Thank you for this. Roger Hallum is a true hero paying a terrible price for simply trying to call attention to the truth. As I read, I wondered if he is still in prison. I sadly found out the end of his eloquent plea for all of us to act. His courage is inspirational.
I think we are living in an alternate universe, as none of this seems real. But as they say, all good things must come to an end. I’m a fatalist and I look at the big longterm time picture. Man will be gone, climate change or a nuclear war will have made a royal mess, but give it 100,000 years or more and you’ll never even know we were here and hopefully by then, life will abound once again and hopefully without us.
There is certainly a feeling of unreality for me, too, even though I have been submerged in learning about climate change and overshoot for four years. For those who have lost homes, businesses, people they love and entire communities the feeling must be different. All species that overshoot their environment come to an end. I feel badly for individual suffering, less so for us as a species.
The wisest saw these problems coming 60 years ago, too bad such people don't become our leaders.
"Man will be gone": yes, Mary. but what about the collateral damage i.e., almost all the 'Wonderful Life' (to cite Stephen Jay Gould) we're taking down with us? That's what hurts most. And, what's more, thanks to our clever inventions (nukes, microplastics, chemicals et al), we ensure the biosphere will never sustain anything like this again, except for mutated life forms, I guess.
The collateral damage is deeply saddening, the myriad life we are taking with us. I'm sure Mary feels the same way. The pollutants we leave behind will indeed impede the flourishing of new life. The estimate for recovery which I have to assume is highly speculative is a million years. I don't think I saved that article though.
Even 1 million years is nothing compared to the 5 billion that would be left. I’m not saying it’ll be the same, but it will still be magnificent and mutations will become the norm in time and not even be considered mutations we and our time is simply a blip in time.
• Selective Pressure: Constant exposure could favor traits that resist or metabolize nanoplastics, influencing the direction of evolution.
• Genetic and Cellular Stress: Nanoplastics can cause oxidative stress, inflammation, and even DNA damage, which may lead to mutations—some beneficial, others harmful.
• Speciation or Extinction: Over millions of years, chronic exposure could drive the emergence of new species adapted to polluted environments—or contribute to the extinction of sensitive ones.
I suffer from an immune disorder, psoriatic arthritis. It began in my early 40s. It feels like there's been an explosion of such disorders, and the advertising for various classes of drugs is relentless. Many years ago (pre internet, imagine that) I read an interview of a physician in a magazine, The Sun. He made the argument cancer was an industry and that undermined the incentive to solve it.
Cancer in old people can be expected as the body breaks down and the body stops repairing itself as well, but doubtless pollutants in our food water and air were and are a growing factor. If we really wanted to bring cancer under control or autoimmune disorders, we would go to the source, the pollutants that are ruining the planet, and our bodies. Plastic certainly is one of those pollutants. This should be easily correctable, remember glass and waxed paper? There is no resolve against the oil or petrochemical industries. Unethical individual solutions culminate in great crimes.
It took less than the “blink of an eye” in the history of our biosphere for humans to achieve the inevitable death spiral we are now facing. Reasons? So many, that you have clearly identified here, Geoffrey.
Some of the greatest hits:
The dumbification of America by Republicons defunding public education.
Rupert Murdoch and FAUX News. Spreading disinformation all over the world.
A corrupt Supreme Court that is supporting fascism with impunity.
Dems asleep at the switch while MAGATY oligarchs bought up all of the “mainstream media.”
I’m still not anywhere near convinced that Shitler won the last election. There are too many contradictions to think that he won legally. The truth will come out, it always does, but, it will be far too late.
Thank you, Geoff. Unraveling the complexity of systems and our lack of awareness of the vast connections, impacts, and precursors is mind-boggling. What to do about it is an entire "other" conundrum. Your articles provoke thoughts that make my brain hurt. For this, I applaud you.
Everything is connected. It makes my brain hurt, too.
My experience as an American living in this capitalist system has been uneasy since age 12. I remember watching Nixon resign on TV, and watched my highly ethical father (and our family) get the short end of the stick for those principles numerous times. By my teens I was turned off to the whole show, and already had a sense of its unsustainability and injustice.
With the downturn of my health and inability to hike and bicycle mountains anymore, I knew writing needed to become my new life. It doesn't bring joy as the mountains did, but it does give me purpose. Thanks, Pam.
I am so grateful for my health. I ran a 10K this weekend and placed first in my age group. It's the Towpath Trilogy. The funds are used to improve the paths for bicycles and runners throughout the Cleveland area. It was a beautiful day, and there were Full and Half marathoners as well as 10K runners numbering over 1,200. I hope that you're able to enjoy the outdoors as part of your routine and inspiration to continue what you do best to protect our environment. Thank you!
"In the land of the free and the home of global scale CIA backed neoliberal coups and shakedowns, indiscriminate killing is practiced both institutionally and individually. Could we expect less from a country built on the extermination of Indigenous people who preceded us by 12,000 years? It’s in our DNA as Britain’s offspring."
Why i couldn't have said it better or more accurately myself. Love thy neighbor, and if that doesn't benefit you, kill 'em and take all they have. It's worked for the global elite so far!
So beautifully written Geoffrey. I'm in Adelaide, Australia; seems a long way away geographically but the global political and climate pressures are still suffocating, your words cut deep.
The seasons here are all deranged, nothing feels the same. The sudden stratospheric warming event in Antarctica is already wreaking havoc with hot winds, dry, and heat when it should be wet still.
It's nice to know another Aussie — I have become well-acquainted with Margi Prideaux and the work she is doing. You're right, the global and political pressures are similar. Colonial capitalist nations are cut from the same cloth, your Aborigines, my Native Americans.
The seasons are crazy here, too. Buffalo, NY, formerly considered American Siberia in many minds, where I live, is supposed to hit 85° F tomorrow, 30° C for you my friend.
The change is stunning. That's a temperature we rarely hit in the hottest part of the summer, let alone well into the fall 30 years ago.
You and I could have an act. I'd be Speak Softly and you'd be Carry a Big Stick. Because it juxtaposes with what you've written, here's a draft of what's I'm posting Tuesday:
We are this family. Caring is there. It’s built in. You see it in tragedies. It's the feeling to bring to the surface now. We are in a tragedy. It’s like a Shakespearean drama: Humanity Emerging. Never in a straight line. Situation critical now. We have tacked so far that it may be too far. All hands needed on deck to propel us as far to the good as we’ve gone to the bad. Humanity realized. The family of humanity.
We live in a giant idea. Are sinners or saints in charge? There are TV shows now that replicate pioneer days. People living like pioneers for stretches of time. In the all-the-world’s-a-stage perspective, we are at a peak in our drama where it will turn to tragedy and we will be gone, or to triumph that's framed to show on TV in the beautiful world we will have created if the idea about being a family prevailed.
Humanity needs a purpose. It could be to be together and restoring a lost sense of well-being. Humbled by not having served the greater good with our self-serving ideology, now committed to a new Earth, cherished and tended, enveloped by the idea that altruism is our destiny, this could be how things turn out.
You're right. Similar message in a completely different voice. I don't know for certain what kind of voice can best motivate people. Even those I met on No Kings Day earlier this summer seemed to be unaware of the dire circumstances of the planet.
We needed courageous presidential leadership and a vision away from capitalism. Even the brightest of my lifetime, Obama, failed that test miserably. It's up to the people now.
It's so puzzling there's been no leadership. It's unwieldy in such a big world for it to be up to the people. But it seems that is so. Let's see what Jane Fonda will achieve with Hollywood signing on, and what the army brass, God knows, might mutiny over, plus the fallout from the details being revealed about Trump's dementia, to add to what's still on the scandal table.
The leadership has been bought (we can easily see the money on OpenSecrets.org for as long as it exists) and Democrats have taken bad advice from lifetime lobbyist advisors to tack right. This alienated their working class base enabling disingenuous Republicans to pretend to be populist. Rupert Murdock's influence in this situation cannot be underestimated. I also firmly believe in term limits and laws governing the revolving door of lobbyists, politicians and high-powered corporate positions. The system is closed to the average person. Campaign finance needs to be reformed, and the electoral college needs to go. None of this will ever happen. Now we have to beat back fascism.
For leadership, I'm not talking about elected officials but among the rest of us. Like at last Jane Fonda is starting something. I'm not looking to getting Democrats to do anything, certainly not to wait till the next election for making advances. It's up to we-the-people, and isnt that a challenge since we aren't organized? That's where I come in, with ideas.
You have it right. The oligarchs see us as surplus population, just one shade away from "useless eaters." And the more quickly they get us off the books, the better.
Amusing how billionaires don't understand they are the biggest eaters of all. Either that or they think their "brilliance" that has destroyed the planet gives them the right to decide life and death.
It would be fabulous if possible, for your articles to be converted to audio? I love your pieces, but literally have no time to sit and read. I’m very active/busy so usually listen to podcasts and audiobooks. I think this would lead to a much bigger readership and following if at all possible. Thanks for all that you do.
Thank you, Jo! I'll consider the suggestion. Like you and almost everyone, time is a thing. Simply making an audio version of my work shouldn't be a big deal, but I could see myself making it one (perfectionist tendencies and always being shocked by the actual sound of my own voice compared to what I hear in my head, lol).
“We’re not above creation, but a deeply interwoven part of it.” How much time do you want to spend thinking about that part? Or should it wait till after we solve all these policy problems?
Kuhn argued that only a mature science could give rise to a paradigm shift. Paradigm shift is well underway now and has been developing throughout the 20th century, exemplified by cybernetics. The paradigm shift is underwriting artificial intelligence and represents a basic leap in the nature of knowledge to include perceptual mechanics. Artificial intelligence is not the paradigm shift. It represents the end state of the mature science of mathematics begun in 1543 with Copernicus. Rather, the shift is biomemetic: it is powered by an understanding of the complex nature of living systems. A formative synthesis has been attained in this new paradigm. This takes the form of a radical new model of life. Extending this model into perceptual shift and consciousness change is what should interest us.
Perhaps our current science is at an end state with AI, something to give thought to. Certainly, we need some sort of fundamental shift in what much science is used for. Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should. We have improved greatly at understanding of the complex nature of living systems, but much science has been hijacked for profit rather than the sake of deeper understanding and wise decision-making. It seems to me making a core shift needs to start in the earliest years of our education and embody philosophy and history as well. Wise science needs other inputs, and the general populace led to believe infinite consumption is possible and desirable needs to be replaced.
Making a core shift needs to happen right now for each one of us. It is something to plan or implement as policy. It is something that we do and is in a way as simple as petting a dog. On the other side of the intellect in the brain is the cerebellum, our animal intelligence. It is fully charged and ready to go. It is just a matter of attention and depth. My work is focused on the anatomy and embodiment practices and things like that that can help us to unpack it. But the resources are almost infinite and readily available to us here in our home on this planet.
I am in favor of individual core shifts. I think living minimally is better for most in myriad ways, but the brainwashing to consume is relentless. Degrowth calls for an end to advertising. Of course, we need much more than that a profound change in values reflected in raising our children and education.
Unfortunately, changing our individual behavior is not enough. Big polluters need to be brought under control and new oil projects halted.
More than our votes, American politicians from both parties covet money donations from AIPAC. Worse yet, they fear AIPAC supporting primary candidates against them and then, even if you are a Democrat, they will support the GOP against you in an election. This is their punishment for not supporting Israel in anything and everything it wishes to perpetrate against its neighbors. This blind loyalty by the U.S. started following the Israeli false-flag attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, when they tried to sink our ship, killing 34 and wounding 171 in the process. We then helped them cover it up, completely repairing the ship and silencing witnesses with threats of military justice for speaking out. We even had the temerity to ask Israel if it minded if we honored the ship's captain with the Medal of Honor. Imagine asking your attacker if they would be offended if we honored the man that saved the ship?
Israel was our foothold in the oil rich Middle East. Certainly, I am sympathetic to the holocaust of Jews in WWII, and they needed a place to go. It didn't need to be Palestine, based on claims 3000 years old, though. I think it's important to differentiate between Jews and Zionists the same way we must differentiate between whites and the Ku Klux Klan, and now sadly Christian Nationalists.
AIPAC is an enormous problem as are dollars buying politicians from the oil industry.
False flag events are a constant in US history. The Gulf of Tonkin "incident" and excuses for annexing Texas and Hawaii under the morally bereft concept of Manifest Destiny are further examples. Banana Republic CIA driven wars and neocapitalist forays into South America as well.
Both parties are corrupt, neither will save us. They operate outside the bounds of reality.
Reality is we have destroyed a viable planet to live on, and continue to do so.
Trump and cohorts are merely hastening now inevitable collapse. Enjoy every decent day you can while some of us can still have them.
If you have the time and the inclination, read, "Operation Cyanide" by Peter Hounam, a British author who dedicated 2 years of research to his book. I believe it is out of print now and I found in archive.org by searching the title. I flew helicopter evacuation to the ship the following morning. What you may find interesting is that Hounam makes a very strong case that LBJ and Israel cooked up the attack to give LBJ an excuse to nuke Cairo as he detested Nasser and also as an excuse to get us into that war. I can tell you that my carrier, the USS America as well as the USS Saratoga, launched nuclear armed attack (offensive) aircraft which were called back when 6 minutes from Cairo (while the ship was still under attack by the Israelis). Interestingly, Hounam interviewed a U.S. Air Force pilot who told him he and his crew (and other crews) were rousted out of bed at 4 AM at a base in Northern California. He was the pilot of an attack bomber that carried nuclear bombs and that there were sealed orders waiting in the cockpit. This was suspicious as 4 AM West Coast time was one hour before the attack on the USS Liberty commenced. The docuseries that explains it thoroughly is "Sacrificing Liberty," available on-line.
Thank you for the recommendation. I appreciate it when readers give me new avenues to consider. Investigative journalism is critical to fight dark forces. Sorry your life got swept up in that awful war.
My time for additional reading is limited, but I'll make a point of checking the book out. History predicts the future.
Slavery is alive and well, widespread, and virtually undiscussed. Sex slavery is particularly revolting. It's deserving of an essay of its own, not the subject of this one.
In a sense, we are all slaves to a system that as destroyed the planet and each other.
Those at the top of the food chain don't see it or don't care.
The majority of Americans may not be slaves, but basically work lives of indentured servitude, multiple jobs with no benefits. Look at all the seniors stocking grocery store shelves, unable to retire.
Regardless of political system, the consumption eating the planet and our souls will end. Do we want that to happen in a controlled way that protects as many as possible or do we want the planet to call the shots?
A synthesis has been reached. There is a new model of life. Science will continue and AI will continue to have tremendous impact. There’s nothing you can do about it. You have to choose what to focus on: technology in the world or philosophy in the self. Like most people you tend to focus outward it seems. However we now have a new horizon focusing inward. It is nascent but very hopeful. Aren’t you at least curious?
AI is built on blatant intellectual property theft. It's also rife with western capitalist bias. It is not honest, and only as good as the algorithm determined by human foibles. Grok, Musk and Nazis, anyone? It's already being used for disinformation and endangering human creativity and jobs.
I have only written one article on it dealing with its egregious water and energy demands which in the face of the energy and climate that's rapidly becoming worse, is blindly stupid, the hubristic product of never sated billionaires.
I have dozens of organized folders on the subject, so yes, curious and researched. It's another nail in the coffin on multiple levels.
Pertinent to your excellent essay, Geoffrey, is this posting by Roger Hallam: https://rogerhallam.com/climate-reality-the-diagnosis-we-cant-escape/
Thank you for this. Roger Hallum is a true hero paying a terrible price for simply trying to call attention to the truth. As I read, I wondered if he is still in prison. I sadly found out the end of his eloquent plea for all of us to act. His courage is inspirational.
I'm happy to say he's out of prison now, Geoffrey. His latest project is the next step in non-violent disruptive action: https://rev21.earth/
I think we are living in an alternate universe, as none of this seems real. But as they say, all good things must come to an end. I’m a fatalist and I look at the big longterm time picture. Man will be gone, climate change or a nuclear war will have made a royal mess, but give it 100,000 years or more and you’ll never even know we were here and hopefully by then, life will abound once again and hopefully without us.
There is certainly a feeling of unreality for me, too, even though I have been submerged in learning about climate change and overshoot for four years. For those who have lost homes, businesses, people they love and entire communities the feeling must be different. All species that overshoot their environment come to an end. I feel badly for individual suffering, less so for us as a species.
The wisest saw these problems coming 60 years ago, too bad such people don't become our leaders.
"Man will be gone": yes, Mary. but what about the collateral damage i.e., almost all the 'Wonderful Life' (to cite Stephen Jay Gould) we're taking down with us? That's what hurts most. And, what's more, thanks to our clever inventions (nukes, microplastics, chemicals et al), we ensure the biosphere will never sustain anything like this again, except for mutated life forms, I guess.
The collateral damage is deeply saddening, the myriad life we are taking with us. I'm sure Mary feels the same way. The pollutants we leave behind will indeed impede the flourishing of new life. The estimate for recovery which I have to assume is highly speculative is a million years. I don't think I saved that article though.
Even 1 million years is nothing compared to the 5 billion that would be left. I’m not saying it’ll be the same, but it will still be magnificent and mutations will become the norm in time and not even be considered mutations we and our time is simply a blip in time.
Yes, and if we were wise our behavior would be reflective and protective of our brief time here.
Funny! Your guess is as good as whoever's and nobody's going to be around to point out you were wrong any way!
I guess it’s more of what I hope to be true
Also… about nano plastics
Evolutionary Consequences for Future Life
• Selective Pressure: Constant exposure could favor traits that resist or metabolize nanoplastics, influencing the direction of evolution.
• Genetic and Cellular Stress: Nanoplastics can cause oxidative stress, inflammation, and even DNA damage, which may lead to mutations—some beneficial, others harmful.
• Speciation or Extinction: Over millions of years, chronic exposure could drive the emergence of new species adapted to polluted environments—or contribute to the extinction of sensitive ones.
I suffer from an immune disorder, psoriatic arthritis. It began in my early 40s. It feels like there's been an explosion of such disorders, and the advertising for various classes of drugs is relentless. Many years ago (pre internet, imagine that) I read an interview of a physician in a magazine, The Sun. He made the argument cancer was an industry and that undermined the incentive to solve it.
Cancer in old people can be expected as the body breaks down and the body stops repairing itself as well, but doubtless pollutants in our food water and air were and are a growing factor. If we really wanted to bring cancer under control or autoimmune disorders, we would go to the source, the pollutants that are ruining the planet, and our bodies. Plastic certainly is one of those pollutants. This should be easily correctable, remember glass and waxed paper? There is no resolve against the oil or petrochemical industries. Unethical individual solutions culminate in great crimes.
It took less than the “blink of an eye” in the history of our biosphere for humans to achieve the inevitable death spiral we are now facing. Reasons? So many, that you have clearly identified here, Geoffrey.
Some of the greatest hits:
The dumbification of America by Republicons defunding public education.
Rupert Murdoch and FAUX News. Spreading disinformation all over the world.
A corrupt Supreme Court that is supporting fascism with impunity.
Dems asleep at the switch while MAGATY oligarchs bought up all of the “mainstream media.”
I’m still not anywhere near convinced that Shitler won the last election. There are too many contradictions to think that he won legally. The truth will come out, it always does, but, it will be far too late.
Thank you, Geoff. Unraveling the complexity of systems and our lack of awareness of the vast connections, impacts, and precursors is mind-boggling. What to do about it is an entire "other" conundrum. Your articles provoke thoughts that make my brain hurt. For this, I applaud you.
Everything is connected. It makes my brain hurt, too.
My experience as an American living in this capitalist system has been uneasy since age 12. I remember watching Nixon resign on TV, and watched my highly ethical father (and our family) get the short end of the stick for those principles numerous times. By my teens I was turned off to the whole show, and already had a sense of its unsustainability and injustice.
With the downturn of my health and inability to hike and bicycle mountains anymore, I knew writing needed to become my new life. It doesn't bring joy as the mountains did, but it does give me purpose. Thanks, Pam.
I am so grateful for my health. I ran a 10K this weekend and placed first in my age group. It's the Towpath Trilogy. The funds are used to improve the paths for bicycles and runners throughout the Cleveland area. It was a beautiful day, and there were Full and Half marathoners as well as 10K runners numbering over 1,200. I hope that you're able to enjoy the outdoors as part of your routine and inspiration to continue what you do best to protect our environment. Thank you!
"In the land of the free and the home of global scale CIA backed neoliberal coups and shakedowns, indiscriminate killing is practiced both institutionally and individually. Could we expect less from a country built on the extermination of Indigenous people who preceded us by 12,000 years? It’s in our DNA as Britain’s offspring."
Why i couldn't have said it better or more accurately myself. Love thy neighbor, and if that doesn't benefit you, kill 'em and take all they have. It's worked for the global elite so far!
So beautifully written Geoffrey. I'm in Adelaide, Australia; seems a long way away geographically but the global political and climate pressures are still suffocating, your words cut deep.
The seasons here are all deranged, nothing feels the same. The sudden stratospheric warming event in Antarctica is already wreaking havoc with hot winds, dry, and heat when it should be wet still.
Thanks for what you do. x
It's nice to know another Aussie — I have become well-acquainted with Margi Prideaux and the work she is doing. You're right, the global and political pressures are similar. Colonial capitalist nations are cut from the same cloth, your Aborigines, my Native Americans.
The seasons are crazy here, too. Buffalo, NY, formerly considered American Siberia in many minds, where I live, is supposed to hit 85° F tomorrow, 30° C for you my friend.
The change is stunning. That's a temperature we rarely hit in the hottest part of the summer, let alone well into the fall 30 years ago.
Margi lives on a beautiful little island (Kangaroo island, full of adorable wallabies) not far from the Adelaide coastline.
Yeah that's crazy weather in a cold area like Buffalo
You and I could have an act. I'd be Speak Softly and you'd be Carry a Big Stick. Because it juxtaposes with what you've written, here's a draft of what's I'm posting Tuesday:
We are this family. Caring is there. It’s built in. You see it in tragedies. It's the feeling to bring to the surface now. We are in a tragedy. It’s like a Shakespearean drama: Humanity Emerging. Never in a straight line. Situation critical now. We have tacked so far that it may be too far. All hands needed on deck to propel us as far to the good as we’ve gone to the bad. Humanity realized. The family of humanity.
We live in a giant idea. Are sinners or saints in charge? There are TV shows now that replicate pioneer days. People living like pioneers for stretches of time. In the all-the-world’s-a-stage perspective, we are at a peak in our drama where it will turn to tragedy and we will be gone, or to triumph that's framed to show on TV in the beautiful world we will have created if the idea about being a family prevailed.
Humanity needs a purpose. It could be to be together and restoring a lost sense of well-being. Humbled by not having served the greater good with our self-serving ideology, now committed to a new Earth, cherished and tended, enveloped by the idea that altruism is our destiny, this could be how things turn out.
You're right. Similar message in a completely different voice. I don't know for certain what kind of voice can best motivate people. Even those I met on No Kings Day earlier this summer seemed to be unaware of the dire circumstances of the planet.
We needed courageous presidential leadership and a vision away from capitalism. Even the brightest of my lifetime, Obama, failed that test miserably. It's up to the people now.
It's so puzzling there's been no leadership. It's unwieldy in such a big world for it to be up to the people. But it seems that is so. Let's see what Jane Fonda will achieve with Hollywood signing on, and what the army brass, God knows, might mutiny over, plus the fallout from the details being revealed about Trump's dementia, to add to what's still on the scandal table.
The leadership has been bought (we can easily see the money on OpenSecrets.org for as long as it exists) and Democrats have taken bad advice from lifetime lobbyist advisors to tack right. This alienated their working class base enabling disingenuous Republicans to pretend to be populist. Rupert Murdock's influence in this situation cannot be underestimated. I also firmly believe in term limits and laws governing the revolving door of lobbyists, politicians and high-powered corporate positions. The system is closed to the average person. Campaign finance needs to be reformed, and the electoral college needs to go. None of this will ever happen. Now we have to beat back fascism.
For leadership, I'm not talking about elected officials but among the rest of us. Like at last Jane Fonda is starting something. I'm not looking to getting Democrats to do anything, certainly not to wait till the next election for making advances. It's up to we-the-people, and isnt that a challenge since we aren't organized? That's where I come in, with ideas.
You have it right. The oligarchs see us as surplus population, just one shade away from "useless eaters." And the more quickly they get us off the books, the better.
Amusing how billionaires don't understand they are the biggest eaters of all. Either that or they think their "brilliance" that has destroyed the planet gives them the right to decide life and death.
Congratulations on a great article. You didn't miss one important point.
Bravo!
Thank you, Toma, a little encouragement goes a long way.
Your welcome. It's the most (or least ) I can do. Keep at it.
Fantastic piece, Geoffrey, maybe the best I’ve read from you so far. Keep shining. We need you.
Thank you, Walt. It's been discouraging lately, but I'll keep going.
It would be fabulous if possible, for your articles to be converted to audio? I love your pieces, but literally have no time to sit and read. I’m very active/busy so usually listen to podcasts and audiobooks. I think this would lead to a much bigger readership and following if at all possible. Thanks for all that you do.
Thank you, Jo! I'll consider the suggestion. Like you and almost everyone, time is a thing. Simply making an audio version of my work shouldn't be a big deal, but I could see myself making it one (perfectionist tendencies and always being shocked by the actual sound of my own voice compared to what I hear in my head, lol).
“We’re not above creation, but a deeply interwoven part of it.” How much time do you want to spend thinking about that part? Or should it wait till after we solve all these policy problems?
That part is worth spending more time on. Without fundamental philosophical change we'll never solve policy problems.
Kuhn argued that only a mature science could give rise to a paradigm shift. Paradigm shift is well underway now and has been developing throughout the 20th century, exemplified by cybernetics. The paradigm shift is underwriting artificial intelligence and represents a basic leap in the nature of knowledge to include perceptual mechanics. Artificial intelligence is not the paradigm shift. It represents the end state of the mature science of mathematics begun in 1543 with Copernicus. Rather, the shift is biomemetic: it is powered by an understanding of the complex nature of living systems. A formative synthesis has been attained in this new paradigm. This takes the form of a radical new model of life. Extending this model into perceptual shift and consciousness change is what should interest us.
Perhaps our current science is at an end state with AI, something to give thought to. Certainly, we need some sort of fundamental shift in what much science is used for. Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should. We have improved greatly at understanding of the complex nature of living systems, but much science has been hijacked for profit rather than the sake of deeper understanding and wise decision-making. It seems to me making a core shift needs to start in the earliest years of our education and embody philosophy and history as well. Wise science needs other inputs, and the general populace led to believe infinite consumption is possible and desirable needs to be replaced.
Making a core shift needs to happen right now for each one of us. It is something to plan or implement as policy. It is something that we do and is in a way as simple as petting a dog. On the other side of the intellect in the brain is the cerebellum, our animal intelligence. It is fully charged and ready to go. It is just a matter of attention and depth. My work is focused on the anatomy and embodiment practices and things like that that can help us to unpack it. But the resources are almost infinite and readily available to us here in our home on this planet.
I am in favor of individual core shifts. I think living minimally is better for most in myriad ways, but the brainwashing to consume is relentless. Degrowth calls for an end to advertising. Of course, we need much more than that a profound change in values reflected in raising our children and education.
Unfortunately, changing our individual behavior is not enough. Big polluters need to be brought under control and new oil projects halted.
Did you completely not understand what I said?
More than our votes, American politicians from both parties covet money donations from AIPAC. Worse yet, they fear AIPAC supporting primary candidates against them and then, even if you are a Democrat, they will support the GOP against you in an election. This is their punishment for not supporting Israel in anything and everything it wishes to perpetrate against its neighbors. This blind loyalty by the U.S. started following the Israeli false-flag attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, when they tried to sink our ship, killing 34 and wounding 171 in the process. We then helped them cover it up, completely repairing the ship and silencing witnesses with threats of military justice for speaking out. We even had the temerity to ask Israel if it minded if we honored the ship's captain with the Medal of Honor. Imagine asking your attacker if they would be offended if we honored the man that saved the ship?
Israel was our foothold in the oil rich Middle East. Certainly, I am sympathetic to the holocaust of Jews in WWII, and they needed a place to go. It didn't need to be Palestine, based on claims 3000 years old, though. I think it's important to differentiate between Jews and Zionists the same way we must differentiate between whites and the Ku Klux Klan, and now sadly Christian Nationalists.
AIPAC is an enormous problem as are dollars buying politicians from the oil industry.
False flag events are a constant in US history. The Gulf of Tonkin "incident" and excuses for annexing Texas and Hawaii under the morally bereft concept of Manifest Destiny are further examples. Banana Republic CIA driven wars and neocapitalist forays into South America as well.
Both parties are corrupt, neither will save us. They operate outside the bounds of reality.
Reality is we have destroyed a viable planet to live on, and continue to do so.
Trump and cohorts are merely hastening now inevitable collapse. Enjoy every decent day you can while some of us can still have them.
If you have the time and the inclination, read, "Operation Cyanide" by Peter Hounam, a British author who dedicated 2 years of research to his book. I believe it is out of print now and I found in archive.org by searching the title. I flew helicopter evacuation to the ship the following morning. What you may find interesting is that Hounam makes a very strong case that LBJ and Israel cooked up the attack to give LBJ an excuse to nuke Cairo as he detested Nasser and also as an excuse to get us into that war. I can tell you that my carrier, the USS America as well as the USS Saratoga, launched nuclear armed attack (offensive) aircraft which were called back when 6 minutes from Cairo (while the ship was still under attack by the Israelis). Interestingly, Hounam interviewed a U.S. Air Force pilot who told him he and his crew (and other crews) were rousted out of bed at 4 AM at a base in Northern California. He was the pilot of an attack bomber that carried nuclear bombs and that there were sealed orders waiting in the cockpit. This was suspicious as 4 AM West Coast time was one hour before the attack on the USS Liberty commenced. The docuseries that explains it thoroughly is "Sacrificing Liberty," available on-line.
Thank you for the recommendation. I appreciate it when readers give me new avenues to consider. Investigative journalism is critical to fight dark forces. Sorry your life got swept up in that awful war.
My time for additional reading is limited, but I'll make a point of checking the book out. History predicts the future.
“Were it not for the discovery of fossil fuels, perhaps the predicament we’ve created could have been avoided.”
I think you overlook slavery. Most of us would be slaves now, were it not for machines.
(That’s not to suggest that slavery doesn’t still exist, or that our use of machines is overdone and often destructive. But my remark still stands.)
Slavery is alive and well, widespread, and virtually undiscussed. Sex slavery is particularly revolting. It's deserving of an essay of its own, not the subject of this one.
In a sense, we are all slaves to a system that as destroyed the planet and each other.
Those at the top of the food chain don't see it or don't care.
The majority of Americans may not be slaves, but basically work lives of indentured servitude, multiple jobs with no benefits. Look at all the seniors stocking grocery store shelves, unable to retire.
Regardless of political system, the consumption eating the planet and our souls will end. Do we want that to happen in a controlled way that protects as many as possible or do we want the planet to call the shots?
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Chattel slaves, then, if you prefer. We’d all be chattel slaves.
Nothing in what I said denies your point, and nothing in what you said denies what I said.
A synthesis has been reached. There is a new model of life. Science will continue and AI will continue to have tremendous impact. There’s nothing you can do about it. You have to choose what to focus on: technology in the world or philosophy in the self. Like most people you tend to focus outward it seems. However we now have a new horizon focusing inward. It is nascent but very hopeful. Aren’t you at least curious?
AI is built on blatant intellectual property theft. It's also rife with western capitalist bias. It is not honest, and only as good as the algorithm determined by human foibles. Grok, Musk and Nazis, anyone? It's already being used for disinformation and endangering human creativity and jobs.
I have only written one article on it dealing with its egregious water and energy demands which in the face of the energy and climate that's rapidly becoming worse, is blindly stupid, the hubristic product of never sated billionaires.
I have dozens of organized folders on the subject, so yes, curious and researched. It's another nail in the coffin on multiple levels.
https://geoffreydeihl.substack.com/p/artificial-intelligence-is-hot
True dat, Birdseye.
As it seems that people treat other people...the same way that they feel about themselves.
Focusing inward reflectively turns outward.