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Comment by rblion | Hacker News Reader

The entire biosphere is in a worrying state. I hope for the best but am preparing for the worst.

Yes, I feel the same way, sometimes I hope I'm just really pessimistic but I wouldn't be surprised if humanity would be the first organism that could predict it's own extinction without actually doing something about it.

We as a collective have the patterns of an addict. Most of us are catching on the idea that something isn't right about our disconnection from nature, our way of life, our sociopathic/exploitative treatment of other organisms. Yet, we can't stop because we have gotten used to this way of life and more people are wanting it because they are tired of being left out. I don't blame them yet I wish I could show them that fulfillment doesn't come from money after a certain basic threshold of health and comfort are achieved.

I don't agree with this assessment. Most of us are not natural born consumers. In fact, excessive consumption is so against human nature that it takes a massive constant propaganda campaign to keep the desire to consume alive. Campaign that costs us about 1% of GDP. It's called marketing.

We, as a civilization, have become this way over time. We didn't enter the Anthropocene overnight, it was a gradual transition fueled by exponential growth on a finite planet.

We can transition back to a simpler way of life, people are already doing that. I've spent a good amount of my youth around 'hippies' and they have been about this since the 60s. Many people in third world countries already live simple lives, I admire Bill Gates for the work he is doing to bring a higher quality of life to them.

You might be interested in what Extinction Rebellion is doing. If they're organizing in your area already, I strongly recommend you go see their "Heading for Extinction" talk in person, but their website covers it pretty well too. Their basic idea is 1) yes we are barreling towards extinction of humans and many other species, 2) nothing anyone has done so far has prevented this acceleration, and 3) non-violent direct action (aka civil disobedience) has the best chance of affecting the quick and drastic changes needed to avert the worst effects of the climate crisis.

https://rebellion.earth/the-truth/the-emergency/

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