Thinking for a Change
The dilemmas facing humanity have become so complex they can only be resolved by comprehending our situation from a higher level of collective consciousness: stepping into new epistemologies and reviewing the human condition through a range of alternative ontological lenses. If we are able to achieve such a leap we might be able to forge a different evolutionary path to the one we have recently pursued with such self-interest and short-sighted enthusiasm. Right now is the most opportune moment in our history for this inquiry given that we are at a juncture between the collapse of the old world order and the rise of the new.
Existential threats are converging and we ignore them at our peril. Disruptions to the way planet Earth works, particularly those induced by the ingrained habits of almost eight billion people all aspiring to greater levels of affluence, can no longer be ignored. At some stage myths must give way to truths if disaster is to be averted.
As Paul Gilding pointed out so eloquently in his book The Great Disruption there is plenty to be positive about. But only if we think differently and more deeply about our species, and are able to rise above beliefs and practices that are a massive impediment to genuine advancement.
Three priorities have surfaced from the fog of scientific evidence, propaganda, and sheer mischief, surrounding issues like the cancer of climate change. First, policies aimed at putting an end to unsustainable activities must be scaled up. Second, smart technologies must be applied to the underlying causes of our problems rather than to their symptoms. Third, we must reframe our reasoning to embody entirely new options for reimagining what we do (that is both socially desirable and economically feasible) and how we go about doing it.
These priorities are relevant for all sectors of society. The time has long since passed when business could mind its own business, or when governments can keep patching up their mistakes with impunity. Many of the institutions and practices conceived within the 19th century model of industrial economism, a model that initially brought such affluence to so many, appear now to be steering us down a path to ruin. They have become so endemically corrupt and inward looking that they are automatically neutralizing any attempt at reform. I’m aware that it’s impossible to prove such an hypothesis. But nor should we wait for the last scrap of irrefutable evidence before we take action. That action must now come from the grassroots of society as those we installed as leaders have proved themselves incapable of leading. They have no shame and no solutions.
Within the context of the nexus between nature and our manufactured normalcy there are many alternatives available to us, ranging from cleaner, adaptive industries and smarter benign practices, to fewer toxic raw materials and biomimicry as a model for organizing and innovating. Most of these alternatives are actually preferable to the current models. However we need to let go of old prejudices and fears that the future will inevitably be worse than the past if such options are to be implemented quickly. This is the prime lesson informing Gilding’s thesis.
All of which is easier said than done of course. Tackling any one of these imperatives would be difficult enough. Finding ways to adopt all three simultaneously presents a formidable challenge, not least because the customary ways for administering human affairs keeps shifting responsibilities to others. Deliberately reframing our thinking to escape the gravitational pull of the past will demand an expansive emancipation of mind, liberation from obsolete ideologies and dogma, and a collective, progressive and audacious awakening to higher levels of consciousness concerning our shared purpose.
Changing behavioural patterns is relatively easy. We do it all the time. Government policies, corporate marketing and public relations campaigns all effectively play on our sensibilities so as to shape how they want us to behave. But whereas most present-day marketing efforts are commercially orientated, using psychological means to escalate the impulse to spend money - even where prosperity without economic growth would be a more sane goal in current circumstances - we are failing to use those mechanisms to reprogram our thinking to reduce, reuse, and recycle our most precious resources. Clearly much has still to be done even in that regard. Changing our underlying beliefs is far more difficult.
Ultimately though, permanent behavioural change can only stem from the deliberate structural redesign of our most life-critical systems – particularly those in which human beings interface with nature and with each other. It is often forgotten that all systems are perfectly designed to get the results they get. That is why natural systems remain so resilient.
The problem is that we have neglected to design our social and political systems to consciously evolve. We are, quite literally, trapped in the past - held down by its ‘gravitational’ force. That is precisely why our reasoning has to change. In effect we must become architects of our own evolution rather than pawns in a game we assume must be controlled by others.
The inevitable transition to cleaner, low-carbon economy, together with the use of smarter, more efficient, decentralized networks that reduce the amount of energy we need, will eventually enable the complete eradication of toxic fuels. At the same time the industries spawned from this transition will generate untold wealth for investors. Designing a sustainable and secure food system capable of providing nourishment for eight billion or more people is desirable, and easily achievable, through regenerative farming techniques. Likewise, re-engineering the fundamentals of the global economy to eradicate waste, promote equity and protect the resources we all share is realistic.
But there is a catch. Before the trapeze artist leaps into space she must first step off the platform on which she is perched. Months and years of practice precede performance. Leaps of consciousness require a 'transcendent' commitment to the new story, with all that entails, expertise in the dynamics of change, and trust in the resilience of support mechanisms, prior to the commencement of activities. Today such knowledge is rare, so devoid of real-time ambient intelligence has our conditioning become.
