As far as it goes, absolutely true (IMO). I'm interested in conflicting opinions, however.
Udhay http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2014/10/the-real-existential-threat.html Monday, 13 October 2014 The Real Existential Threat What is the biggest threat to the world as we know it? Answers range from climate change to peak energy to a pandemic... None of those matter. They are all exogenous events. Challenges to be overcome. The only real threat is a corrupt decision making system. Simply, if our human built systems can't make good decisions, our system will collapse. It's that simple. The reason is based on what makes humanity different than all other forms of life. All other forms of life adapt through biological information exchange. That means their improvement and future adaptation, as both individuals and as groups, is limited to the number of changes made to the DNA they pass on to future generations. Humanity is different. We evolve socially rather than through biological processes. Looked at from another perspective --> a human being without social information derived from millenia of experiences and adapatation is simply a smart animal. The human built systems we build to pass on this information is what makes us different. It's also the key to out future survival. Why? These human built systems aren't just static information repositories. They're not simply libraries where we store information for future generations. They are decision making systems. They are the systems that allow us to adapt to changing circumstance. The success of these decision making systems are the reason we've been able to populate every corner of this world and why we are still alive today. So far, we've been able to make the right decisions despite the odds being stacked against our future survival. The best example of this is how we've found a way to avoid global thermonuclear war for almost seventy years... despite the presence of tens of thousands of nuclear weapons in US, Russian, and Chinese bunkers as well as numerous provocations to use them. The simple truth is, if our social decision making systems are sound, we'll avoid catastrophe. If not, disaster. The big question we all should be asking: is our decision making system corrupt and if so, can we fix it or not? -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
