HOMO LUDICROUS

8 ways how our inner Ape aims for self destruction.

The most dangerous ape on the planet is us.

There is an urgent need to look our own ludicrous shadows in the face.

Yuval Noah Harari notes in his epic book “Sapiens” that our mental and emotional world is reigned by bio chemical mechanisms shaped over millions of years of evolution. If that is true, then why the hell don’t we look at political, scientific and economical decision making with the biochemical processes of the deciders in mind? People run by hormones and fluids shape our world with what they claim to be rational intelligence. OMG.

Trump: “What did Obama say on this issue? Well, whatever he said, we go in the opposite direction.”

We, humans, are both not thinking enough and thinking too much while not paying attention to what really drives us. If we paid attention we would see how our inner Ape destroys it’s home while predominantly being focused on scratching its own back. A better name for our species might be Homo Ludicrous; a name better fitting for the self inflating, self justifying, self delusional, destructive horde of ape like killer termites we are, rampant on planet Earth wrapped in suits. The gall with which we call our current culture ‘civilization’ is appalling.

The state of our Global Ecosystem is at risk, even severely damaged. This continuous daily to get worse. And this is not even daily news. No, Trump’s tweets are. Governments hesitate to act. Corporations fight being restricted. They lobby with lies, bribes and marketing, blinding us for many real issues. People won’t vote for long term self interests, they prefer tax breaks; nowadays even the promise seems enough. This means we are screwed as a species, unless we overcome these major flaws. That’s why we need to be aware of them, take them into account and be honest it’s part of our own lower instincts we ourselves play out, at the cost of our own future.

The hidden dangers of technological advancement

A closer look at the suicidal brilliance of mankind, where all solutions are the next big problem.

In the seventies I was promised nuclear power as a solution. There would be no accidents. Then Tjernobyl and later Fukushima happened. And I just know that won’t be the last nuclear disaster I’ll see in my life time. Near disasters get hidden or downplayed. In whose interest would people do such things? Indeed ludicrous apes would. But why?

This acting against collective self interest and acting too much out of self interest at the cost of many others may seem strange. How come we don’t see it coming, or ignore the signals? How come corporations will keep on endorsing damaging sickening wares? How come politicians, lobbyists and marketeers will sell the world pollution, destruction and forms of bondage and (financial) slavery as the way forward? How come we the people accept and in many cases even buy and pay for that crap?

Eight follies of our inner Ape that should get daily attention in the news and our decision making.

These eight follies nicely stack on top of each other, making matters worse.

1. Techno Sink

MURPHY’S LAW VS. ENGINEERING ARROGANCE

Engineers will keep on building accident prone power plants and invent stuff too dangerous for us all to even consider as sane, because hey, they have it under control.

A Techno Sink is the hard wake up call, that happens when scientists or engineers thought they had it all covered. Right when we believed engineers had ruled out all nasty possibilities, within a given framework, harsh reality destroys the illusion of control. Take nuclear power plants. Building a very safe reactor house is worth nothing if the cooling systems breaks down, computers get infected by a virus or all people either die or flee the building. Check the drawings of nuclear power plants on Google. In all of them the water system is quite vulnerable. Now think Earthquake, terrorists, violent revolt, war, mudslide, unlucky plane crash, tsunami, gas cloud, hurricane or several of them at the same time, etc. You’ve got the whole plant protected and then you can’t flow new cooling water to the plant. So getting the job done, within the given framework, is not always the point. We only allow for accidents that we can imagine, and then hope the unimaginable won’t happen. That’s inviting a techno sink.

Currently our planet is under threat of huge techno sinks slowly creeping up on us. Because of financial interests and convenience they are hardly addressed. Estrogen, antibiotics, metals, plastics slowly become common in our food chains, but who dares to question the pill or stop the use of antibiotics, modern tech and plastics? Our need for them now, overrules any consideration for our future, until the shit hits the fan, so to say.

