Human Predicament -- better commonsense required

Synopsis of slides and audio:

People expect the collected footprint of 6 billion people to deplete fossil fuel and water reservoirs, reduce the production of fisheries and forests, poison the land, water, and air, change the climate, and escalate social conflict.

What should we do? New leaders? New forms of government? New moral codes? New laws? No, we need better commonsense in a whole future generation.

The inability to gather, process, and value

information prevents this generation from fully grasping the severity of its predicament. Limited thought processes allow this generation to believe that recycling, conserving, proper handling of toxic waste, carbon dioxide management and zero population growth will avert a bad destination when it won't.

The cure for our predicament is rapid population decline. However, thought process limitations prevent us from seeing it. They prevent us from implementing the rapid population decline behaviors that could implement it.


Introduction ----- the "unseen" human predicament------------------ View 17 Mins.

Part-1 Three Thought Process Limitations--------------------------
           1) Too many variables
--------------------- Coupling --------------

View  9 Mins.
           2) Everything changing at once ------- simultaneity  
           3) Unexpected change -------------------- nonlinearity-----------
                      nonlinear seen as linear   
View 29 Mins.
     
                      resolving  the miss-experience of nonlinearity 
Part-2 Thought Process Limitations and Social Conflict----------
            1) Coupling, simultaneity, and social conflict 
View 20 Mins.
            2) Nonlinearity and social conflict -------------------------------
                      unconstrained vs constrained growth   
View 23 Mins
                      convergence and the "Crisis of Conflict"    
Closing - Our options ----------------------------------------------------- View 17 mins

 

Jack Alpert (Bio)     mail to: Alpert@skil.org     www.skil.org      position papers
     (more details)