[Wyoming]

I came across the below blog post by someone named Brian. I have no idea who he is, but I thought it was an interesting post and figured it might get some comments. As a general categorization I find it pretty accurate. His comment was in response to a topic on whether 'we' (the global we) have given up. Wyo

Have we given up?

Mostly, yes.

Theoretically, it depends on who "we" are.
Practically, it doesn't matter at all.

First, a large number are probably not cognizant at all of the various predicaments in which we find ourselves. So, I suppose that this might actually be the one group that has not given up, simply because they don't know they're in the game. Or, you could say they gave up because they didn't know the rules.

Second, the vast majority, while cognizant to some degree of the issues, are fully entrenched in the Business As Usual world in which short-term economic benefit trumps everything. These people simply want to live their lives and not have to deal with the issues... let somebody else fix it... don't we have a technology for that? This group has given up because there seems to be no short-term, cheap, easy solution.

Third, there are a few people who actively work, and even a smaller fraction who actually change their lifestyles in accordance with their stated goals, towards "solving" our problems or mitigating our predicaments. Unfortunately, these numbers are infinitesimally small and are largely operating under the delusion that humans really exhibit free will. That is, that people can and will actually permanently change their behavior, absent a crisis, because it is the long-term "right" thing to do. There is no evidence that this is the case, and, therefore, no evidence of some wide-ranging "free will". This group, has not given up, but are stuck in a world of false hope, unable to understand that the problem is humans and their inability, en masse, to change.

Which brings us to the final group. This group recognizes that human nature is what it is, that permanent changes in human nature are very slow (basically, evolutionary time frames), and that the humans that exist today will continue to behave in the same manner that got them where they are today. This continued behavior implies certain higher probability outcomes (most of which are not great for humans, and are much less great for virtually everything else), which are likely to result in some increasing number of existential crises. The only question is whether humans, within such crises, can truly and permanently change their nature and behavior. This group recognizes that this question is unanswerable until the crises are upon us. So, there is nothing to be done that can address the problems humans face, because human nature and behavior are the root cause of the problems that humans face. Under these circumstances, people in this group will hopefully give up and get on with making their own lives as meaningful as possible. This is more or less the "it is what it is" group. What few realists you meet will likely reside here.

Posted by: Brian | 05/29/2013 at 11:07 AM

[Narz]

There are lots of kinds of people but yeah, I think the 4th catagory is the place to be though it's hard not to get emotional about what humanity is doing to itself.

[SeaGypsy]

The truly ignorant, the willfully ignorant, the hopeful and the realist. 'Brian' lost me with his free will rant- I would use mine to biff him in the jaw if he tried telling me this to my face. Having to deal with being part of a collective does not make a person into a robot- even if it appears that way.

[Pops]

This group recognizes that human nature is what it is, that permanent changes in human nature are very slow (basically, evolutionary time frames), and that the humans that exist today will continue to behave in the same manner that got them where they are today.

I think this part is wrong. Humans' primary adaptation is adaptation. We don't need millions of years of evolutionary time to adjust to changing circumstance. We knit woolen underwear or change diet or build a mud hut or whatever.

Niche gone? Move on. That's our gig. Unfortunately the rest of nature is still dependent on evolutionary time.

I'd guess the problem for humans might be that we can adapt so fast we out run all the bears – until the bears all starve and there is nothing left but us.