Lately my views have drifted well outside any mainstream.
I take a systems science approach to human societies. As a result I've come to see human civilizations as systems that operate according to natural principles. Thermodynamics, evolutionary biology, evolutionary psychology, and systems science all point to the same conclusion from different directions: collective human behavior is largely an automatic process that follows physical and biological principles. I suspect that more than 90% of all human behavior is driven by these impersonal, unconscious forces. what makes it even more problematic is that we are largely blind to that that fact. Those few people who do see it realize that human volition is mostly a comforting illusion that is powerless against the thermodynamically dissipative, self-organizing forces of nature. Intelligence and wisdom have very little to do with how things turn out. As a result, the human race is pretty well run. Because of these conclusions I have stopped all my activism in order to use the energy for more useful work.
Regarding my participation on DU, I have come to see politics in general as part of the problem - or perhaps more precisely as another expression of the underlying biophysical drivers. As a result, politics of any stripe is completely unable to resolve any of the biophysical pressures that are now driving us off the cliff. All politics is the human social codification of the status-seeking, power-accumulating urges imprinted on all organisms by our shared genetic heritage.
To say the least, these views aren't a comfortable fit with an activist political board...
= new reply since forum marked as read
