Humans are now ‘smart but dumb’

ABC Television recently aired a two-hour special called “Earth 2100” on the difficulties we will face over the next 75 years if we don’t alter the course of grim near-future probabilities. All we have to do to ensure this future is to continue resisting change on the personal level, resisting sacrifice, resisting dialog that might lead to change, which might alter the course of our otherwise dark destiny.

I’m tired of dark destinies. I’m tired of people avoiding conversations that might become “too depressing.” I’m tired of people believing they’re doing “all they can” by avoiding dialog, and shopping, spending and consuming — the hobby of the apocalypse.
We really do need all the intelligence fearlessly engaged. We need everyone to give up the craving for novelty and luxury and exotic commodities. We need to stop supporting factories and industry in this way.

Sadly, it seems, humans — the most intelligent animal — have moved into the “smart but dumb” syndrome and are contentedly residing there. If that is where people are comfortable existing, we should a least quit pretending a bright future awaits us and prepare for the crash to end all crashes. But somehow I don’t imagine we will prepare for that either. There’s a chance we have exhausted all human regenerative potential, all extreme courage and all hope. And maybe the ABC special was not a prediction but a promise.