2020 Climate Solutions: Parasites

Aleksandar Malečić
804 days ago

I guess there are more philanthropic ways for starting a group, but let's face it - we are parasites. Whatever we do on technological and economical level, it won't be enough. We should somehow move to the background and leave nature to heal its wounds and regenerate. We must reduce our global population and activities and start living sustainable lives. We must do it, but it doesn't necessarily mean that we can do it.

Aleksandar Malečić

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Aleksandar Malečić
800 days ago

Once we reach 2020, years 2030, 2040, 2050 will still be in the future. Whatever we do, we can't have a sustainable global society with 10 billion people or more. We still haven't scratched the surface of solving the problem of overpopulation.

Aleksandar Malečić

Aleksandar Malečić
787 days ago

Maybe it's too early to use more radical language in this meshwork. Maybe I should have waited for it to become bigger. On the other hand, maybe it's too late. Anyway, here it goes.

There is a TV show on our national television It's Time for Babies (Vreme je za bebe). When they say "babies", they mean three or more babies. Does this planet really need more Serbs (put your nation instead of "Serbs")?

Our huge global population is unsustainable. This is a simple logical conclusion. We can't accept it and we are supposed to be reasonable. We must move to the background. We should behave like just another animal species. No, we are not just another animal species. We are intelligent. If we leave nature breathe, this move will make us even more intelligent.

Aleksandar Malečić

Aleksandar Malečić
693 days ago

I think that I am religious (one day I am, another day I'm not) and I believe that life and consciousness have a purpose - maybe not theological, but probably teleological. Still, I am not certain that we have one more chance to fix the mess. Biological evolution isn't survival of the fittest - it is survival of the fittest under specific conditions for life (climate changes, diseases). The modern civilization was more or less functional under very specific conditions. We can discuss about caterpillars and butterflies, metasystem transitions, tipping points and teleology - I want to believe in these things (when I am in an optimistic mood). But what if the majority of us will really die out (climate change, food, water, peak oil and other peaks...)?

Aleksandar Malečić

Aleksandar Malečić
674 days ago

We live in times of paradoxes. People generally see their religion either as a mere tradition with nothing philosophical behind it or as something that doesn't make sense after all those scientific discoveries. Still, we believe that consciousness makes us special and that we shall, after destruction of nature and climate changes, see the happy ending without too much effort invested from our side. Some animal couples have enormous numbers of babies and only few survive. There is nothing wrong or unjust about it.

Aleksandar Malečić

Aleksandar Malečić
650 days ago

As long as we treat nature, economy and society like machines as machines, we shall have problems, especially if we do it selectively (treating eternal growths of economy and population like holy cows). Nature gives birth, growth and death. We can make our machines and technologies stronger, faster and more "intelligent", but their complexity will never outgrow nature with its actions and reactions, processes and interconnectedness. If our species is really wise, it will slowly move to the background. If nature can't regenerate after our activities, problems can only be delayed and not solved. We can't use machines to control entropy, can we?

Aleksandar Malečić

Aleksandar Malečić
606 days ago

Were your parents drinking bottled water when they were old like you are now? Were your grandchildren? Will any bottled water be left for your children (perhaps already born) and grandchildren? We'll look to our offspring very stupid (or at least ignorant), don't you think so?

James Lovelock is very pessimistic (or realistic) about our future. I shall not mention the details here, but it's a disgusting projection of this planet's future. Sometimes members of this meshwork (I exchange messages now and then) claim that my tone is occasionally unpleasant. I apologize if this is sometimes really the case. My intents are to do my best for success of this meshwork. I shall not be able to live peacefully in a world with a half of human population dying of thirst, hunger, and floods. My tone will not be only unpleasant, but I shall also start roaring and biting.

Aleksandar Malečić

Aleksandar Malečić
596 days ago

I am an open system. You are an open system. Every living being is an open system. Open systems are alive. They bring order to this world. Things are closed systems. They bring disorder (entropy) to this world. Destroyed ecosystems and new things replacing old things bring disorder. Our planet used to be an oasis of order.

Aleksandar Malečić

Aleksandar Malečić
588 days ago

There was nothing or unjust in disappearance of dinosaurs or other animals. It just happened. They were not capable to survive new circumstances. Are we, overpopulated and unsustainable as we are, going head-first into a new disaster? We think that we are intelligent.

Aleksandar Malečić

Aleksandar Malečić
582 days ago

How much tobacco or marijuana is needed for all those billions of people? How long will the environment tolerate our consumerism and habits? Which habits should be globalized?

Aleksandar Malečić

Aleksandar Malečić
538 days ago

Alpha males, survival of the fittest, hierarchy, herd mentality and instincts worked fine all these years for different animal species. How do they fit with human consciousness and absolute power over the environment? This kind of biological experiment is very new. Alpha males are strong and aggressive. Who is the fittest in ever changing circumstances? Who should be on the top of hierarchy? What should be done when money and profit, as the strongest bond left within the herd (community) is in crisis? Which instinct is more useful in global proportions - empathy or selfishness?