cecilia wrote:
all of that simply translates to stupidity that prevents people from logically discussing peaceful solutions to problems.
EGO.
Not quite. The ultimate problem on this planet is overpopulation, not ego. Ego is what you need to make sure that at least your culture gets its share (and if it all possible, more than necessary) resources it needs to survive.
ALL of this world's problems can be solved quite peacefully by forbidding 99,99% of all humans to breed until they die. Just sterilise them with a healthy dose of gamma radiation from all that leftover nuclear waste. Painless and quite effective. Afterwards, instate strict birth control policies, using genetic engineering if necessary. That is the ultimate logical and peaceful solution, but thanks to outdated social ('Christ ordains us') and economic ('Growth is Good') viewpoints, this ever becoming a reality stands as much chance as a snowball has in hell. The result, a world free of war, poverty, inequality, pollution and quite a good bit of religion, is obviously not a good enough motivation; the freedom to screw and breed like rabbits is too powerful and addictive to give up. DNA controls us well.
If you don't control the influx of human DNA into this world, all policies aimed at cutting down on use of resources (including minerals, oil, land, water, food, energy and what not) are in the end ineffective. I've seen very simple calculations which tell me that in order to maintain the same level of pollution as in 1990, our resource efficiency has to increase
on average by a factor of 50. Imagine that. Your energy bill divided by 50. Your water bill divided by 50. Your food produced using 50 times less energy. Travel requiring 50 times less energy. Completely ludicrous and utterly impossible, of course. Even a factor 10 is very, very difficult.
Right now it is the Third World countries and the environment itself who are paying the terrible price for our continued well-being---which I am heartily addicted to and won't give up without a fight---but once they become healthy nations, the world is
really in deep sh*t. India and China are slowly coming up to speed now, and that means that in another 20, 30 years, the world has to provide for 2
billion people living a lifestyle which promotes excessive use of resources.
Yay us.
Thank god for momentary relief in the form of AIDS, H5N1 (the bird flu virus), excessive environmental pollution in densely populated areas, obesity and related cardiovascular diseases, various wars, and natural disasters. And ego. It just might prolong the big bang until after I die---of natural causes, I hope.