2. Ape Rock

WHY THE TOP DOGS ENDORSE DAMAGING WARES.

In a forest the fight to be the top monkey hurts only a few other monkeys, but not the forest. We are apes that harm the forest to be the top monkey in town.

We may look like humans, but much of our actions are based upon our ape brain. We still act like monkeys when it comes to power, overview, hierarchy. Monkeys want to be on top. They want to keep and strengthen their position. Washington is teeming with politicians and lobbyists who don’t give shit about their issue, only that that issue provides them with status, money and (self) importance. They automatically fight for the well-being of their organisation, issue, etc. Collateral damage in bankruptcies, loss of limbs to land mines, number of people without health care or proper education is taken for granted. Monsanto, Banks, Tobacco and many more all have shown to lie and cheat their way to government support of destructive wares.

If you happen to be a top monkey in the Nuclear tribe, you want it to rule the energy production and fight alternative power innovation. If your power is connected to the importance of nuclear power and the developing of new projects you do more than endorse it; you reason objections away and perhaps even actively keep the lid on (almost) failures and accidents. It’s only the nuclear scientists without nuclear interests who warn against it. What do they know? Hmm. We apes don’t look at the bigger picture. We just do the best for us and our rock. We are blind to those cases where taking care of number one (yourself) is actually damaging ourselves, our society and our offspring in the long run.

3. Tribal Loyalty

WHY EMPLOYEES SHOW THE WRONG LOYALTY.

We lived for centuries (family)tribes. Survival, especially in lawless or dangerous surroundings, depended on loyalty to your clan. Now the wider scope of loyalty matters, but we sure don’t act that way.

We love loyalty. Down the ages getting the job done would mean the whole family would have deer to eat tonight. But times and society have changed. If your job is to endorse nuclear power, weapons, tobacco or selling choking mortgages you still act like your company is your family tribe. You do your best for the company. And failing gets you fired. And while we were hunter gatherers this was a good idea. But even your selfish genes should oppose ancient tribal loyalty in damaging cases. Company loyalty is not a good idea when you get paid to illegally dump toxic waste into the ocean or endorse nuclear power, let alone unsafe mortgages. We should feel more incentive to act when we know what (almost) accidents are hidden under the table, or, for that matter, see others get paid to hide incidents. The ecological fragility of society and environment is endangered by selfish organizations (also the Banking Crisis, and Enron scandal were part of this) willingly keeping the lid on dirty deeds of all kinds of nature. Not because they are evil, but because of stupid inbred tribal loyalty.

To betray the tribe was the worst possible crime. We still condemn whistleblowers instinctively. Many never find another job, because we deem them unreliable, untrustworthy and unfaithful troublemakers. But time has changed. Whistleblowers may betray their smaller tribe, but often act in the interest of the bigger whole. They see that keeping the lid on trouble that may help their company, may cost the state millions, pollute regions, create sickness or endanger freedom for many in the future is wrong. And as worker, you’re a civilian in a nation too. By exposing the lies of their organizations, they may help everyone including their bosses and offspring from bigger and more important threats. We need such people.

4. Herd Behavior

WHY STAYING SAFE BY PLAYING ALONG ISN’T SAFE.

It’s not safe to stick out your neck or drift too far from the herd; a wolf might bite your head off. With predators around, we behave as sheep.

Most people behave as prey animals, when things get dangerous they flee, ignore if possible or freeze up. Only a minority fights and then often only when it expects there’s a change of winning. Like monkey we love to know in advance where the trees to flee in are, rather than consider what exactly we’re fleeing from. We react more with instinct on the news (“Aaah, more refugees, with possible terrorists, aaah”) than with scrutiny (“What, was it us that worsened that war? Are we war criminals or terrorists too?”).

