From: Caspar Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>IN THE LANGUAGE OF ECOLOGY -- a language which it behooves us all
>>to learnóthe conditions of an imperiled environment are described
>>in a few short and pungent words: 'drawdown,' 'overshoot,'
>>'crash,' and 'die-off.'
[snip]
>Nevertheless I take Jay's point.It is hard to see how our species can
>escape the Reckoning when we are so firmly in the grip of denial.
You are absolutely right! If there is any way out of the coming nightmare,
we MUST overcome social taboos and confront biophysical realities.
Has anyone else thought it odd that everyone talks about "sustainability"
but no one has an operational definition?
"When a well-defined problem is virtually ignored as long as the commons
problem was -- more than a hundred years -- we naturally suspect the
interference of taboo. This plausible supposition is by its very nature,
nearly unprovable. Taboo is a composite thing: there is the primary taboo,
surrounding the thing that must not be discussed; around this is the
secondary taboo, a taboo against even acknowledging the existence of the
primary taboo.
"A taboo may be sustained in part for good tactical reasons: breaking it may
open up a nest of problems not yet ripe for productive discussion. We may
speculate -- we can hardly know -- that the long avoidance of the commons
problem was due to a subconscious awareness of the intractable Quis
custodies problem, which would have been activated by any attempt to depart
from the system of the commons." [ Hardin, 1977,
http://dieoff.com/page96.htm ]
The scientists are telling us that our lifeboat is full. We have to
overcome social taboos start discussing voluntary suicide, euthanasia,
sterilization, redefinition of "rights", and all those other things we hate
to
think about.
We can do it our way: perhaps in the context along the lines of the new
social system that I have proposed. Or Big Brother will do it his way: full
speed into the wall, then it's the police state -- a modern blend of the
Holocaust and Orwell's 1984.
Jay
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COMING SOON TO A LOCATION NEAR YOU!
http://dieoff.com/page1.htm
