Adonis Diaries

Is Earth exhausted? Is mankind immune to “endangered specie” category?

I attended a local TEDx meeting in Awcar (Lebanon), and two talks, seemingly contradictory, were shown, and a heated intelligent discussion ensued.

Paul Gliding said that mankind is currently consuming 1.5 times what earth can sustain and regenerate naturally, and that by the year 2020, mankind will consume twice what nature is able to naturally deliver. By the year 2050, when mankind has reached 9 billion, the cycle will be irreversible if no serious actions are implemented at a global scale.

The global problems for the ecological disaster (CO2, polluted water sources,…) have been known for 3 decades, but political actions have been delayed and the problems are steadily deteriorating.

Gliding said “EARTH IS FULL and fear should get us acting strongly. It takes a good crisis to get us going. When we feel fear and we fear loss, we are capable of quite extraordinary things”

The other speaker was Peter Diamandis. Peter said: “Creating abundance is not about creating a life of luxury for everybody on this planet; it’s about creating a life of possibility.” Diamandis view is that current technology can feed every single one, cloth every single one of us, cure all kinds of diseases, provide potable water to every one, generate plenty of energy to every one of us. Peter is forecasting that in 2020, 3 billion individuals will be directly connected to internet and sharing knowledge, information, pieces of intelligence, alternative resolutions, new technologies…

Think of this vast network of interaction among people, this powerful force for change among very learned and engaged people…

My reaction is:

1. If current technologies can extend all these feats and miracles, then why a kid die of famine every 7 seconds? Why million die of curable diseases and can be cured with effective 3-decade old antibiotics?  Why epidemics that we thought were eradicated are returning with savage vigor and new antibiotics are helpless to fighting them?

2. If nanotechnology is showing good prospect of cleaning up contaminated soil and water sources, how much scientists know of the long-term effect of nano particles on human and living species?  Didn’t pesticide use follow the same process of heavy applications, only to discover that it is lethaly harming the living species?

The amiant based products, used in insulated product for many generations and labelled the “white gold” in Canada (first producer in the world) harvested million upon million of users in lung cancer before the authorities banned it.  And yet, the current Canadian government is reopening the excavation fields and exporting the product to India …

3. If current technology can recycle polluted water, how much can it recycle for irrigation purposes? And the list is long and stretching in length by the year…

Suppose we have 3 billion well-connected in the internet and sharing ideas, you can bet that 95% of them will never generate any profit for their “ingenious” ideas and will suffer the “trickle-down” effect before they enjoy any relief.

It is the kinds of people in TED, members owning companies, registering their patents, and enforcing the “capitalism patent rights” with the support of their powerful government, and enjoying the necessary funding to executing the ideas that will reap all the benefits…

Those 3 billion well-connected in the internet will not even be able to cross the physical borders to get physically in touch with the potential movers and shakers. If they surmount the indignities and humiliations of obtaining a lousy visa, they’ll have to submit to colon search at airports…And their expenses in the hundred of dollars will not be refunded if visa is denied…

The technology is there.  The insurmountable problem is political in nature.  Thinking global will be much easier to reach, but how acting locally is to be executed?

The main task of the 3 billion well-connected on the internet will be to educate the “most advanced citizens” on what is feasible and possible to activate in their local communities. Otherwise, the “advanced NGO’s” , ignorant of the sociopolitical structures in the third world, will be exporting what they think is most modern, efficient, and promising technologies and methods, and out of context,  for the third world people…

Well-connected internet users must be politically oriented and engaged, and they must read local dailies to pinpoint local difficulties.  Comprehending the multiple interactions of a problem is a first step, and selecting what is possible and feasible is another serious endeavor in order to applying good ideas and methods on the ground.

Most probably, when earth experience cataclysmic periods, it is the third world people who will survive: They have acquired their natural survival kit.  They can share a piece of bread, pick fruits from trees, slaughter a bird, extend help among their small closed-net communities…

On social platforms I read: “What is more efficient for mankind: Fear or hope?” I think this dichotomy is out of the subject matter.  Of course, hope is far more effective is sustaining survival, given that the sociopolitical environment tend toward equitable deals among communities and class structure.  Is it the inequity and blatant discrimination among classes that ruins confidence in development and the re-starting of a sustainable economy.

The issue is not technology or economy, but mainly political in nature. Occupy movement should be kept alive and spread again, with new pragmatic feasible programs that politicians can associate with and promote…

Note: You may read on the Singularity University club of elites https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/projects-to-live-700-years-what-is-singularity-university/