| In the long term, current problems fade away. This is a superb piece describing a series of snapshots of life on Earth from 10 to 10 billion years in factors of 10. I particularly liked this description of the banality of human nature from the 10 and 100 year views. Among those who recognize that something's wrong, one widely accepted viewpoint holds that fusion power, artificial intelligence, and interstellar migration will shortly solve all our problems, and therefore we don't have to change the way we live. Another, equally popular, insists that total human extinction is scarcely a decade away, and therefore we don’t have to change the way we live. Most people who worry about the future accept one or the other claim, while the last chance for meaningful systemic change slips silently away. The first reminds me of a thought I'd already had that they are like 2nd year students in student digs. There's no need to worry about cleaning or the state of the house as they'll be leaving soon anyway, never to return. The second are like 2nd year students in digs that are only cheap because they're scheduled for demolition. Who cares if there's no shower or hot water, we'll be out soon and anyway they're pulling down the building next year.  Edward Morbius originally shared this post: Archdruid Report: Taking the Long View Meanwhile, in the tropical forests of what is now southern Siberia, the descendants of raccoons who crossed the Bering land bridge during the last great ice age are proliferating rapidly, expanding into empty ecological niches once filled by the larger primates. In another thirty million years or so, their descendants will come down from the trees. Concerned about what the NASDAQ will do next week, the Fed next month, who the GOP will position for 2016? Climate change and peak oil? How about taking a long view. John Michael Greer writes some serious deep-think stuff, and I'll thank +Terry Dyke again for turning me on to him (say, Terry, awful quiet over there, everything OK?). http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-next-ten-billion-years.html #thelongview [from: Google+ Posts] |
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[ 09-Sep-13 11:11am ] [ Politics
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