“The belief that technology can insulate people from radical systemic change “. That really sums up most people’s response to the obvious environmental breakdown.
Yes - at 1.40 in, Catton describes a useful attitude towards responding to our predicament. Also a useful comment towards the end from Paul Mobbs - "Unless people can accept that their cherished normalcy is over, change will never be able to take place on a sufficiently prompt timeline to avoid the inevitable outcome of ecological overshoot". There remains little evidence that humans can avoid the population collapse at the end of the plague-phase. That we can, now, seems improbable to the point of fantasy. Nonetheless, delusions persist.
You managed to talk about Overshoot without describing overshoot; which for me was the most enlightening part of the book. How humans have managed to achieve overshoot and call it progress and still not see it as a problem - even now. But maybe I missed the deeper meaning.
That's entirely the point (and there is a Wikipedia link to that topic and many others on the web page for this blog!)... The way I read 'Overshoot', it's not about 'overshoot', it's about our reaction to 'overshoot'; and the value of Catton's observations is about the long history of civilisations which have been able to undermine their existence, without seeing it, because of the common psycho-social flaws in the human intellect. As Catton says, the danger right now is not simply that we won't change course -- as 'collapse' is pretty inevitable -- it's that in the short-term humanity will "press the accelerator" and make the situation even worse in an attempt to keep things going (e.g., the 'Green New Deal' with its global metal mining demand). The next book in this miniseries will deal with that. I had thought of doing that first, but after writing this seemed the natural 'Part 2'.
@@TheDoomWizard But no one has a crystal ball, as to the ultimate details, on a timeline of human extinction. It could be there will be an enormous natural culling of naked apes, rather than extinction. Only time will tell.
Thanks for another fantastic video. Among so many billions of content creators, you seem to really communicate something worth learning about. Another book to buy. Although i cant seem to read a whole book anymore, it takes me at least 6 months between doom scrolling. Pretty sure I'm in the misanthrope camp 😂
Everything we dig out of the ground is sold on the free market. The price reflects scarcity. There is no evidence of scarcity as prices remain low and consistent. As prices rise due to scarcity, entrepreneurs seek new and better ideas. This strategy has created a world that has never been safer, healthier or more prosperous than at any time in history, by any measurement you care to examine. If only the fear mongers could think critically.
Very good it's a humdinger of a read! I wonder if you are thinking of doing a similar job on Joe Tainter's "Collapse of Complex Societies". I tried including a link to a piece I did years ago, which tries to compare and contrast them, but the post keeps being deleted when I include the link.
Thanks for the great review. Will definitely try to read it sometime as have been interested in the topic for a good while, but finishing Graeber's "Debt: The first 5000 years" first. Once you start seeing the world of today that people cling to as absolute as nothing but our incredible but naive and conceited species' attempts at organising at a scale never seen before and that it hadn't ever adapted to, you can't see things in the same way again. The perceived normality is incredibly absurd, overly complex and with so many silly little traditions like the worship of bureaucracy. It's truly fascinating to admire from an outside point of view (thank you autism), but also disappointing knowing that often times these purely accepted normalities held by many as a birthright and an over eager willingness to get dependent on new unknown technologies and behaviours sometimes are the greatest barriers to true systemic change.
I've read 'Debt', it's on the shelf, but there's no way you can do a '5-minute' video on that! At best I'd have to take a few chapters at a time in about four or five parts (it had occurred to me!) I'll probably be doing another Graeber shortly.
Total horseshit. Everyone will be dead by 2040 from loss of habitat for homo sapiens. This include habitable ambient temperature for most people on the planet gone. Food supply, freshwater supply, and energy all gone. WE are fossil fuel addicted and I have seen zero tangible progress required to even meet the modest "targets" since we've been issued a code red for humanity in 2020. We're in runaway it's so obvious. Game over. Acceptance is your best mode of operating.
“The belief that technology can insulate people from radical systemic change “.
That really sums up most people’s response to the obvious environmental breakdown.
Except that technology has continued to insulate us from "radical systemic change".
One of the greatest books ever written. Just read the summary on the cover, then go outside and listen to the birdsong while you still can...
Yes - at 1.40 in, Catton describes a useful attitude towards responding to our predicament. Also a useful comment towards the end from Paul Mobbs - "Unless people can accept that their cherished normalcy is over, change will never be able to take place on a sufficiently prompt timeline to avoid the inevitable outcome of ecological overshoot". There remains little evidence that humans can avoid the population collapse at the end of the plague-phase. That we can, now, seems improbable to the point of fantasy. Nonetheless, delusions persist.
