeed-Revised/dp/0143117009
https://www.amazon.com/SURVIVE-COMING-COLLAPSE-CIVILIZATION-Helpful/dp/0986050555
your welcome.
> Jared diamond has written a lot on this for those interested.
Specifically, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Jared Diamond isn't an anthropologist but he is a really good writer and an even better storyteller. So even though some of his stories aren't as cut-and-dry as he would let you believe, he paints a compelling narrative that calls you to action.
"The societies Diamond describes are:
The Greenland Norse (cf. Hvalsey Church) (climate change, environmental damage, loss of trading partners, hostile neighbors, irrational reluctance to eat fish, chiefs looking after their short-term interests). Easter Island (a society that collapsed entirely due to environmental damage) The Polynesians of Pitcairn Island (environmental damage and loss of trading partners) The Anasazi of southwestern North America (environmental damage and climate change) The Maya of Central America (environmental damage, climate change, and hostile neighbors) Finally, Diamond discusses three past success stories: The tiny egalitarian Pacific island of Tikopia The agricultural success of egalitarian central New Guinea The forest management in stratified Japan of the Tokugawa-era, and in Germany. Part Three examines modern societies, including: The collapse into genocide of Rwanda, caused in part by overpopulation The failure of Haiti compared with the relative success of its neighbor on Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic The problems facing a developing nation, China The problems facing a First World nation, Australia Part Four concludes the study by considering such subjects as business and globalization, and "extracts practical lessons for us today" (pp. 22–23). Specific attention is given to the polder model as a way Dutch society has addressed its challenges and the "top-down" and most importantly "bottom-up" approaches that we must take now that "our world society is presently on a non-sustainable course" (p. 498) in order to avoid the "12 problems of non-sustainability" that he expounds throughout the book, and reviews in the final chapter. The results of this survey are perhaps why Diamond sees "signs of hope" nevertheless and arrives at a position of "cautious optimism" for all our futures."
I am actually reading a book that discuses this in detail. Jared Diamond, Collapse
Have you read Collapse by Jared Diamond? If not, pick it up right now!
https://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Societies-Choose-Succeed-Revised/dp/0143117009/
That one has serious flaws but I would recommend another book of his, Collapse which is incidentally also quite relevant to this subreddit.
In the last 500 years, conflicts in Europe have been slowly decreasing, until the last 50 years or so when it rapidly became much smaller than in any of the previous centuries. This has corresponded with a slow but sure improvement in living conditions. Some countries in Europe haven't seen a war in over 200 years (Sweden hasn't participated in a war directly in 250 years). These are the most developed nations on Earth.
If you've read Jared Diamon's Collapse, you'll know that many civilizations have vanished from the Earth due to over-consuming what their environments could provide. Japan is an example of a country that managed, centuries ago, to avoid self-destruction though managing the few resources it had. I have, therefore, seen evidence that peace and environment awareness seem to be the hallmark of progress in the very long term, not war as it is erroneously believed, and that failure to remain peaceful or manage the environment well can cause the "collapse" of a civilization, no matter how advanced.
So, yes, it's logical that civilizations that manage to develop for many millenia without killing itself and its environment must have learned how to achieve progress peacefully and taking good care of its environment.
Collapse, by Jared Diamond.
http://www.amazon.ca/Collapse-Societies-Succeed-Revised-Edition/dp/0143117009
Nu merge, man, nu merge. Nu asa abordezi diferentele culturale, ci raportat la istorie, raportat la contextul social si cultural din trecut si cum s-a tradus pana astazi. Toate exemplele pe care le-ai dat lui Morigain, toate problemele culturale de care zici tu, de tin factorii de mai sus.
Fiecare natiune (si rasa sau grup etnic, dar vorbesc acum de natiuni) are o istorie care ii dicteaza cultura. Citeste si o sa vezi ca toate natiunile cu probleme majore ale drepturilor omului tind sa fie sarace, poate sa fi avut o istorie recenta foarte violenta, sa fie dominate de o religie care s-a impus prin violenta etc. Rau o duc in special tarile care au fost colonii, mai ales in Africa.
Nu ajungi violator/ucigas/barbar violent din senin, mediul te creeaza asa, iar faptul ca te muti cu familia in alta tara nu schimba tot raul cu care s-a impregnat familia ta in n ani. Minoritatile precum negrii din SUA si tiganii nostri au si ei ceva in comun - o istorie a sclaviei si o discriminare puternica dupa ce au fost eliberati.
Cu toata sinceritatea si dorinta de bine, si pentru ca nu vreau sa scriu kilometri, citeste istorie cat mai multa. Citeste de exemplu asta sau mult-ridicata-in-slavi Guns, Germs and Steel. Ar fi un inceput bun.
If you liked that, you will most likely very much enjoy "Collapse", by Jared Diamond.
There were political economies in the iron ages. Kings didn't starve during famine but peasants did. If there were better social protections (such as good grain storage and distribution) peasants would not starve. The story of Joseph telling the pharaoh to save grain is an example of how famine could be alleviated in earlier times.
The academic literature on the history of disasters is very weak, but a few sources to back up my statements are:
Collapse: https://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Societies-Choose-Succeed-Revised/dp/0143117009
and Greg Bankoff's work on disaster history: http://www2.hull.ac.uk/fass/history/our_staff/greg_bankoff.aspx
There's one other book on the history of disaster but I'm blanking on it.
Greg's article 'there's no such thing as natural disasters' is much more eloquent than any explanation I can give: http://hir.harvard.edu/article/?a=2694
I would highly recommend checking out this book, if you can get it from a library or something Collapse
He talks about the collapse of all sorts of different cultures, societies...right now I'm reading about the decline of the Vikings, but there was a chapter before on ancient Polynesian cultures living on the Mangareva, Henderson, and Pitcairn islands. There was also a chapter on the Mayans. He covers things very well in detail, and all the different factors that contributed to their eventual collapse.
Mayan collapse is directly correlated to deforestation and unsustainable agricultural practices. Jared Diamond, author of "Guns, Germs, and Steel" has a great follow up book called collapse in which he provides ample evidence for the collapse of the Mayan Civilization.
okay... read Jared Diamond's Collapse
it should keep you busy for a while.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond