Nano & Nature

Saving the Earth - a system problem or not?

Hi,
I often think about our effect on Nature and wonder if The World will survive long enough for us to fix it. We are in a fast moving time frame that is accelerating like a rocket. Forty years ago we could have changed things if we had known what to do, but now we are under the gun of advancing technology, changing economics, fragile friendships with other countries and a political system that elects politicians instead of statesmen. We need a lot of things done differently than they have been done in the past.

Many philosophies advocate changing the individual to fix the system. I feel more comfortable on the side that wants to understand the system before making changes to anything. But if you think you understand the system, you then need to apply your force to the most effective lever. That hardly seems like the individual. It would involve individuals, but unless you know what the force is attempting to do, and how it will affect the overall picture, then I think you have little choice but to apply your force in the bigger context rather than the smaller.

I have nothing against good behavior of the individual. We all should try our best to do our best. But if that is all you have to work with, then you are trying to make changes by brute force. That is, convert the population by twisting one arm - I mean one mind - at a time. A very hard road to travel. And in history, not a very effective one.

On the other hand, by understanding the system, you find the individual who controls a subsystem and you twist his/her arm/mind. Or pay them, or shame them or anything else that will change their view of what is most desirable. People always choose to do the most desirable thing they see to do. That's not a play on words. Everything you see someone do, they did because it seemed like the best thing to do at the time. Our job is to figure out what determines that "best thing" and apply our available force to affect that, not the individual who makes a predictable decision.

In history, force has most often been used to change the best thing in our minds from "stealing bread" to "avoiding chains or the noose". Even those highly motivating forces could not always win the struggle.

So, what? This is the best argument for carefully selecting your elected officials. They are the most obvious individuals who can affect a large population. Too bad the election process is not giving us people trained to make good decisions on something other than their own political future.

---