{"id":66065,"date":"2023-10-30T05:48:44","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T10:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=66065"},"modified":"2023-10-30T05:48:44","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T10:48:44","slug":"todays-contemplation-collapse-cometh-clviii-most-people-dont-want-their-illusions-destroyed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=66065","title":{"rendered":"Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh\u00a0CLVIII–Most People Don\u2019t Want Their Illusions Destroyed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh\u00a0CLVIII<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Mexico (1988). Photo by\u00a0author.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Most People Don\u2019t Want Their Illusions Destroyed<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another one of those conversations with someone at the Degrowth Facebook Group I am a member of\u2026<\/p>\n

JM:
\nI\u2019ve just had a lengthy debate with good-willed people who are serious proponents of a rapid transition to renewables. People actually do understand how far beyond carrying capacity we are and why but they do not accept their own understanding. When I suggest that humanity must live within the photosynthetic energy budget of the current biological cycle, the reaction is repulsion, anger, and ridicule. That reaction is a visceral understanding of the carrying capacity of Earth\u2019s systems and that the only reason society exists beyond that capacity is the infusion of energy. The response is that renewables can supply plenty of \u2018clean energy\u2019 to support \u2018society\u2019. People see and are unwilling to relinquish the societal upside of our energy subsidy, and argue that the ecological downside can be managed, but do have an unacknowledged understanding of how far past carrying capacity we are.<\/p>\n

AD:
\nI start to think we need to start from arguing that we have less than half a century of oil left\u200a\u2014\u200aand explicitly accept the \u2018right-wing\u2019 argument that our wealth has been built on fossil fuels. We had a single planetary shot at using fossil fuels well, and we are in the final stages of squandering it. After the oil is gone, there will be no more rubber, bitumen or plastic. There will be no paint; there will be no drugs. There will be no way to make or transport the solar panels or wind turbines. If we insist on burning our chemical stocks for things that do not address essential human needs, we will run out of ways to address those needs. The issue is not \u2018energy\u2019 per se: it is resources more broadly\u200a\u2014\u200aclean air and water; a functioning ecosystem, including fertile soils; raw materials for manufacture. You can\u2019t make a tyre for a Tesla out of nuclear power\u2026<\/p>\n

Me:
\nAD, Throw on top of all this those dangerous complexities we\u2019ve got scattered about the planet that require large amounts of hydrocarbons to maintain: nuclear power plants and their waste products; chemical production and storage facilities; and, biosafety labs. Interesting times ahead\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

AD:
\nSB, I\u2019m talking more about \u2018how do we convince people\u2019, though.<\/p>\n

Me:
\nAD, It\u2019s next to impossible to \u2018convince\u2019 others. Most people don\u2019t want their illusions destroyed.<\/em><\/p>\n

AD:
\nSB, Ultimately, the only reason I\u2019m on a group like this is because my hope is to see degrowth achieved, which will require convincing people. What are your reasons for being on the group?<\/p>\n

Me:
\nAD, To learn and share my learning\/understandings. And degrowth\/simplification is coming, it\u2019s just a matter of how that\u2019s still up in the air. Pre\/historical precedents and biological principles suggest it won\u2019t be \u2018managed\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n

AD:
\nSB, Which biological principles are those?<\/p>\n

Me:
\nAD, Those associated with ecological overshoot primarily.<\/em><\/p>\n

AD:
\nSB, I think you are talking through your hat.<\/p>\n

Me:
\nAD, Then I suggest you read Meadows et al\u2019s The Limits to Growth, Tainter\u2019s The Collapse of Complexity Societies, and Catton\u2019s Overshoot to better understand.<\/em><\/p>\n

AD:
\nSB, asked you why you thought people couldn\u2019t be convinced of a need to change. You replied, \u2018because ecological overshoot\u2019. That\u2019s the non-sequitur that I called you on.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

My final response:<\/em><\/p>\n

AD, Your comments\/responses do not make it clear that you asked \u2018why people couldn\u2019t be convinced\u2019; you asked why I was in the Degrowth group. Regardless, not sure if you\u2019ve ever studied psychology (especially social psychology) but there are strong tendencies to protect oneself from anxiety-provoking thoughts\u200a\u2014\u200aand the notions of collapse, overshoot, etc. are certainly those. So, I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s possible to convince\/persuade many others of the need to change fundamental aspects of their behaviour unless they are willing to challenge many of their core beliefs and expectations; and most people, quite frankly, are not. And, I would argue, that tends to be human nature.<\/em><\/p>\n

