Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1016119 Futures 2009 6 Pages PDF
Abstract

To get an idea of where humanity is headed, we must look at the causes of change—the human brain and the inherent rules of group behavior. Our brain evolved to meet the needs of hunting-gathering societies, not the complex civilization we have developed. Today we are ill-suited for the challenges we face, and those who hold power too often lack the mind and integrity needed to use it wisely. Organizations by their very nature often act irrationally. A glance into the future shows where this may lead. The well-to-do shield themselves from deteriorating conditions while the poor suffer. A major catastrophe in a wealthy country that cannot be ignored eventually awakes the affluent to the downward path. They mobilize at last, but it is too late. Forces are in motion that cannot be stopped. Conditions including global warming, mass starvation, and political instability continue to worsen. As global warming has made all but the extreme northern and southern hemispheres uninhabitable, the remaining diminished populations there lose contact with each other. Within each group, aggressive individuals fight to the last person over what is left rather than cooperate to solve problems. Is it inevitable that evolution must over time self-destruct?

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