Eudaimon ꙮ"Can We Escape Our Predicament?" - The Honest Sorcerer
https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/can-we-escape-our-predicament
> «Long time readers, and those who follow the excellent blog of Erik Michaels, need not to be introduced to the idea of a *predicament*. Generally speaking while problems have solutions (and thus can be eliminated), predicaments only have outcomes, and by definition cannot be solved. Our double bind with civilization is a classic example. Because what is civilization? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary it is “a relatively high level of cultural and technological development”, where “technology” refers to “the practical application of knowledge”. Think: agriculture, pottery, writing, construction, metallurgy, but most importantly: the harnessing of energy flows to power all these activities. Earlier, this meant wood or food calories from grains for humans and grass for draft animals, later, fossil fuels. Take technology (as defined above) away, and what remains is culture — myths, heroes, legends, poems, music etc. — all of which is very important, but not enough to build high rise cities, or to feed millions of people. But why is civilization a classic example for a double bind — damned if you do, damned if you don’t? Two reasons: first, it is both a response and a cause to ecological overshoot, and second, it is unsustainable. I know it is a lot in one sentence, so allow me to unpack these two ideas below.»
#HonestSorcerer #Collapse #Civilization #Energy #PeakCivilization
https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/can-we-escape-our-predicament
> «Long time readers, and those who follow the excellent blog of Erik Michaels, need not to be introduced to the idea of a *predicament*. Generally speaking while problems have solutions (and thus can be eliminated), predicaments only have outcomes, and by definition cannot be solved. Our double bind with civilization is a classic example. Because what is civilization? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary it is “a relatively high level of cultural and technological development”, where “technology” refers to “the practical application of knowledge”. Think: agriculture, pottery, writing, construction, metallurgy, but most importantly: the harnessing of energy flows to power all these activities. Earlier, this meant wood or food calories from grains for humans and grass for draft animals, later, fossil fuels. Take technology (as defined above) away, and what remains is culture — myths, heroes, legends, poems, music etc. — all of which is very important, but not enough to build high rise cities, or to feed millions of people. But why is civilization a classic example for a double bind — damned if you do, damned if you don’t? Two reasons: first, it is both a response and a cause to ecological overshoot, and second, it is unsustainable. I know it is a lot in one sentence, so allow me to unpack these two ideas below.»
#HonestSorcerer #Collapse #Civilization #Energy #PeakCivilization
