Doom and Gloom: Some Major Challenges Facing Us Today

1. Doom and Gloom: Some Major Challenges Facing Us Today Technological Elites and “Knowledge Monopolies”

2. Jared Diamond: 2005 Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed • Every civilization that has undergone collapse is characterized by a set of key technological advances that allowed for growth, but which were pushed too far to the point of environmental collapse • Rome: roads, legions and imperial grain requisition (“bread & circuses”) exhausted the Mediterranean basin • Meso-America: hybridization of corn allowed for great cities to emerge from the jungle only to return to the jungle when soils around them became exhausted and distances to the resources of subjugated neighboring societies became too great • Easter Island: tree cutting, cultivation and statue (“moai”) building destroyed the forests leading to soil erosion • What accounts for such “cultural momentum” despite obvious signs of crisis? Are we on such a path?

3. Peak Oil • Graph: The Energy Curve of History? • Peak Oil is also called "Hubbert's Peak,“ named for the Shell geologist Dr. M. K. Hubbert • In 1956, Hubbert accurately predicted that US domestic oil production would peak in 1970 • He also predicted global production would peak around the year 2000

4. Debt and the Demographic Crisis • Aging population could lead Canada on a path to “economic ruin” due to rising health and pension costs • 1971 there were 8 workers for every one retiree; in 2008 5.1 ; by 2019 3.8 by 2033 it will be 2.5 • 20-40 billion gap will be added to the deficit over the next decade alone (Globe and Mail, Feb 26, 2010, A4) • $608 billion Nat Debt by 2018, requiring approx $3100 more per worker to control (Can Bus Mag Oct 26, 2009)

5. Rising Health Care Expenditures • In 1975, health-care spending in Canada was 7% of GDP, by 2003, it had gone up to 10% GDP (Canadian Institute for Health Information, National Health Expenditure Trends, 1975-2003) • Eg. A decade ago health care took about 34% of B.C.’s budget. It will reach 42% next year and 45% a few years thereafter • Unless trend stops, eventually will reach 100% of prov. budgets • The costs are rising because of new technologies, new drugs and an aging population

6. Soil Erosion • Land degradation, a decline in land quality caused by agricultural practices (irrigation, fertilizer & pesticide use, tillage), has been described by the U.N. as “the greatest global issue after climate change” • The productivity of some lands has declined by 50% • On a global scale the annual loss of 75 billion tons of soil costs the world about US$400 billion per year, or approximately US$70 per person per year Published in: Eswaran, H., R. Lal and P.F. Reich. 2001. Land degradation: an overview. In: Bridges, E.M., et al. (eds.). Responses to Land Degradation. Proc. 2nd. International Conference on Land Degradation and Desertification, KhonKaen, Thailand. Oxford Press, New Delhi, India

7. Water Crisis • Humans are polluting, depleting and diverting finite freshwater supplies so quickly we are creating massive new deserts (eg. 6 tons to make a PC) • By 2025, between 1/2 to 2/3s of humanity will be living with severe fresh water shortages • Water table beneath China has dropped by nearly 200 feet in the last two decades & dropping fast in India, Iran and Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Australia, etc • The mighty Indus and Ganges rivers are tapped so heavily that they typically no longer reach the sea & the same is true of Egypt's Nile, China's Yellow River and many rivers of the American South West

8. Extinction • Humanity’s impact on the earth has increased extinction rates to levels rivaling the five mass extinctions of past geologic history, transformed nearly half of Earth’s land and created 400 dead zones in the world’s oceans (16th International Botanical Congress, St. Louis, Missouri, August 2, 1999)

9. Democratic Engagement • Voter turnout in the last federal election was worst in Canadian history • Participation rates in formal political activities is also declining, with volunteer hours dropping 15 % from 2004 to 2007 • Participation of women in Parliament has remained at around 20% since 1997 Institute of Wellbeing’s Report on Democratic Engagement www.ciw.ca

10. Elites and knowledge Monopolies • Roman society as a whole went along with the unlimited policy of imperial expansion using mass armies because it benefitted every Roman and was the source of the emperor’s power (bread and circuses)—Innis calls this kind of a rut “a knowledge monopoly” • Meso-american societies carried on their exploitation of corn and warfare b/c this was the source of power of aristocracy and temple elites • System of clearing and “moai” production was integral part of their clan leadership system

11. Harold Innis • Canadian economic historian and pioneering media theorist • Any tech always benefits a definite group of people more than others for 2 main reasons: 1. No one can master all tech’s so we always need experts who can use their control over access to a tech and its benefits as a base of power 2. Benefits of tech accrue to diverse groups, but never everyone equally (eg. Roman Empire was good for Romans not so much for those they conquered) • Both kinds of groups form a community of mutual dependence with a vested interest in the continued exploitation of a tech or tech system—A “Knowledge Monopoly”

12. Example of a “Knowledge Monopoly” • Priests of Egypt (scribes) • Hieroglyphics very hard to learn • Only a small minority could devote the time • Egyptian peasants needed written records: 1. To restore fields after Nile floods 2. To track time (calendar) to predict flooding • Scribes were the real power in Egypt (with the support of the peasants) • Akanhatan “Lost Pharaoh” 1300 BCE • 1st monotheist • Challenged scribes • Was deposed by scribes, who put Tut on the throne instead

13. Akenhaten—the Heretic Pharaoh

14. Late 20th Century Social Criticism Why such unwillingness to question or challenge technological elites and systems despite deep worries people have about processes like global warming, spiraling debt, the destruction of nature, consumerism, etc? Some social critics argue that people in our society believe in the “technological imperative”, but what can explain the origins for such an apparent value? • Some see it simply as the manifestation of technological determinism • Some environmentalists claim a fundamental “anthropocentric” view promoted by Christianity & Judaism is to blame (eg. Lynn White Jr.) • Some see different forms of “technological dependency” at work

15. The Technological Imperative • Tech Imperative = Belief that if something can be done it should be done • Eg. J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the A-bomb) once said “If something is technically sweet you go ahead with it” • Contrasts with old Latin adage “A posse ad es non valet consequentia” = “Just because something can be done, doesn’t mean it should be done”