Sunday, September 28, 2014

The Future of Nature, Part 1

Nature conducts its business without regard to what we think. Does the squirrel in central park care about human misery in Ferguson, Mo? Can the Florida alligator shed a tear over events in Oklahoma City? Of course not. Nature does what it does, it ebbs, it flows, it proceeds in an utterly predictable way. We know that there will be storms, and volcanos, and earthquakes. There have been since before our recording of it, and will be long after we have left this planet (or, more likely, evolved). Further, nature cares nothing about the human condition.

There are a number of things one can observe about nature that are important right now. They have nothing to do with our view of how much carbon dioxide there is in the air, and nor much should there be.These axioms of nature don't depend on some ideal measure of global temperature, high or low, or where the shoreline starts and stops. Sometimes we can't see the trees for the forest. Sometimes we believe that our purpose is grander than it really is.

Consider the mosquito. The mosquito has evolved in such a way that it requires blood from a mammal, which it detects by the exhalation (carbon dioxide, in fact) of the mammal's respiratory system. In return, it dispenses some feedback to the host, in the form of an irritant. The host is thus warned that more stings could be in its future. This warning allows the mammal-host to find an alternate path that is less painful. Does the mammal consider the universe of mosquitoes as a condition to be destroyed? No, it is probably thankful for the gentle warning, and moves along. The mosquito is served by the fact that the host is not completely consumed by a swarm of mosquitoes, and can live to serve some future mosquito. Thus the mosquito and the mammal are both served. It's natural.

Humans are also natural, meaning they are and act as an integral part of nature. Some aspects of nature are made more useful by humans (food, shelter), just as the beaver and the paper wasp will change their environments. All of these creatures, humans included will act in their own self interest. Simply, and powerfully. Humans will do what they do in the effort to improve their living condition, their chances of survival, and their future prosperity. Or stated another way: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. --- Ample evidence that people have been thinking about these things for a very long time...

Sometimes, humans will place some of their independence in the hands of other people, in the hopes that their situation can be improved. It doesn't always work out that way, but when a community appoints a sheriff, and allows him some authority, they at times have a better chance of preserving life, liberty, and happiness. Assuming that arrangement works out for the better, other town officials can be appointed, and so on until finally, there's a mayor, a city council, a water works board, etc. In a generation or so, this is believed to be a normal way to run a society.

In some future generation, this authority invariably takes on a life of its own, and creates a situation that is no longer net positive; however by then it is not possible to unwind it, because the citizens have not prepared for such a change. I believe most of society is thus afflicted.

When power is consolidated it tends to be used in ways not required or desired, and its cabal enacts laws that are not related to the task at hand. Multiply it by 10,000 times, and this is how we get to an overarching federal government, located many miles away, seemingly uninterested in the needs of your community. It's sole purpose since Woodrow Wilson's time is starting and managing wars many many more miles away, having no positive impact on our lives, but taking more and more of its resources for the purpose.

What does a war in a middle east desert do for our lives, our liberties, and our pursuits? Indeed what does Washington do for us at all, that we can't do considerably better for ourselves? And how did we get this way. How did we become so dependent on a faceless entity whose goals are in no way aligned with our own?

It's not natural.


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