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Human beings struggle to find solutions to long-term problems
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In reviewing the state of human affairs, most of our civilized earthlings instinctively sing the praises of modern living standards, notably the growing material affluence and digital connection.
Only a thoughtful minority notice how people today are steadily divorced from any sense of nature and history, and deplore the obsession for unnecessary comforts and convenience that have been achieved by ravaging the nature and dishonoring other species.
The unqualified celebration of human progress 鈥 or greed 鈥 can only be conceived of monumental ignorance, or blindness to, the growing threats to the survival of our children on this planet we arrogantly call 鈥渙urs.鈥
Rebecca D. Costa, in her book 鈥淭he Watchman鈥檚 Rattle: A Radical New Theory of Collapse,鈥 says the problems facing us are outstripping the adaptive and cognitive power of the human race in general.
She points out that our society鈥檚 rapidly snowballing complexity prevents us from fully grasping the challenges facing us.
The writer offers a unique explanation in light of the evolutionary principle, asserting that humankind鈥檚 basic problem-solving apparatus 鈥 the brain 鈥 is unable to deal with the radical changes taking place in modern society.
As a consequence, people still respond effectively to immediate problems around them, but that same efficiency contrasts sharply with human incompetence while addressing long-term issues, such as climate change.
In meeting such threats, 鈥渨e are simply dogpaddling against the powerful undertow of our cognitive limitations,鈥 says Costa.
Insight on demand
The biggest problems in our society are systemic, but people lack the capacity, and resources, to address them systemically.
It can be seen that for any national government 鈥 whether underdeveloped, developing, or developed 鈥 the overriding priority today is to have more stuff produced, or consumed, or both, with virtually little consideration of its social impact.
We have evolved into a species superbly adept at administering to our own comforts and convenience. It eludes many that this persistent drumbeat for more speed and growth is incompatible with our long-term welfare if we are far-sighted enough to factor in survival of our progeny in conceiving our welfare.
Such warning simply goes unheeded.
Costa blames this alarming perceptual inadequacy on the lack of insight, a by-product of the evolutionary process that developed intelligence.
鈥淲e stand at the edge of making the most important discovery since humans became mammals, forged social groups and discovered two-legged locomotion: insight-on-demand,鈥 writes Costa.
Insight occurs when the mind finds a fresh solution by escaping analysis and synthesis to fashion new links.
Costa claims that the brain fashioned out new neural circuits in response to the fresh sensory challenges that cropped up with being bipedal and forming larger social units.
Humanity must make similar advances as modern complexity overcomes the brain鈥檚 mastery.
Unfortunately, we seem ill-prepared for this demand.
As the complexity of daily life increases, people take comfort in a herd mentality which is rooted in mankind鈥檚 survival instincts. In our failure to tackle the growing complexity around us, we become excellent imitators, emulating painstakingly what our neighbors do in all aspects of life.
Take the recent fluctuations in the Chinese stock market. The epic market boom has coopted nearly every conceivable segment of the population in 鈥渟tir-frying stocks鈥 that have become a national obsession.
The steady flow of new money into the market took indices from one high to the next, until it headed south abruptly a couple of weeks ago.
Many people may have had a foreboding of this day of reckoning, for such exuberance could not be sustained by fundamentals.
Naturally only a tiny minority managed to escape unscathed. There seem to be safety in numbers. The herd mentality is embedded in human psyche.
Change-blocking structures
Costa singles out five faith-based, group-think structures to show how they block changes:
1. Irrational Opposition: voices that oppose everything now drown out voices that advocate solutions.
As the author observes, 鈥淚rrational opposition occurs when the act of rejecting, criticizing, suppressing, ignoring, misrepresenting, marginalizing and resisting rational solutions becomes the accepted norm.鈥
2. The Personalization of Blame: Retribution may feel good, but it does not solve problems. This insidious supermeme (fragments of widely credited information that older generation pass down) fueled the misleading idea that society needed sterner adherence to personal excellence.
3. Counterfeit Correlation: The overload of data today makes it easier for fiction to masquerade as fact.
As Costa observes, 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 yet developed efficient processes for thinking about and working on systemic issues. So, rather than become paralyzed by complexity, we are drawn to simpler explanations, beliefs and behaviors.鈥
4. Silo Thinking: This leads people to maintain warring fiefdoms instead of solving problems with collaboration.
鈥淭he more fortified and numerous silos become, the further humankind strays from a unified, systemic approach to our greatest threats,鈥 Costa argues.
5. Extreme Economists: They view profit as the only measure of success. As the author asserts, 鈥淚n the 21st century, profitability has become the most powerful barometer of legitimacy.鈥
To surmount our cognitive roadblocks, we need to renew our demands for facts, foster free research and investigative journalism.
For this to happen, the pursuit of knowledge should tramp the pursuit of money and convenience.
Only then may we be able to restore our capacity for insight, and rediscover the balance needed for us to thrive.
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