@Wet
Why is that? Humility is the single most lacking thing in the world, because it is the single hardest thing to acquire…
The world in all it’s complexity isn’t that simple, not at all.
Yes it is. But simple doesn’t mean easy.
Furthermore, technology already is and most certainly will be solving most global problems.
That’s not at all evident, especially when technology is the cause of climate change which will kill us all eventually.
But how do you expect 11 billion people to be fed without major advancements in agriculture?
By sharing. For example, I live in Guatemala and know many extraordinarily poor communities who have had their villages and crops burned down because someone wants to build a dam or cut down forests. There’s more than enough space and resources to go around if people would a) share it better and moreover b) reduce what they think they need for a good life - again, humility.
Also, modern agricultural innovations, by and large, are quite destructive to our soil and environment. Fortunately there are trends towards a more harmonious regenerative agriculture process that works with nature’s processes to improve soil health, biodiversity, AND yields. No-till is a start, cover-crops (especially specific ones with deep roots that promote microbial life throughout the soil), etc… Less work and less energy inputs as well.
To say nothing of more robust/resilient food systems - as was on full display in the spring (and probably ongoing) when tens of billions of dollars of crops were literally left in fields to waste, animals slaughtered by the barn-full, etc… because there was nowhere to send them.
Asking Africa to practice humility, slowing down their birthrates and eating less? Most certainly not.
It is well demonstrated that birth rates decline as education and living standards increase. That problem is solved as I described above. And in the context of poor people, as demonstrated, the lack of humility is largely on the side of their oppressors - which is the proper term here (though the poor, as humble as they are, suffer from lack of humility as well, as they are breathing humans).
For a holistic understanding there are much, much more variables to consider and put into perspective. Again and again for every problem and for every new constellation of events. The world is a lot more complex than it seems and humans tend to fall into the trap of oversimplifying.
The most crucial thing for anyone to find, is most certainly different for every person at every given moment in time.
Both quite the opposite. There are no new problems - just read something like Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations and you’ll see that people and our problems haven’t changed in the slightest. It is because we overcomplicate things that we suffer.
To take a “PKM” view to all this: Occam’s Razor - make things as simple as possible, but no simpler. Or various formulations of the notion that simplicity is the greatest complexity, and is what any the great scientific theories tend towards - unifications of scattered complexities. Artists do the same. Poets especially.
Fortunately the world is already moving in this direction at a decent pace.
This isn’t even slightly apparent.
I don’t mean to be rude, but for someone who talks of complexity, you really haven’t take a very comprehensive, harmonious, “systems” view at any of the things you’ve said, let alone scratch beyond the surface…
I recommend you check out the various authors that I’ve mentioned, as well as things like regenerative agriculture, systems thinking, etc… There’s no doubt that there’s endless pieces, but they can all fit together quite nicely if we can take a more humble, harmonious approach to it all.
I should also add that none of this means we shouldn’t have ANY new technology - it’ll most certainly be necessary for dealing with many of our problems, such as cleaning oceans, converting waste plastic into useful and durable items, surely innovations in health (though most of our health problems come from ignoring our nature - shit diet, too much stress, no exercise, etc…), etc… But the real source of change will be decidedly un-technological. EF Schumacher, in particular, writes a lot about this. Short and easy, but tremendously insightful, reads. Your name appears to be German, if so, you can probably find copies in his native language, though he was fluent in English so I can’t imagine they’re all that different.
For something even more jarring, consider this eloquent advocation for/defense of indigenous values - people who knew how to live in harmony with the planet.
Or Louis CK’s thoroughly enjoyable take on it.
Finally, George Carlin’s masterclass on all this - the need for humility to live in harmony with a far more powerful nature.