In terms of systemic design and renewal there are two crucial keys to success. Both rely on our capacity and willingness to reframe our beliefs about what really matters, boldly step into new ways of knowing and being, and openly engage with others in that metamorphosis.
The first key is the capability to imagine and communicate alternative social 'memes' (together with compelling narratives) that supersede more utilitarian intentions – at a minimum encompassing happiness, love and compassion in a healthier balance with material wealth and well-being. This key restores hope and fairness. The second key is the ability to elude the curse of 'knowing' that captures us in an industrial past and will allow us to make significantly different choices about the future. This key unlocks a sense of new possibilities and restores trust.
Unfettering an economy based on value exchange in the context of sufficiency (rather than one of compounding debt in a framework of financial scarcity, for example) could emancipate new forms of enterprise employing many more people than smokestack industries. Using cleaner and more renewable sources of energy to establish industrial ecologies that transform and adapt to a heating planet is far wiser than defending the past in an attempt to protect that which could destroy us. Likewise, accessing peer-to-peer digital media to invite the collective expression of policies and even constitutions (instead of putting our faith in the inconsistent whims of elected representatives) might provide a platform for a far more democratized, empathic society. And so on…
Such strategic choices are possible now because of one of the most fundamental shifts in human history: the emergence of levels of decentralized collaboration - comprising systemic intelligence, strategic foresight, human-centered design and entrepreneurial energy - allowing new ways of being, thinking and doing to be envisaged and, through cooperation and invention, to be attained.
Humanity stands at a crossroads. While collapse is the more likely event today, we can avert disaster if we have a mind to. But only if we learn to transcend obsolete beliefs and fears to engage in deeper conversations that (i) include all salient features of the system we desire to create, (ii) anticipate the intended and unintended consequences of those desires, and (iii) lift the human spirit out of the mire of believing the past cannot be surpassed and that our situation is dire and will only get worse, will we achieve the latter.
When facing a range of complex dilemmas it does us no good to continue to deny the truth. The global outlook is tense. It will become more tense if our gaze remains fixed on past axioms and selfishness. Natural disasters resulting from the climate crisis, food insecurity, geopolitical conflicts, and the collapse of natural systems all seem to herald an end-game in which the extinction of our species is not only conceivable, but entirely likely.
We are witness to cascading failures in nearly all the systems that support life. Family incomes are being squeezed. We try to do more with less. The more politicians focus on trivia, the more irrelevant they become. Simple things seem not to work as well as they once did. We fret about how best to survive the present pandemic, even as we care passionately about the planet and our children’s future. Nor is the media at all useful as a mixture of professed outrage and disinformation compounds fear, and distracts us from knowing where to turn for help.
Yet the solution is in our own hands. Burying our heads in the sand and ignoring reality does not help. Quarantining ourselves from the harsher realities of life, only severs the thread of affiliation and knowledge that could otherwise nourish and sustain us. We cannot isolate ourselves from the truth however hard we might try. In the end it only aggravates our anxieties and leaves us isolated.
Well over a century ago an ambitious geo-engineering project was tried. Responding to a major planetary issue of the time two German scientists, Haber and Bosch, made nitrogen-rich fertilizers available to farmers. Their product significantly increased crop yields - but also the annual amount of nitrogen fixed on land. Unintended outcomes would be catastrophic - yet they remained hidden at first. Human numbers increased exponentially - the benefits of good nutrition paying huge dividends in terms of public health. Now there was an opportunity to generate agribusiness at scale. Forests were felled as vast tracts of land became available for agricultural use. Hedgerows, copses and woodlands, too, were ploughed under to accommodate the new machinery. The cultivation of monocrops soon led to soils becoming degraded. Yields declined unless additional fertilizers, insecticides and fungicides were not used. Eventually insect and bird numbers declined. Entire regions fell victim to desertification. Today this industrial process continues at an even greater frantic rate. Yet still we fail to comprehend that our only hope is in regenerative farming practices along with extensive rewilding.
This parable can be applied to any number of other industries - particularly the mining of fossil fuels. Having created the problem we can either live with it or we can lift our heads to the horizon and initiate structural 2nd-order change.
By participating in the veracity of our predicament we can slowly restore hope while exploring practical pathways into the future. Our starting point is not the changing of a light bulb, adopting a more plant-based diet, buying less, or purchasing a more fuel-efficient car - although these practices could be applied by individuals to lessen their carbon footprint. Ultimately, the renewal of our most life-critical systems begins with a sense of responsibility to each other and to the planet.
Re-envisaging a new purpose for humanity must now become our primary goal. We must think for a change. We must also prepare to step off the platform on which we are still standing. Safety nets not withstanding, we must not simply rely on a forlorn hope that we will get to safety on the other side. This time we need a plan. And we need it now!