Delusion, like compound interest, only exists in the human mind... I blame Descartes! :-(
But the outcomes of delusion are so real. Thank you for a brilliant video. I had lazily assumed that I understood what the book was about until now.
Everyone will be dead by 2040.
You managed to talk about Overshoot without describing overshoot; which for me was the most enlightening part of the book. How humans have managed to achieve overshoot and call it progress and still not see it as a problem - even now. But maybe I missed the deeper meaning.
Everyone will be dead by 2040. I mean how dense are you?
That's entirely the point (and there is a Wikipedia link to that topic and many others on the web page for this blog!)...
The way I read 'Overshoot', it's not about 'overshoot', it's about our reaction to 'overshoot'; and the value of Catton's observations is about the long history of civilisations which have been able to undermine their existence, without seeing it, because of the common psycho-social flaws in the human intellect. As Catton says, the danger right now is not simply that we won't change course -- as 'collapse' is pretty inevitable -- it's that in the short-term humanity will "press the accelerator" and make the situation even worse in an attempt to keep things going (e.g., the 'Green New Deal' with its global metal mining demand).
The next book in this miniseries will deal with that. I had thought of doing that first, but after writing this seemed the natural 'Part 2'.
@@TheDoomWizard But no one has a crystal ball, as to the ultimate details, on a timeline of human extinction. It could be there will be an enormous natural culling of naked apes, rather than extinction. Only time will tell.
Good summary. I got here from the reference of this book by Alan Urban via Paul Beckworth. Small world, Cheers.
Thanks for another fantastic video. Among so many billions of content creators, you seem to really communicate something worth learning about. Another book to buy. Although i cant seem to read a whole book anymore, it takes me at least 6 months between doom scrolling. Pretty sure I'm in the misanthrope camp 😂
Everything we dig out of the ground is sold on the free market. The price reflects scarcity. There is no evidence of scarcity as prices remain low and consistent. As prices rise due to scarcity, entrepreneurs seek new and better ideas. This strategy has created a world that has never been safer, healthier or more prosperous than at any time in history, by any measurement you care to examine. If only the fear mongers could think critically.
Very good it's a humdinger of a read! I wonder if you are thinking of doing a similar job on Joe Tainter's "Collapse of Complex Societies". I tried including a link to a piece I did years ago, which tries to compare and contrast them, but the post keeps being deleted when I include the link.
Well, this is number 2 in a 4-part miniseries... ;-)
Great video. Any love for Derrick Jensen? It would be great to see one his books reviewed.
Thanks for the great review. Will definitely try to read it sometime as have been interested in the topic for a good while, but finishing Graeber's "Debt: The first 5000 years" first.
Once you start seeing the world of today that people cling to as absolute as nothing but our incredible but naive and conceited species' attempts at organising at a scale never seen before and that it hadn't ever adapted to, you can't see things in the same way again. The perceived normality is incredibly absurd, overly complex and with so many silly little traditions like the worship of bureaucracy.
It's truly fascinating to admire from an outside point of view (thank you autism), but also disappointing knowing that often times these purely accepted normalities held by many as a birthright and an over eager willingness to get dependent on new unknown technologies and behaviours sometimes are the greatest barriers to true systemic change.
I've read 'Debt', it's on the shelf, but there's no way you can do a '5-minute' video on that! At best I'd have to take a few chapters at a time in about four or five parts (it had occurred to me!)
I'll probably be doing another Graeber shortly.
We ain't gonna solve it.
That's right. It's bigger than us, and the titanic forces of nature will eventually demonstrate it.
It’ll be solved on its own accord.
Fantastic summary. 👏 I’d love to hear you debate Elon Musk’s latest dumb tweet about population decline being worse than climate collapse. 🙏🌍🌱
Total horseshit. Everyone will be dead by 2040 from loss of habitat for homo sapiens. This include habitable ambient temperature for most people on the planet gone. Food supply, freshwater supply, and energy all gone. WE are fossil fuel addicted and I have seen zero tangible progress required to even meet the modest "targets" since we've been issued a code red for humanity in 2020. We're in runaway it's so obvious. Game over. Acceptance is your best mode of operating.
@@TheDoomWizard "On a long enough time-line everyone's chances of survival reduce to zero". ;-)
Whats your opinion on Dr. Kasczyinski's work?
I just looked on eBay for the book, its not available 😢
Where are you Paul? Hope you are ok?