Treating the world as something to be ruled rather than lived within—is at the root of civilization’s ecological and ethical crisis. There’s a good argument that the idea that humans are unnatural or separate is how we’ve gotten into this mess to begin with. Humans are not unnatural, and neither is the product of human activity. Humans built this system, and humans can disassemble it if they choose. Graeber and Wengrow really highlight that. And the good news is that the solution isn’t unnatural or supernatural either. We just have to do what is in humans capacity to always do: start living differently. That’s it. Own your political agency and will, and live the society you want to live in. That’s how it happens. Human bodies, natural bodies, actually moving and doing. This is what makes us human. We can walk away.
P.S. Walkaways by Cory Doctorow is a great book. Essential reading.
I think about this a lot. Ever since I read Naüsicaa of the Valley of the Wind, I have wondered how it’s possible to live within the metabolism of my surrounding world. There are so many things that I wouldn’t want to give up and so many things that I would easily part with.
I look at geese and think about how well adapted they are to air, water and land.
If the Chicxulub asteroid never hit, would I have feathers now? If we were better adapted to the environment, would we be so crazy about technology? So many questions.
I still haven't read that one! Speculative fiction and fantasy are so powerful for helping us imagine. I wonder about our dependence on technology too. It's obviously the second main reason (after language and social cohesion) that allowed us to be "successful" as a species, but at this point we're more fragile than ever tbh.
Check out Re-des.org The Solarpunk Manifesto. Permaculture. I like the idea of replacing fear with beauty as a Siren call for mobilizing humanity towards an imaginative, cooperative, sustainable relationship with nature and each other. I like your thoughts, but I worry Anarchist is a word that could cause unwanted reactions. As a teacher, I am wondering if I could start a private school network that could inculcate the knowledge and ideas needed to create a world like this into the next generation.
Thanks for the rec, looks like a cool website! I also wonder about "anarchy," I know it's pretty radioactive, but right now I'm still of the opinion that it's better to reclaim it from its stereotypes and work to deescalate the tension around it with the rest of my writing. We'll see how effective that is. I wish you all the success in the world of education!
Peter, I've been reading for some time but am a bit of a shy commenter. I think about this somewhat tautological argument for all human endeavor being natural, since we are of nature, a fair amount. I do think there may be a defining feature of true separation, and, silly as it may seem, I think it's the thumb. Your commenter isn't wrong, us and beavers share a great deal in common in our ability to manipulate our environments, but we can take it a great deal further than beavers because of our thumbs. I wonder often what cetaceans might build if they had more ability to manipulate their environments, but then I remember that I know nothing of what they _have_ built that exists outside of my ability to imagine. In a similar David Graeberesque way--"the ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it's something that we make and could just easily make differently." In these times of AI, I often marvel that people feel AI itself will solve for its own egregious resource use, imagining a world of capabilities for AI well beyond the one I'm able to, anyway. And yet, we can't imagine what cetaceans might have built in oral traditions. Or what human society could be if we sat on our scrolling thumbs and tried a new creative social experiment. I hope that all makes sense. Thank you for all of your words!
It does, and I'm glad you said it! Opposable thumbs really have made a world of difference. It's weird to remember how big an impact the little things make. Coupled with cognition, it's like someone handed us the keys to world-making.
Treating the world as something to be ruled rather than lived within—is at the root of civilization’s ecological and ethical crisis. There’s a good argument that the idea that humans are unnatural or separate is how we’ve gotten into this mess to begin with. Humans are not unnatural, and neither is the product of human activity. Humans built this system, and humans can disassemble it if they choose. Graeber and Wengrow really highlight that. And the good news is that the solution isn’t unnatural or supernatural either. We just have to do what is in humans capacity to always do: start living differently. That’s it. Own your political agency and will, and live the society you want to live in. That’s how it happens. Human bodies, natural bodies, actually moving and doing. This is what makes us human. We can walk away.
P.S. Walkaways by Cory Doctorow is a great book. Essential reading.
Very true. We can always walk away; we can always live differently. Thanks for the rec too, I'll check it out!
I think about this a lot. Ever since I read Naüsicaa of the Valley of the Wind, I have wondered how it’s possible to live within the metabolism of my surrounding world. There are so many things that I wouldn’t want to give up and so many things that I would easily part with.
I look at geese and think about how well adapted they are to air, water and land.
If the Chicxulub asteroid never hit, would I have feathers now? If we were better adapted to the environment, would we be so crazy about technology? So many questions.
I still haven't read that one! Speculative fiction and fantasy are so powerful for helping us imagine. I wonder about our dependence on technology too. It's obviously the second main reason (after language and social cohesion) that allowed us to be "successful" as a species, but at this point we're more fragile than ever tbh.
Check out Re-des.org The Solarpunk Manifesto. Permaculture. I like the idea of replacing fear with beauty as a Siren call for mobilizing humanity towards an imaginative, cooperative, sustainable relationship with nature and each other. I like your thoughts, but I worry Anarchist is a word that could cause unwanted reactions. As a teacher, I am wondering if I could start a private school network that could inculcate the knowledge and ideas needed to create a world like this into the next generation.
Thanks for the rec, looks like a cool website! I also wonder about "anarchy," I know it's pretty radioactive, but right now I'm still of the opinion that it's better to reclaim it from its stereotypes and work to deescalate the tension around it with the rest of my writing. We'll see how effective that is. I wish you all the success in the world of education!
Peter, I've been reading for some time but am a bit of a shy commenter. I think about this somewhat tautological argument for all human endeavor being natural, since we are of nature, a fair amount. I do think there may be a defining feature of true separation, and, silly as it may seem, I think it's the thumb. Your commenter isn't wrong, us and beavers share a great deal in common in our ability to manipulate our environments, but we can take it a great deal further than beavers because of our thumbs. I wonder often what cetaceans might build if they had more ability to manipulate their environments, but then I remember that I know nothing of what they _have_ built that exists outside of my ability to imagine. In a similar David Graeberesque way--"the ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it's something that we make and could just easily make differently." In these times of AI, I often marvel that people feel AI itself will solve for its own egregious resource use, imagining a world of capabilities for AI well beyond the one I'm able to, anyway. And yet, we can't imagine what cetaceans might have built in oral traditions. Or what human society could be if we sat on our scrolling thumbs and tried a new creative social experiment. I hope that all makes sense. Thank you for all of your words!
It does, and I'm glad you said it! Opposable thumbs really have made a world of difference. It's weird to remember how big an impact the little things make. Coupled with cognition, it's like someone handed us the keys to world-making.