Mastodawn

Ewen Bell 📸Oct 25

Those stories about tech bros and their race to put humans on other planets or live in space, and they frame these massive strokes of ego as somehow benefiting the entire human race.

The vast majority of people on earth are trying to escape poverty, not gravity.

There will never be millions of humans living off the planet.

Humans are pushing the limits of finite resources on Earth. Partly due to the scale of population, and partly due to the excess consumption of a small fraction of us. What humans repeatedly fail to do is equitably share the resources we have. We are greedy and self-absorbed.

Flinging a few million humans into space where they are utterly dependant on resources from down below hardly seems like an equitable or sustainable scenario.

Ewen Bell 📸Oct 25

Tech Bros don't do equitable. They don't do sustainable.

They don't look at the Earth and see a fragile home that we need to care for. They don't look at humanity and see a complex cocktail of emotions and evolution. They don't see technology as a tool for advancing humanity, they see it as a tool for advancing their wealth.

What does help humans? Books. Vaccines. Homes. Communities. Stuff like that helps humans.

Ewen Bell 📸Oct 25

I thought I was done, but I am not done.

We are living through a moment in history bejewelled with such incredible technological achievements, the likes of which we could not have hoped for in my lifetime. And we are squandering it all.

There are scientists today who have worked out how to record gravitational waves that are smaller in length than a fraction of a proton. We have actual cures for a vast number of cancers that were once certain to kill us. We have vaccines that prevent suffering and death. We have built airliners that can lift 500 tonnes into the air and fly from one continent to another, and land themselves on arrival.

And the science that brought you all this is now the enemy of the American govt. It's the enemy of religious nutters and anti-vax influencer moms who think their feels are more valid than hundreds of years of scientific process.

All this happened because we live in a society that forces people to compete with each other for limited resources, instead of working together to enrich our lives. We are told to be more productive, instead of more caring. We are in a race to survive, to better the person in the next cubicle. It's hunger games, but we get to vote for who punishes us.

The reason we see so many bad govts all over the world is because we have been taught to be selfish instead of kind.

Humans have become their own disease.

Ewen Bell 📸Oct 29

It's been a few days since this thread. Found myself responding to a toot today reflecting on the inequities of society, and two reasons we might want for something better.

Wanted to attach that to this thread...
https://social.ewenbell.com/notice/AzgShj5rxpvL0qF9UG

Ewen Bell 📸 (@[email protected])

@Susan60 @IndyMediaAus I was thinking about this yesterday, while catching a taxi. The car was a wreck. You don't see cars in that state so much these days. The fella was a gentle driver, not a...

@ewen Love this: "If everyone gets a decent crack at sharing the benefits of a wealthy and healthy society then I end up with a better society to live in. It's essentially selfish to want a more equitable distribution of wealth and opportunity. I want a society with happy taxi drivers, less crime, less suffering, less hatred."

Thanks Ewen

Ewen Bell 📸Oct 29

@carusb

Humans get so caught up in wanting to be better than someone else, we forget that the only way we ever do better is by being part of something bigger than just ourselves.

GutterPoetry Oct 26

I completely agree and have also been dealing with waves of despair and disbelief for decades. How can this be true? We created the climate crisis and have done very little to try to fix it? The obscenely wealthy have destroyed democracy? We trashed the planet to the point that there are microplastics in the rain?

It's crazy that we did this to ourselves for...an idea - money? We set up society so that this situation was inevitable... and then didn't change it.

Ewen Bell 📸Oct 26

@GutterPoetry

There are no adults in change. There never had been. Starting to see the very existence of civilisation as a series of unlikely fortunes, leading to inevitable misfortunes.

Not to say we can't do something about the situation. But that begins with recognising the situation.

GutterPoetry Oct 26

@ewen Yes, and if you think that the pressure for positive change always came from the people, it becomes very important that the people either understand what is happening, or at least follow a popular leader who understands. Unfortunately here it seems as though the fascists have a monopoly on popular leaders who are appealing to the masses. The media is used to brainwash people and unions aren't powerful now, there isn't the same sense of community etc. I don't see a way to improve this.

Debbie Belair Oct 27

@ewen Also, ignorance and stupidity are on the rise. It's what the R wing wants, and people are obliged.

Debbie Belair Oct 27

@ewen such a great post!👍

> The reason we see so many bad govts all over the world is because we have been taught to be selfish instead of kind.

The key defining features of the 21st century are distrust and fear. In and of everyone and everything. Governments don't trust their people. People don't trust their neighbours. Cameras everywhere. We fear the stranger walking down the street.

It needs to stop.

@ewen 💯

Brian Gordon Oct 27

This is a dangerous thought, but I have no doubt some people are thinking it, and maybe even working on a 'cure.' The reality is that a tiny number of sociopaths have gained power and are literally wrecking the world because the rest of us are not stopping them.

"Humans have become their own disease."

#narcissism #sociopathy

M.S. Bellows, Jr.Oct 27

@ewen @mastoreaderio unroll

Masto Reader Oct 27

@msbellows here's the unrolled thread: https://mastoreader.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fc.im%2F%40msbellows%2F115446761468642274

Next time, kindly set the visibility to 'Mentioned people only' and mention only me (@mastoreaderio). This ensures we avoid spamming others' timelines and threads unless you intend for others to see the unrolled thread link as well.

Thank you!

Masto Reader

@ewen
What gives me hope is, when humans have become their own disease, we may be able to also become our own cure.

There are many people around who give me hope. Kind people building groups where it is not that way.

By coincidence I heard a good advice today going along the lines: Picture the future as dire as you like. Then come back to the present and change things.

Of course all these attempts may be futile. But doing nothing will change nothing.

Ewen Bell 📸Oct 29

@inw

Good advice.

We may not be able to fix everything in life, but we can always make things better than they already are.

@ewen The advice also created these steps in my head:

1. Picturing a dire dystopian future.
2. Analyzing why it may be that way.
3. Return to the present.
4. Think what one can change to make the future even a bit less dystopian.
5. Try to implement changes - even small ones.

They give me a feeling of agency. Maybe it is only a feeling, maybe the agency is very limited to people close to me. But at least it is different to freezing entirely and accepting the perceived fate.

Ewen Bell 📸Oct 29

@inw

On that theme...

https://flowchart.bettercatastrophe.com/

I Want a Better Catastrophe · Flowchart

A flowchart for navigating our climate predicament