Another interesting discussion on the ever present "Ship of Fools".
It is a powerful explanatory cultural motif for the world we live in and perhaps becomes more so with each passing day.
At Our World 2.0, we have always tried to focus on positive solutions to the pressing global issues of today. Nonetheless, sometimes the ship of fools comparison seems all too appropriate.
Let me give you an example. A couple of days back a friend posted on Facebook that world military expenditure in 2012 was equivalent to US$1.7 trillion and yet the annual costs of eradicating poverty would be US$135 billion. This latter figure is taken from a 2005 Millennium Project report estimate that redoubling of official development assistance to US$135 billion in 2006, then further rising to US$195 billion, would ensure that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) could be met. In so doing, extreme poverty would be cut in half by 2015 (the end date for the MDGs), and by 2025 it would be substantially eliminated.
At almost the same time as the above post, another Facebook friend shared a graphic from a report that maintains that 0.1% of the world’s population controls US$42 trillion, which is enough to cover climate adaptation costs for the next 250 years. Coincidently, Treehugger published an article calling for the 0.1 percent to form a Billionaire League of Justice working to save the planet.
It is a funny old world isn’t it? Recently, I was impressed by the move in Australia to re-colour weather maps as temperatures continue to rise. According to the Guardian, the temperature forecast for Monday 14 January 2013 was “so unprecedented” (over 52°C) that Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology had to add a new colour to the top of its existing scale on the weather maps, “a suitably incandescent purple”.
It is hilarious, sad and scary at the same time — typifying the foolish state of the world we find ourselves in as we try to adapt to climate change while many are still denying that it is even happening.
Reading the above, do you feel locked into some pretty intractable problems? The most common reaction to this, I would guess, is “Don’t be naive, that’s how the world works, why should you expect something different?” Life is very good on this merry ship for a large number of us, myself included (and I am thankful). There are more than enough positive things to keep us preoccupied and entertained so we may never have to feel concerned or uneasy.
This leads some, like John Mason over at Skeptical Science, to talk about the Great Disconnect. He argues that “a lot of people understand neither the environment nor its vital importance to our continued wellbeing. In the disconnected world, food really does come from the supermarket — in many cases, for the sake of convenience or marketing, processed and packaged beyond recognition. That connectivity between it and the environment is broken, severed.”
He continues by stating that in our current “semi-robotic mode of existence, bombarded with messages that encourage us to consume ever more stuff, we have become part-disconnected from the world out there. How much do we really know of that world and how much do we need to know, and why does that matter?”
Yes, our technology is a marvel. Yes, we have improved the lives of many. Today’s modern civilization is a wonder and brings amazing comfort and benefits. And yet we cannot shake off a 500-year-old angst that we are somehow misguided and foolish.
Please don’t get me wrong. I do believe that brilliant, selfless and creative people are both numerous and actively involved in making this world a better place. However, my point is that we are increasingly recognizing that something is badly amiss. This has led some to conclude that we need a new worldview — a global sextant and an ethical compass. This is captured in a documentary I watched recently with the title “Crossroads: Labor Pains of a New Worldview” by filmmaker Joseph Ohayon.
If you have an hour to spare, it is really worth your time to watch this film. It challenges our assumptions of who we really are and why we do what we do.
But more importantly, the film argues that it is time to shift to a new integrated worldview, to reevaluate everything, to set a new destination for this ship we find ourselves on to a sustainable and more equitable world, to select better pilots to help us navigate and to aim for the future we have charted, rather than one we may stumble upon.
Throughout our history, Karl Wallinger and many other talented people like him have warned and cajoled us. I guess if we do not do this, if we do not try to read the signs or positively embrace change, then what does that make us? https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/ship-of-fools-save-me-from-tomorrow
I remember when he did that press briefing. And I thought to myself how very "Rumsfeldian" that muse was. I was Dan Searle's airplane mechanic when Rumsfeld ran G.D. Searle.
Rumsfeld adopted Dan's airplane and flew it pretty much as his own and was quite deliberate in keeping the unknowns unknown from us and even Dan Searle himself. He'd park the plane and come stomping into the hanger and say something like "Change the Flummox Valve!" and we would say, "What's it doing sir? What are the issues you're having?"
Rumsfeld would stand there and just look like a volcano about to blow and then say "I SAID CHANGE THE G. D. FLUMMOX VALVE!!
Dan might come in later and question why we had done the work and we would say that Mr. Rumsfeld told us to, and Dan would just leave it at that. There would be no more questions...
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