WEDNESDAY, JAN 26, 2022: NOTE TO FILE
Our Problématique
No political solutions
Eric Lee, A-SOCIATED PRESS
TOPICS: ENERGY BLIND, FROM THE WIRES, POSTERITY BLIND, WHAT OVERSHOOT?
Abstract: The term 'problématique' is of modern origin as is our awareness (among a few) that concepts like 'overshoot' and 'carrying capacity' may apply to modern techno-industrialized humans.
COOS BAY (A-P) — The broad definition of problématique as a term is that it is a problem or question referring to global systemic problems. The term was coined by the Club of Rome, 1970, in "The Predicament of Mankind", so "the human predicament" is used interchangeably. The premise is that all problems that matter to humankind's persistence are interrelated, hence solving completely and forever one or even a dozen problems (e.g. climate change, mass extinction) would not significantly affect the trajectory of modern techno-industrial (MTI) society whose systemic problem, its meta-problem, is overshoot, including but not limited to ecological overshoot (e.g. density, complexity, biological, psychological, civilizational overshoot). 'Overshoot' alone references the whole shebang, our problématique.
Subproblems of the global problématique may be called problématiques or wicked problems (e.g. overpopulation, climate change), as their solution (resolutique or solutionatique) depends on solving the meta-problem of overshoot. The New York Times, by the way, has used "ecological overshoot" zero times since 1851, and "climate change" (a politicized distraction from our Anthropocene overshoot event) has been mentioned over 31,000 times (over 12k in last five years, 66 times a week last year). Virtually all humans are ignorant of, unable to think about, the wicked problem (much less its solutionatique) that will end life as they know it (possibly posterity too), and so their proposed solutions (e.g. a Green New Deal, empowering women, a truly free market, a Global Caliphate, true democracy, Green Growth...) to any wicked problem is delusional (based on error, ignorance, and illusion).
Foundational to our inability to understand our problématique, or any wicked subproblem, is that there are no political solutions, i.e. no solution acceptable to the empowered (to any autocrat or We the People), to we Anthropocene enthusiasts all (even if some, like me, are less enthusiastic than others). This is the “Wittgensteinian fly bottle” we have gotten ourselves into as political animals. Any real solution (e.g. rapid degrowth of our population and per capita consumption, ending the MTI monetary society) is unthinkable other than to those who may live through the coming bottleneck event. Posterity may have a different view, may lament our inability to embrace degrowth with enthusiasm, to 'seek out the condition now that will come anyway' [H.T. Odum].
As Ruben Nelson notes: "The main driver of the problématique is the fact that after almost 1,000 years of nurturing our Modern Techno-Industrial (MTI) form of civilization [Civ 3.x industrial societies climaxing in our MTI society] into being, it is becoming clear that in its present form, now utterly unbuffered by past conditions and habits, our MTI form of civilization, at heart, is lethal to life.... Not good news for 10 year olds."
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SUBNOTE TO FILE: 4/17/22
As humanity has a problematique (overshoot), so do individual humans who are products of overcomplex societies (well over 99% of current humans being products of MTI monetary culture/society, now global). The individual's problematique is suffering, which is secondary to various forms of overshoot, e.g. pathologies induced by MTI society on those who serve it and are descendants of those who served it, typically for 8 to 20 generations back.
Each Civ 3.x generation is less like our Civ 2.x predecessors (civilizations based on agriculture-enabled permanent settlements with populations exceeding Dunbar's number of 150). Civ 2.x peoples are in turn multiple generations away from human biology norms where for 375k years humans lived in typically matrilocal bands of 20 to 50 (5 to 85 range) as forager nomads (Civ 1.x) living sustainable lives as the millennia pasted, unlike Civ 2.x or Civ 3.x humans whose overcomplex societies pulse unto overshoot (overdensity, overcomplexity, overconsumption, overproduction, overpopulation, overstressed societies in civilizational overshoot that select for overshooting long-term carrying capacity, whose individuals acquire increasing psycho-social-cognitive pathologies that are then normalized. Citizens lose functional behaviors (a behavioral sink effect), over a multi generation period prior to dissolution (failure to persist). Overcomplex societies fail with or without added ecological overshoot effects as evidenced by the last 10k years of human history and prehistory that modern empire builders celebrate as progress climaxing in MTI global society/empire.
Perhaps 3 to 4 thousand years ago, when the total human population on the planet exceeded 35 million with most living in Civ 2.x empire building overcomplex societies, normal Civ 1.x humans became ever fewer as increasingly invasive latter Civ 2.x humans displaced them with or without assimilation (e.g. by genocide or assimilation of young women and children who must learn/adopt the conqueror's language and culture). The late Civ 2.x became patriarchal empire building cultures (e.g. Indo-Europeans) as they were selected for, but at the cost of denomalizing all who served overcomplex empire building societies (for a time) prior to collapse/dissolution. Early religion (e.g. Buddhism, Taoism, Ch'an and perhaps the teachings of Jesus prior to Paul/Constantine) attempted to understand suffering and renormalize humans to live lives (having a life-driven purpose) without the added suffering induced by acquired pathologies, but success was limited prior to their becoming belief-based doctrines/cognitive pathologies spread by priests/potentates who 'organized' the teachings with a pretense of holiness and mystery mongering to gain followers. Religion with a focus on suffering speaks to individuals and not groups, hence is not organized and so does not traffic in cognitive belief-based pathology, e.g. Xin.
Civ 3.x humans are products of an unsustainable dynamic and will pass away, i.e. go extinct or transition to a Civ 4.x people. Due to our vast loss of function behavior and acquired pathologies, a Civ 4.x society would have to be transitional, likely over an 8 to 20 generation period (200 to 500 years) during which time humans renormalize as environmental restoration occurs (typically minimally over a 500 year period to 10 to 20 million years for new species to evolve to replace lost biodiversity to again maximize system empower/MPP). Perhaps in only 500 years humans could, by intention as Luis Gutierrez notes, become normal animals again, which does not exclude the three Rs nor retaining such memetic information as humanity has acquired (especially over the last 300 years, the flower and fruit of MTI society), and continuing to add to it as the millennia pass, albeit at a slower pace than in the fossil-fueled last 200 years.
Humans could yet evolve into endless memetic forms most beautiful and most wonderful who serve as Earth Guardians who, instead of causing species extinction, could work to shorten the 10-20 million year re-speciation of the planet post-Anthropocene. I don't know of any laws of the universe that would be violated if someday there is a human on the planet that really does understand it enough to live properly with Mother (Gaia, Aluna...) on an abundant Earth (before breakfast I'm an extreme cornucopian optimist).
The inevitable verity is that all 'things' (systems of subsystems) are interconnected and so no problematiques can be solved without solving the problematique of overshoot that, in various forms, was not the norm for 375k years of our ancestor's persistence nor was it so for all prior species who were adaptive and evolvable, able to speciate. We can understand or die. Which shall it be? I don't know enough to have an opinion.