From attempts to reduce cognitive dissonance (see Festinger\u2019s work), to the grieving stages outlined by Kubler-Ross (particularly denial and bargaining), to beliefs about agency (we have little, if any), tendencies towards deference to authority\/expertise (see Milgram\u2019s work), going along to get along and groupthink (see Janis\u2019s work), to a potpourri of biases (especially confirmation and optimism bias) and heuristics that lead us to overly-simplify complex phenomena, Homo sapiens tend to \u2018believe what they want to believe\u2019; reality often plays a minor role in it, if at all.<\/em><\/p>\n

As an article on the faulty beliefs about \u2018renewables\u2019, co-written by Dr. Bill Rees (of ecological footprint fame), argues: \u201cWe begin with a reminder that humans are storytellers by nature. We socially construct complex sets of facts, beliefs, and values that guide how we operate in the world. Indeed, humans act out of their socially constructed narratives as if they were real. All political ideologies, religious doctrines, economic paradigms, cultural narratives\u200a\u2014\u200aeven scientific theories\u200a\u2014\u200aare socially constructed \u201cstories\u201d that may or may not accurately reflect any aspect of reality they purport to represent. Once a particular construct has taken hold, its adherents are likely to treat it more seriously than opposing evidence from an alternate conceptual framework.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Given these psychological mechanisms, our story-telling ways of communicating and developing belief systems, recent historical trends, energy blindness, and the huge role of propaganda\/narrative management by our \u2018ruling elite (see Bernays\u2019 work) we tend to get overwhelmed by counter-narratives to our core beliefs and gravitate towards those that reinforce our own\u200a\u2014\u200aregardless of how wrong or counterproductive they may be.<\/em><\/p>\n

We very much rail against evidence that do not confirm the beliefs we hold. We deny. We ignore. We craft bargaining narratives to rationalise away \u2018facts\u2019 that don\u2019t support our thinking; i.e., if only this happened\u2026if we did this\u2026yeah, but\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

It is for these reasons above (along with others) that the quote \u201cSometimes people don\u2019t want to hear the truth because they don\u2019t want their illusions destroyed\u201d arose (often attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche). And it is for these reasons that the overwhelming majority of people will not and cannot be convinced to give up what they perceive as \u2018modernity\u2019 (i.e., all the hydrocarbon-based complexities we have established over the past century+).<\/em><\/p>\n

We, especially in the West, like to believe we are rational and objective but the overwhelming evidence would suggest otherwise. We are story-telling apes that have a strong tendency to craft tales to support our belief systems rather than develop belief systems based upon objective observations. Humans are exceedingly subjective.<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps this is why author Robert Heinlein quipped that \u201cMan is not a rational animal; he is a rationalising animal\u201d in opposition to Aristotle\u2019s definition that humans are a rational animal.<\/em><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not simply enough to come up with a factual, persuasive argument but to have to overcome the massive counter narratives being fed to everyone by our ruling elite who benefit greatly from the status quo\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

My personal experience strongly supports the observation that the significant majority of people do not want to be convinced that just like all living organisms, societies have an expiration date, and we can no more persuade everyone to \u2018do what\u2019s right\u2019 than we can \u2018science our way out of overshoot\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n

Not only do we have a strong urge to deny our own mortality, we have a strong (perhaps even stronger) one to deny the mortality of our society and the living standards\/expectations it holds for virtually all within it.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh\u00a0CLVIII Mexico (1988). Photo by\u00a0author. Most People Don\u2019t Want Their Illusions Destroyed Another one of those conversations with someone at the Degrowth Facebook Group I am a member of\u2026 JM: I\u2019ve just had a lengthy debate with good-willed people who are serious proponents of a rapid transition to renewables. People actually do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4,5,6,7],"tags":[12372,150,30371,203,1330,22093,658,5833,30370,33947],"class_list":["post-66065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-energy-2","category-environment","category-geopolitics","category-liberty","category-survival-2","tag-bargaining","tag-collapse","tag-collapse-cometh","tag-degrowth","tag-denial","tag-ecological-overshoot","tag-psychology","tag-steve-bull","tag-todays-contemplation","tag-todays-contemplation-collapse-cometh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66065"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66066,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66065\/revisions\/66066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}