There’s is a wolf in every town and it’s says, “Play by my rules or get eaten.” The wolf can be your manager, your police, your government. And then when the wolf eats an innocent, most of us look away. We invent reasons why looking away was okay. “He was black, so he must have done something.” “Our police don’t make that kind of mistake.” “Too busy, does it really matter?” “Better not say anything, or you get fired too.” With such attitudes change is very hard, especially with wolves around. The army has literally centuries of experience and tricks to make you rather run towards enemy bullets and possible death, than question orders and go against the officers. Similar tricks are applied in companies and state. The wolves train the flock to behave as such, because that is in their interest.

Then the sheeple also often commit suppression of emotions, and avoid troubling topics. They down those among them who speaks out a wrong. Such people get to hear that ‘they are spoiling the atmosphere’, ‘ruining the party’. We rather live in peace than in truth. Women who have been raped, people who warn about bosses stealing, witnesses of bullying hear too often they should shut up, at times even in aggressive ways, for upsetting the way things are. And those that do the suppressing often have no clue as to why. Is it fear, is it their version of reality shouldn’t be broken?

5. Orgmind

WHY DIRTY ORGANIZATIONS DON’T CHANGE THEIR WAYS.

Organizations have minds of their own. I’ve seen organizations where everyone wanted to go left, and still the organization went right, because it seemed to have a mind of its own.

Organisations have goals and reasons for existence that everyone contributes to. If your organisation is the best car builder, it will keep on building cars and endorsing cars as the transport solution. Mostly organisations identify with what they are currently doing. If you sell oil you hire lobbyists to protect your company, even when, your industry damages the environment and protesters block every step. There is a way out though: If it sees itself as the best energy company, then you can easily switch and invest to become the front runner in alternative energy.

Many have heard the story, but we forget the lesson: Nokia once made rubber boots. The organisation is still there, but something entirely different. During the second world war, many American factories turned within a few months, from producing whatever, into weapon manufacturers. To make such a swift shift needs crisis thinking. There is such crisis in our degrading eco systems , but sadly many narrow minds. So nuclear energy companies and project developers who have a lot of money invested will keep in doing their thing.

6. Profit & Growth

HOW OUR HOLY COWS LEAD US TO SLAUGHTER.

The mayor players in our economy need profit and growth to be self sustainable. We lack the will to let some damaging dinosaurs die, and invest in a healthy economy for people, planet and future of us all.

Billions are spend on advertising, on lobbying, on marketing,lying, cheating and other propaganda, all to make you believe: this is how economy works, other options don’t exist. Do no upset how things are, for the vested interests of the ‘owners’ are too big and their power to strong to challenge the whole system. We seem to forget it’s all a game and the main players play according to rules that make getting richer the main goal. This drive, lust, greed, hunt for power all is monkey like, however smart the players play the game. And these monkeys have little morals when it comes to furthering their interests. Thus the planet slowly dies and these white monkeys will only discover, as a native American prophesy predicted, that you can’t eat money, when all the fish are gone.

In our ‘democracies’ the politicians are pushed to provide the wishes of the masses and big corporations who don’t want to change. Growth, especially economical, is the big wish. We need to push forward or our country/business will lack behind and lose power, influence and meaning. This we all have ingrained in our system, politics and society. So we’ll keep on moving forward until disaster strikes, be it new nuclear disaster or the dying of the seas. In the mean time we hope that sustainability will help us to find the magical new invention that will help us to stay on top within the same frame of mind, same culture & same use of energy. Since this is an impossible wish, we keep, among others addicted to nuclear energy and fracking, as sold to us by loyal ape rock monkeys caught up in orgmind, groupthink and profit drive. We have no choice if we want the goods. At the least this is what the nuclear apes, tribes and spin doctors keep on telling us. It all sounds so reasonable and logic until a new disaster strikes.

7. Sustainability

HOW SUSTAINABILITY HAS BECOME A DANGEROUS CORRUPTION.

The art of preventing further damage, actually increases the damage as it doesn’t address the deeper causes or help make significant changes.

