Where is the world heading?
A very interesting op-ed piece by Jared Diamond in the New York Times, titled The Ends of the World as We Know It . He asks "where will we stand 10 years from now, or even next year?
You might have to sign up to read it - but it is free.
He talks about why some societies collapsed and why other survived, and mentions the Maya, Easter Islanders, and many other societies.
The final two paragraphs:
Do we have cause for hope? Many of my friends are pessimistic when they contemplate the world's growing population and human demands colliding with shrinking resources. But I draw hope from the knowledge that humanity's biggest problems today are ones entirely of our own making. Asteroids hurtling at us beyond our control don't figure high on our list of imminent dangers. To save ourselves, we don't need new technology: we just need the political will to face up to our problems of population and the environment.
I also draw hope from a unique advantage that we enjoy. Unlike any previous society in history, our global society today is the first with the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of societies remote from us in space and in time. When the Maya and Mangarevans were cutting down their trees, there were no historians or archaeologists, no newspapers or television, to warn them of the consequences of their actions. We, on the other hand, have a detailed chronicle of human successes and failures at our disposal. Will we choose to use it?
I like the way this man thinks.
A very interesting op-ed piece by Jared Diamond in the New York Times, titled The Ends of the World as We Know It . He asks "where will we stand 10 years from now, or even next year?
You might have to sign up to read it - but it is free.
He talks about why some societies collapsed and why other survived, and mentions the Maya, Easter Islanders, and many other societies.
The final two paragraphs:
Do we have cause for hope? Many of my friends are pessimistic when they contemplate the world's growing population and human demands colliding with shrinking resources. But I draw hope from the knowledge that humanity's biggest problems today are ones entirely of our own making. Asteroids hurtling at us beyond our control don't figure high on our list of imminent dangers. To save ourselves, we don't need new technology: we just need the political will to face up to our problems of population and the environment.
I also draw hope from a unique advantage that we enjoy. Unlike any previous society in history, our global society today is the first with the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of societies remote from us in space and in time. When the Maya and Mangarevans were cutting down their trees, there were no historians or archaeologists, no newspapers or television, to warn them of the consequences of their actions. We, on the other hand, have a detailed chronicle of human successes and failures at our disposal. Will we choose to use it?
I like the way this man thinks.
posted by Vergil | 9:05 PM
1 Comments:
As you read Jared Diamond the author of Guns, Germs and Steel, keep in mind the diversity of his positions, such as his published work in Nature on ethnic differences in testis size.
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