Bikewer
Penultimate Amazing
By "we" I refer to the human race itself.
I'm listening to author Jeffery Sachs, who's discussing his new book, Common Wealth. He's the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
He paints a rather bleak picture. We are all familiar with these things, of course; overpopulation, extreme poverty, lack of resources in all sectors, pollution, climate change, etc, etc.
Countries that were essentially "third world" just not too long ago are undergoing rapid development now, China and India notable for their increased use of resources and continuing population growth.
Human governments do not noticeably seem to have shown any tendency to seriously address these problems; they seem to be subject to the same old problems that have always beset governments. It appears that there is still a tendency towards less and less in the way of democracy, and more and more in the way of consolidated power and suppression of individual rights.
Poverty worldwide accounts for human suffering on a scale hard to imagine, with it's attendant problems of disease, starvation, and inevitable unrest.
Sachs seems to be of the opinion that the nations of the world must work together to address these problems before they become unsupportable, but attempts to do so seem to be minimal and pro-forma at best.
What do you think? Where are we headed in say, 50 years? If the worst-case scenarios of the climate-change folks are correct, we can expect massive displacements of people and all that entails.
Even if climate change does not approach the levels forecast, the other problems remain and will be exacerbated by population growth and resource consumption.
I personally am not optimistic. I have long thought that human nature is what it is, and that evolution has ill-prepared us for the world we find ourselves in at present. We are geared to be rather self-centered and insular little buggers, looking out for our own welfare and that of a very small cadre of friends, relatives, and immediate neighbors.
The problems of "everyone else" tends to be a rather elusive concept...
I'm listening to author Jeffery Sachs, who's discussing his new book, Common Wealth. He's the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
He paints a rather bleak picture. We are all familiar with these things, of course; overpopulation, extreme poverty, lack of resources in all sectors, pollution, climate change, etc, etc.
Countries that were essentially "third world" just not too long ago are undergoing rapid development now, China and India notable for their increased use of resources and continuing population growth.
Human governments do not noticeably seem to have shown any tendency to seriously address these problems; they seem to be subject to the same old problems that have always beset governments. It appears that there is still a tendency towards less and less in the way of democracy, and more and more in the way of consolidated power and suppression of individual rights.
Poverty worldwide accounts for human suffering on a scale hard to imagine, with it's attendant problems of disease, starvation, and inevitable unrest.
Sachs seems to be of the opinion that the nations of the world must work together to address these problems before they become unsupportable, but attempts to do so seem to be minimal and pro-forma at best.
What do you think? Where are we headed in say, 50 years? If the worst-case scenarios of the climate-change folks are correct, we can expect massive displacements of people and all that entails.
Even if climate change does not approach the levels forecast, the other problems remain and will be exacerbated by population growth and resource consumption.
I personally am not optimistic. I have long thought that human nature is what it is, and that evolution has ill-prepared us for the world we find ourselves in at present. We are geared to be rather self-centered and insular little buggers, looking out for our own welfare and that of a very small cadre of friends, relatives, and immediate neighbors.
The problems of "everyone else" tends to be a rather elusive concept...
