{"id":67313,"date":"2024-04-14T08:15:57","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T13:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=67313"},"modified":"2024-04-14T08:15:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T13:15:57","slug":"todays-contemplation-collapse-cometh-ciii-we-all-believe-what-we-believeevidence-be-damned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=67313","title":{"rendered":"Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh\u00a0CIII–We All Believe What We Believe\u2026Evidence Be Damned."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh\u00a0CIII<\/h3>\n
Teotihuacan, Mexico. (1988) Photo by\u00a0author.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We All Believe What We Believe\u2026Evidence Be Damned.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The following contemplation is my comment on the latest Honest Sorcerer post<\/a> that explores personality \u2018types\u2019 and how these contribute to why we tend to hold such different views of our world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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Very interesting discussion and does help to explain a lot. And, again, you\u2019ve provided me a springboard to share my own thoughts\u2026<\/p>\n

Perhaps these inherent differences (not necessarily hard-wired since I can see that my own answers to many of the questions on the test\u200a\u2014\u200awhich I took many years ago as well since my employer at the time regularly discussed and explored such things\u200a\u2014\u200ahave changed significantly over the years; I seem to have \u2018come to the middle\u2019 in many areas) are a big contributor to why I\u2019ve come to hold that we believe what we believe, regardless of evidence or well-reasoned, counter-arguments.<\/p>\n

In fact, being who we are with our complex cognitive abilities, we fight off non-confirmatory thoughts\/ideas to reduce\/avoid the stress\/anxiety that can arise when our beliefs are challenged.<\/p>\n

One of those beliefs I\u2019ve certainly encountered when discussing \u2018collapse\u2019 with others is the idea that our pursuit of the perpetual growth chalice on a finite planet is just fine, thank you very much; please don\u2019t regale me with your data and\/or pre\/historic and research-based examples of societal decline and\/or overshoot\u2026I will not listen or I will list off all the evidence of human progress and problem-solving abilities\u200a\u2014\u200aparticularly with respect to complex technologies\u200a\u2014\u200ato prove my perspective.<\/p>\n

And, of course, it doesn\u2019t help the attempt to counter this notion of infinite growth on a finite planet when the ruling caste who significantly profits from the pursuit (in both monetary and power terms) cheerleads and encourages it at every turn and opportunity. I hear nothing but propaganda about the benefits of human expansion and development from my local\/regional\/federal politicians whenever they open their mouths and rarely, if ever, discussion of the knock-on, negative impacts except assurances that they will be minimal and\/or overcome\u200a\u2014\u200ayes, we are constructing a relatively expansive community upon these wetlands in this ecologically-sensitive area above important aquifers, but we\u2019re putting a butterfly parkette in to benefit the environment\u2026<\/p>\n

For anyone agreeing with the herd and\/or deferring to authority, as most of us do, or simply sitting on the fence, then it\u2019s next to impossible to break with the majority perspective. I\u2019ve given up my attempts to raise or even discuss the topic with most family members and others in my social circle\u200a\u2014\u200aunless I am directly asked for my input. They simply do not want to even think about such a \u2018depressing\u2019 subject. Better to discuss and debate whether you think the Toronto Maple Leafs will make it through the first round of the upcoming hockey playoffs\u2026<\/p>\n

We even see such opposing views within the \u2018collapse-aware\u2019 communities, such as the Degrowth Movement, where a major core seems to hold that with just the right tinkering, and then widespread adoption, of \u2018correct\u2019 behaviours and technologies, humanity can solve the problems at hand\u200a\u2014\u200anever recognising that it\u2019s an unsolvable predicament that we might, at best, be capable of slightly mitigating for some small percentage of people.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a right pickle and reminds me of a quote from a Richard Duncan article (an electrical engineer behind the Olduvai Theory of civilisational collapse):<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026according to the Olduvai schematic, world energy production per capita will decrease\u2026[then] there will be a rash of permanent electrical blackouts worldwide. Consequently the vital\u2026functions\u200a\u2014\u200acommunication, computation, and control\u200a\u2014\u200awill be lost.
\n\u2026Mother Nature then solves for us the (apparently) insuperable problem of the Tragedy of the Unmanaged Commons, which the human race seems either incapable or unwilling to solve for itself.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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If you\u2019ve made it to the end of this contemplation and have got something out of my writing, please consider ordering the trilogy of my \u2018fictional\u2019 novel series, Olduvai (PDF files; only $9.99 Canadian), via my website<\/a>\u200a\u2014\u200athe \u2018profits\u2019 of which help me to keep my internet presence alive and first book available in print (and is available via various online retailers). Encouraging others to read my work is also much appreciated<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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[1]<\/a> See this<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh\u00a0CIII Teotihuacan, Mexico. (1988) Photo by\u00a0author. We All Believe What We Believe\u2026Evidence Be Damned. The following contemplation is my comment on the latest Honest Sorcerer post that explores personality \u2018types\u2019 and how these contribute to why we tend to hold such different views of our world. Very interesting discussion and does help […]<\/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":[34102,1200,67,4037,1897,1648,7464,30370,33947,8130],"class_list":["post-67313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-energy-2","category-environment","category-geopolitics","category-liberty","category-survival-2","tag-anxiety-provoking-thoughts","tag-belief-systems","tag-beliefs","tag-cognition","tag-evidence","tag-facts","tag-interpretation","tag-todays-contemplation","tag-todays-contemplation-collapse-cometh","tag-world-view"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67313","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=67313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67314,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67313\/revisions\/67314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}