Why Are You Here?
In spite of all of … this.
[Letter #002]
Good morning, son.
The global population has surpassed 8 billion humans as of several months before this writing, and the systems at work in the world would like nothing more than for that number to continue to rise. Capitalism has a growth imperative, and more, more, more is the game. I’ll probably go into detail about all of that in later letters.
However, if we want more, more, more people… well, each new person has their own individual requirements. Each person needs a couple thousand calories of food each day, a couple of liters of fresh water each day, clothing, adequate ambient temperatures, and all of the rest. By now, I’m sure I’ve taught you a bit about Maslow’s hierarchy. At the absolute base level, everyone needs certain things to live, and then there are more things they need to reach higher qualities of life. The problem, of course, is that we live on a finite planet.
I’ve done a bit of beer brewing in the past. Maybe someday I’ll teach you how it’s all done. I have several books on the subject as well. These books all describe the process of how fermentation is accomplished. It’s quite the miracle of life, actually! The brewer doesn’t really make the beer at all. His job is simply to make a thick, sugary water called “wort” (pronounce that like “work” except with a T instead of a K sound), which is a favorable environment for microorganisms called yeast to live happily.
The yeast swim around in the wort, eating up almost all of the sugar, multiplying, and releasing CO2 and a little alcohol in place of the sugar. They do this until they can’t find any more sugar to consume, and then they sort of hibernate until they find themselves within more sugar. This results in far less sugary liquid that has a little alcohol and has even become carbonated! Ba-boom! Beer!
As humans, we are incredibly clever critters. Among other amazing feats, we managed to figure out how to harness the power of those yeast cells to create beer and to capture it within pressurized vessels without having the buildup of CO2 causing beer explosions. I mean, we’ve clearly had that happen many times in history, but we generally know how to avoid it.
Yes, we fancy ourselves very clever. But, I would suggest that we’re probably not much different than the humble yeast though. Such a creature in the right environment will extract the resources around it, consume those resources, multiply, and then repeat the process while the next generation begins to do the same. That previous sentence could have referred to either a yeast cell or a human. It has taken longer than a typical fermentation period for beer, of course, but we humans are now pushing up against the limits of the jug that we call Earth by doing precisely what yeast cells do in sugar water.
A smart creature within such constraints would probably slow down the consumption, the reproducing, and the habitat destruction. But, in truth, that’s not really how any r-selected species has ever done it before. And, modern humans are very much r-selected. There have certainly been individuals and societies, even whole cultures, who have behaved in a K-selected fashion, but that’s not the majority of humanity today. I’ll write more on this subject another day. For now, just imagine the difference between a fast-growing annual versus a slow-and-steady perennial.
Life in general doesn’t rely on intelligence to do its thing. The imperative of life for all creatures is to live on and, if necessary, reproduce. When there are too many field mice running around, the foxes eat like little kings. They then produce many more foxes until the field mice population grows thinner. The thinner mice population means that the foxes can’t eat as well, and they will die out until a rough equilibrium is found.
I’m sure in your short time on our planet, you’ve met many people who would be just horribly insulted to be compared to a yeast cell or even a mouse or fox. Yet, intelligence doesn’t really even enter into this discussion. Foxes don’t decide to reproduce more foxes than they normally would in order to eat the additional mice. It just happens.
We’re doing what life has always done, and it looks more and more each day like we will do as nature has always dictated, especially for animals that have no natural predators. We’ll grow until our resources won’t allow any more growth, and then we’ll have a population collapse.
I know that humans have been preaching that we all just need to decide to do the right thing for decades, but we haven’t. And, I think that by the time you read this, we still won’t have changed anything. Although, I expect that you’ll be well into the collapse process by then. I’ll go more into this dismal subject in another letter.
I know that a lot of people are going to die in the coming decades, but I’m going to try to keep that from happening to our family as best I can. I hope that by the time you read this, I will have done a decent job of that so far.
Something that definitely will happen within the next 20 years is that the world as we know it now will continue to collapse and may be entirely unrecognizable to a person from today. The age of cheap oil is ending right now, and the way we have built the world cannot survive without the fuel and lubrication of cheap, dense energy. I expect that you could easily be reading these words by candlelight and printed on paper.
None of the above really answers the question that I set out when I started this letter, however. Why are you here, son?
If I know all of these things — the population and resource consumption overshoot, the imminent collapse and bad times that are expected with that, and the concurrent climate destruction that will make living so much harder for future humans than it has been for all of recorded history — why, why, why would I agree to bring you into all of this?
It’s a good question. One that I struggled with for a long time. The pithy answer is that this is what your mother wanted, so that’s how it happened. I think you’ll agree that she’s a pretty excellent lady, and you’ll understand why I like to make her happy.
The longer version is that I decided not to embrace nihilism. I decided that although we keep exceeding the worst of the worst-case scenarios regarding collapse and climate change, that at some point, that simply must change. Surely, it can’t keep being worse than anyone can imagine perpetually.
Human extinction might actually happen someday — probably will, since that’s the fate of pretty much every species — but I want to believe that it won’t happen within 20 years. Some folks do, but I want to go with it not happening just yet. So, I think you’ve got a pretty decent shot of making through most of your expected lifespan. I guess the question is about the quality of such a life.
Our family has been lucky to be in the position we’re in. We’re not rich, as you well know, but we’ve done as well as anyone really could expect. Then, there are just a lot of factors that we had no control over, and yet they landed in our favor anyway. Someday, I’ll explain how and why that is — there’s an important lesson in understanding the privileges you were born into. Because of these privileges, your mother and I believe that we’re in a decent position to raise a new human despite all of the nastiness in the world. We hope to give you a good experience in life despite the difficulties that you’ll inevitably face in your own future.
But, why are you here? Well, you’re here because if humans are going to make it to a new equilibrium after all of this collapse of global systems, climate, population, and all of the rest, the world is going to need people like you to help others — people, animals, and all of the rest of nature. We are going to try to ensure that you are mentally and physically tough, but that you are not emotionally damaged or unprepared for your future. It will be a future that will greatly need kindness, patience, and respect. We hope to express these virtues and more into you.
You are here because you are loved. You were loved well before you existed, as thoughts for your future have run through my mind for years — how to raise you, protect you, provide for you. I will do my very best to show you how to love and help others. Every single day of your life when I am able, I will tell you that I love you. When possible, that will come with a hug as well.
Until next time, I love you very much, son.
Your father,
Papa Bear
[Author’s note: This is a series of letters that I intend to print to paper and deliver to my son, probably around the year 2040. You are more than welcome to read along. The links in the article are only for you, the reader, and will include citations, jokes, asides, and links to books or other items. If you happen to purchase anything through such a link, I’ll get a small commission. Every little bit helps, right?]