We have a modern active society that consumes a lot of energy. And a too high percentage of our plastics usage, ends up in the oceans as waste. And what is our solution to prevent damaging too much of nature? Sustainability. The word nowadays seems to mean: “Let’s not question our ways, just be a bit more careful to not upset the economy.” Thank you government, now we can get back to sleep. No?

Nuclear power is among the answers that might provide the much needed increase of energy. We do need more and more of it: for our computers, for our mobile phones, for our gadgets and soon for our cars too. And as more and more people, read all of Asia, arrive at this level of luxury, they all want what we have too. That takes a lot of energy. Luckily we have sustainability. That is all the energy we put into continue our current ways. We don’t want not to use all that energy or lose the convenience of plastics, etc. We don’t want to lose our TV, I-Pad or Plane holiday to Thailand. So there is a huge pressure to make it possible for all of us to have energy and lots of it. In the end sustainability is just a band aid to a damaging system. It doesn’t challenge it in any fundamental way..yet.

8. Logic Entropy

STEPPING STONES TO MADNESS, THROUGH ‘LOGICAL’ NEXT STEPS.

This is about the idiocy you get, when you build on previous steps, without questioning them, slowly descending an organization or even society into madness, even while every next step seems totally logical.

Measurability in education once seemed a good idea. One could measure progress in learning. This was convenient for teachers and state. Companies loved it too. They added the next level: competition. Regardless if most people who have jobs collaborate way more than compete, the concept of finding ‘the best’ through measurement has settled deep into our collective understanding. “Get higher grades or you’ll never amount to something.”

Measuring students has lost much of it’s meaning, nor does it prepare for the ambiguity of life nor is able to help develop gifts that fall outside curriculum. Even worse, millions suffer from stress, burn out, feeling lack of meaning or even commit suicide, all because of continuous testing in school. But what the hell? Software loves measuring and recording. It promises to make things easier and better. Thus we enter a time where measuring in education won’t get less, nor challenged. It will find new heights, where students will be rated daily on progress, level, learnings, behavior. All great for the school, terrible for children. And if drop outs increase? What will happen then? More testing, control apps to watch children on every phone?

Building onwards on a settled idea, taking the logic to the next level happens everywhere. If a nuclear threat stops a war, than we’ll be safer with more nuclear weapons. If the most powerful nations in the world have them, then if you want to belong to the powerful nations, than you need to have them too, no? If you have nuclear energy, then why not use it for more practical purposes too. And suddenly you have a pile of terrible nucleair waste, ludicrous people selling us its safety and the need for more of it, while others hide that deadly trash, preferably cheap, because profits must be protected. Etc.

Conclusion:

When ambitious ape rock managers build logically forward on technosink arrogance to protect their tribe, because everyone else does the same, and you know each separate aspect can invite disaster, you know Murphy’s law is near. All these aspects need to be addressed as well, in peace conferences, decision making, politics, etc. It should be okay to be warned of tribal loyalty in the face of environmental threats. If we don’t we are ludicrous too.

Here’s some more in depth approach to how a ‘normal’ can actually lead to a Sick Economy. And insight in problems that certain jobs deal with, making matters worse. Also read here onwards how psychopaths steer our herd behavior, our ape rock behavior and even promote a culture of disconnection from effect we have with our own actions.

Solutions:

Teach, educate, learn to think critically. Listen for undercurrents in language. Follow the money (read interests people have). Learn systems thinking. Ask what’s the bigger picture? Avoid the homo ludicrous traps. Try to find it being missed as cause in the news. Discuss that lack with friends.

Dare to stand out and speak up. Don’t be a sheep. Think for yourself. Question what you don’t trust. Become a humane human being.

Think long term. Help restore nature where you can. Help make destruction on environment a (bigger) crime. Join those that care, start permaculture or a social start up. Join the Gentle Revolution, help all those committed to a healthy planet and society wherever you can.