Laying Blame: Population vs. Consumption

[GliderGuider]

43. Our brains didn't evolve to assess risks far into the future.

We're really good at reacting to a snapping twig behind the next tree. We're not so good at reacting to a distant rumble somewhere out over the horizon.

People keep thinking that we as a species should be good at reacting to calculated future risks, and that our failure to react constitutes a moral shortcoming. It ain't so. Our brains didn't evolve to do that, so if there is any shortcoming it's in the mechanism that Mother Nature gave us to process reality. Some individuals react very emotionally to abstract future threats, but we're in the distinct minority.

Even among environmentalists and ecologists there are those who simply can't get excited about potential existential threats, and consequently minimize the warnings of those of us who do. There's nothing "wrong" with them, either - their brain function is just a little closer to the mean than ours in this regard.

Regarding happiness, I just meant to say that I don't see a crash of civilization as erasing all future chances for human happiness, as though happiness only came packaged with televisions and iPads.

Freedom is a state of mind, not an externally bestowed quality. I suspect Nelson Mandela during his incarceration was a freer man than many on this board who are held prisoner by jobs, social expectations and small dreams.