As IF Times

link: https://www.earth.com/news/greenland-ice-fossil-discovery-stuns-and-worries-scientists/

When did society in general change from one of curiosity and discovery to one of complacency and fear? How did we become hand wringers and cowering knaves instead of being brave explorers? How did fear of catastrophe become so widespread in western culture?

Our history books describe the many great leaps made by mankind through the many milestones made even before actual recorded history.  The progress of civilizations have been marked by advances in technologies; of geographic and scientific discoveries and of ingenious inventions that propel man to the next levels of human achievement.

If you were to draw a chart of man’s achievements using the birth of Christ as a reference point, you would see that human achievements have accelerated from a gradual ascending slope to an almost vertical ascent in only the past 100 years.  Only a hundred years ago, people were still moving around by horses and buggies. Since that time, the presence of personal cars are as common worldwide and as unremarkable as dandelions, even in the poorest of nations.

Just a scant 500 years ago, a blink of an eye in evolutionary terms, a crazy and intrepid mariner named Columbus decided it was a good idea to sail off in some ships to see if there was a faster way to get spices. Today, the role of intrepid explorer is headed by Elon Musk and the next target of exploration is another planet altogether, Mars.  And beneath these lofty aspirations of men and mankind, there are a multitude of minor inventions and discoveries that continue to push the limits of the human experience.

It appears that a big part of the human condition: is to want to improve the human condition. Yet somehow in the last 50 or so years, a distinct malaise is impeding the inexorable progress of mankind.  The naysayers, the alarmists and the skeptics have become such a force as to blunt the edge of human progress.  Even as the passage of time has rendered virtually all of the alarmist bleats invalid and the general condition of humanity being at its best point in history, the distraction of alarmist views has never been stronger.  Doom has become a business.  There are those that insist on making people’s lives less pleasant because of imagined threats in their minds.

While we are currently pushing back against the vapid bleats of climate alarmism, especially since more polar bears are showing up, society has had to suffer through numerous alarmist crises du jour over the past 50 years.  Some of us will recall the overpopulation ‘bomb’ endangering mankind: there was the prediction of the great global freeze; there was Y2K; there is always a financial crisis; there is always some kind of pandemic crisis including aids, bird flu and recently of course, Covid 19. This phenomenon is made much worse these days by the reach of social media as well as media in general since sensationalism gets eyeballs.

It’s hard to understand why there is such a willing appetite for narratives of catastrophe. It must be linked to some kind of physiological wiring in the brains of certain humans. We can see the parallels with people who have an affinity for horror movies.  It’s always puzzled me that there is an audience for movies about teens being chased by chainsaws, or of vampires, or of masked slashers.  Clearly, there must be a physiological as well as psychological button that provides a dopamine hit when experiencing these films. Anecdotal experience shows that females are more likely to enjoy this kind of entertainment than males.

What does this have to do with the progress of civilization? Historically, it’s been men that have done the wild and outlandish things that can lead to significant changes to society.  They’re the ones most likely to try things… just to see what happens.  It’s in men’s nature to be curious about almost anything and that curiosity can result in some kind of invention or new process. Women have generally been more prudent in their approach to the unknown and they leave the crazy stuff to men.  In today’s belt and suspenders world, that kind of unfettered innovation has been blunted by an increasingly overcautious environment.  As more women move into positions of political influence, so also does the rise of nanny culture.  People, especially men, need to be protected from themselves from doing dangerous things.

It’s clear that in today’s zeitgeist, anything can be construed as being dangerous or of having some kind of detrimental effect on humans, if someone says it does.  Historically the voices of the naysayers didn’t have great impact on human advances, if at all.  Imagine during Columbus’ day if some lobby groups existed to protest his expedition because of their fears of the unknown.  Imagine if protestors prevented the use of the printing press because of tree destruction.

I can foresee now the next crisis of the day will be the proliferation of robots and artificial intelligence. They will framed as an existential threat to mankind and the law industry will do what they do best; to make our lives miserable while we try to harness the power of these new technologies.

