Back to the city, for a fine run through the woods and a rapid scan of the news sites.
The Guardian has a succinct article about the damaging addiction of consumers and corporations to energy in developed societies (and, by implication, the aspirations to the same addiction in developing societies, like children admiring the cool older people who smoke cigarettes or use other drugs).
The addiction model seems to be a key to understanding a wide range of self-destructive human behaviour - obsessive economic growth, excessive consumption of material goods, food, information - even foreign holidays. All these things seem symptomatic of species dysfunctionality, and an indication that, notwithstanding the cultural and scientific achievements of the last 5000 years, most of us don't know what to do with ourselves when we no longer have to spend our time growing or hunting food, collecting firewood, or fighting off sabre-toothed tigers.
No comments:
Post a Comment