I won't disagree with that, our current lifestyle is unsustainable. We need to make some serious movements in the direction of population control, pollution control, growth limitation, and create a smaller and more healthy involvement with the environment.
As global consciousness increases and the availability of information increases (particularly as to the dangerous or stupid practices of big business), positive change does happen. Look at free trade coffee. Greenpeace. The Kyoto Accord. People are coming to see that it does matter what we do, and that we need to change.
The real question for me is not whether it will happen, but how many people will survive to see it happen. In the worst case I could see the population dropping by over 99% as a critical point is reached, and the resources begin to fail. Once some small group of people hit sustainability, they'll be able to make it through. The question is how many can they save. I'd also be interested to see the direction this takes - whether it will be the form of a new understanding we can't even comprehend - like the advance from religion to science - but this time from individual/capitalist science - to something new - or whether it will be a current movement, suddenly changing from a luxury to a necessity. Technology enhanced consciousness - people connected to a broad "internet"like mind with better and better interfaces, making a breakthrough in crowd management - I don't know.
It's interesting looking at not only the history of scientific thought, but the historical background - monks to alchemists to natural philosophers and their place in society. Maybe following these trends back and seeing their roots would be useful in determining what comes next, but I don't know.
As global consciousness increases and the availability of information increases (particularly as to the dangerous or stupid practices of big business), positive change does happen. Look at free trade coffee. Greenpeace. The Kyoto Accord. People are coming to see that it does matter what we do, and that we need to change.
The real question for me is not whether it will happen, but how many people will survive to see it happen. In the worst case I could see the population dropping by over 99% as a critical point is reached, and the resources begin to fail. Once some small group of people hit sustainability, they'll be able to make it through. The question is how many can they save. I'd also be interested to see the direction this takes - whether it will be the form of a new understanding we can't even comprehend - like the advance from religion to science - but this time from individual/capitalist science - to something new - or whether it will be a current movement, suddenly changing from a luxury to a necessity. Technology enhanced consciousness - people connected to a broad "internet"like mind with better and better interfaces, making a breakthrough in crowd management - I don't know.
ogm hyphens
It's interesting looking at not only the history of scientific thought, but the historical background - monks to alchemists to natural philosophers and their place in society. Maybe following these trends back and seeing their roots would be useful in determining what comes next, but I don't know.