Despite an unbroken record of man successfully overcoming obstacles to the progress of human civilization, people always seem to fixate on the next great crisis, no matter how abstract and illogical. We can’t discount a meteor crashing into the planet tomorrow and wiping out all life forms.  If that happens, we all die.  Why worry about it? In the meantime, human ingenuity needs to be unfettered.  Forget the tin foil hats.  This is best summed up by a not too famous quote attributed to Michel de Montaigne in which he states: My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened.

In case no one has noticed, politics is big business. But it wasn’t always this way. Before the big change in 1776, the world was run pretty much the way it’s always been run. Small groups of rulers and oligarchs made the laws and everyone just went along with the edicts from on high. They could pretty much do as they wished to make themselves and their families comfortable.  Their fortunes were dependant on the masses paying taxes to support their lifestyles.  Failure to comply with official edicts meant that you would be visited by humorless enforcers of the realm and all sorts of unpleasant things would happen to you and your family.

This worked pretty well for the ruling classes for centuries, until some breakaway pilgrims in the lands of the new world, which would eventually become America, expressed dissatisfaction with the way things were run and decided to band together and revolt against the overlords in England.  As you’d expect, the Brits, at the time the most powerful military force in the world, dispatched some troops to quell the knaves who dared to protest their rule.

This didn’t end well for the Brits, as the upstart colonies beat back the world’s mightiest military force and the ensuing war founded the first democracy styled nation in history. Why did the Americans win?  In my opinion, it was not only to protect their families but more importantly to protect a principle; that men should have a say in how laws govern them.  The soldiers of England were just hired conscripts who just did as they were ordered.

Thus began the new tradition of nations that were created to be governed by people who represented the interests of their constituency rather than by regal decree. In the beginning, these positions were voluntary and hence the label of ‘honorable’ was conferred upon such representatives, since no pay was involved.  How quaint.

Fast forward several hundred years and the model of representative government became more and more widespread as the powers of existing monarchies and kingdoms declined.  To this day, some form of representative government is seen as the type most favored in what are considered to be free nations.  We know this because there is a constant influx of people trying to get into these nations from those that are more authoritarian.

A funny thing happened on the way to democracy though.  As nations became wealthier and populations grew, so did the size of the institutions required to manage the affairs of the state.  As people became wealthier, their immediate existential needs fell to the background and thus there was less urgency to have responsible representation.  Gradually, political office transformed from being a responsible civic service, to becoming a viable vocation in and of itself.  People with no real life skills were able to get into political office to make decisions that adversely affected possibly millions of constituents, even as fewer and fewer people bothered to vote. There are countless examples of such individuals in the world today, but in the US, people such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Cortez come to mind.

The other aspect which aids in the corruption of the political process is the professional politician’s powerful tool of choice: polls.  Apart from hyperbole, polls are the most important tool in the arsenal of modern politicians.  Regardless of the politician’s actual position on a topic, the tool by which they get elected, is always polls.  Thus, their fortunes are guided by what the pollsters reveal from the public on any given issue.  The classic situation is the famous John Kerry line about “…“I actually did vote for the $87 Billion before I voted against it…” Thus they simply tack against whichever way the winds of social opinion blows.  It’s not well known that the expression, ‘flip flop’, was coined in honor of Kerry.  Possibly the only person in recent experience who presented policy without regard to polls, is Donald Trump.  Otherwise, virtually all politicians will measure public opinion before stating a position.

But the main objective of poll usage is to get into office.  Once in office, it’s clear sailing because they would generally be free to do whatever they wanted for their term. Suddenly their views of what’s appropriate for the populace overrides anything they may have said to get elected.  It’s as if you ordered a rib eye steak at a restaurant but they served you quinoa and goat bladder instead; because according to their views, it’s better for you.  Deal with it.

Far gone are the days of dutiful public service.  Politics is now a legitimate career choice with paid compensation well above real work in the private sector.  Not only are they paid well, they can vote themselves increases at will and can live in palatial homes paid for by the public.   They can do pretty much what they want to make themselves and their colleagues comfortable.  Edicts and laws are passed regardless of the impact on their subjects.  Failure to comply with official edicts meant that you would be visited by humorless enforcers of the realm and all sorts of unpleasant things would happen to you and your family.

Why does that sound familiar?