Mankind must abandon earth or face extinction

[anandb]

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Mankind must abandon earth or face extinction: Hawking.

Hawking says that our genetic code contains selfish and aggressive instincts which is destroying our environment. Possibly true. I would expect him to say let us try and curb our selfish and aggressive instincts. Instead he seems to suggest that we expand into space (because the earth will become inhabitable) with an implication that we could continue with our destructive abilities in space as well. What kind of advice is this?

Did anyone watch this movie called "The Day the Earth stood still"? Keanu Reeves comes as an alien to Earth and he keeps saying he wants to save Earth. Up to a point the lady doc with whom he is communicating thinks he is out to save Earth but then realizes that he actually wants to save the Earth from humans who are destroying its environment. Chilling but true.

 

[kunjuppu]

anandb,

it probably will happen. another 100 years maybe. but not in our lifetime.

but then, humans have a resiliency to turn back the tide. the thames once 100% polluted, has now fish swimming and all the old inhabitants returning.

the forests are coming back in the nilgiris.

one never knows...

 

[anandb]

I agree, humans have a resiliency to turn back the tide but I doubt if there is an intention to turn it back. I am not trying to be pessimistic here but there should be a sea change in the mindset of individuals, societies, governments and businesses all put together. Firstly the consumer driven growth model has to change to save the environment. Just look at how the electronics industry is damaging the environment. Nothing is repaired anymore. One of the keys in the keyboard stop functioning, you just throw the keyboard and buy a new one. And because new models come in so fast that it feeds the restlessness of the people to own the latest. Plus these products are not at all so durable as in old times that you just have to throw it and buy a new one. So you lock the consumer in one endless spree of buying plus all the worn out, defective products meant to be recycled, anyone's guess how much of it is recycled and how much is dumped into landfills destroying the environment. To add to this misery you now have offshore dump-sites thus polluting the sea as well. Very soon you may find they start dumping garbage in outer space or something. Nothing is impossible anymore.

So if the collective mindset of the human consciousness has to change it's got to come soon and it is not easy.

 

[kunjuppu]

anand,

just today there was an item in the toronto globe that china has ordered closing of over2000 most polluting factories. there is definitely a mindset change in chinese government. that is 1.1 billion people with perhaps the most manufacturing capacity in the world right now.

there is already a huge mindset change in europe.

the usa lags behind and not much will be done as long as unemployment is there, fear of unemployment is there, and gasoline still the cheapest in the developed world.

the rest of the world will fall in line. right now they are not sufficeint polluters.

i am hopeful.

 

[anandb]

I agree. For every polluting factory that is closed down possibly another would spring up. My point is the foundation for these environmental disasters lie in the current business models that are being followed everywhere. When the aim is unbridled profiteering everything else just falls on the wayside. So the core cause is still not addressed.

 

[kunjuppu]

anand,

i think it is 'unbridled growth' and the desire for the benefits of it that might give a good ground for the destruction of the planet. unbridled profiteering is a pleasant side effect.

why do we aspire growth? to pull us out of poverty. except the exalted few, no one, in his right mind embraces poverty. look at our own community. how conveniently, the past 100 years, we have regularly shed what was once the vestiges of brahminism: kudumi, poonal, veshti, vedas, avani avittam, crossing the kaala pani and what else, all for seeking a better life for us and ours.

i do not see anything wrong in that. except that with increasing population, and the growth cycle becoming even more rapid and vicious, to satisfy the billions in china and india - with the whole of africa waiting in line.

eventually the mature societies of the west could afford to reduce their needs, as almost all of them are satisfied. i guess a good sign of that, is their decreasing population, for with prosperity and social sense of security, the need for progeny as a life insurance, fades. albeit gradually.

 

[anandb]

Shri. kunjippu,

I don't think "unbridled profiteering" is a side effect. It is the main cause. Here you are talking about material growth and shedding certain traditions for that. IMO, both can co-exist. There is no need to shed one for another. In other words, kudumi, poonal and veshti are not signs of some barbaric culture (I know you did not put it so intensely) while the material growth we all aspire for is a sign of advanced culture.

Materialism is good to the extent it satisfies the basic needs and lifts people out of property. Beyond that it just becomes a cycle of greed leading to unbridled profiteering i mentioned before and a disaster for the environment. The nature of material needs is such that it can never be satisfied. Just like Light is the absence of Darkness and not opposite to it the solution lies in trying to fill up the inner space with something other than materialism so the material instincts are curbed. It is not easy. It has to come with practice something like meditation and it has to start at least around mid age and embraced by whole societies as a philosophy. There is no point if one section goes around destroying the planet while the other section meditates.