Chapter summary

This chapter considers how we perceive our situation and our ability to ignore problems that are about to overwhelm us. This affects the way that we respond to potential threats and our ability to reassure ourselves that we are taking appropriate action. It looks at the need to acknowledge the threats facing humanity, the need for a collective epiphany and considers whether humanity has the capacity for collective action or whether we will become increasingly isolationist.

Introduction

It is amazing that the human race has survived for so long. It is even more amazing that the first humans ever managed to survive their emergence in the vast bushlands of East Africa; they didn't have the strength to fight off large predators; they couldn't run very fast; they didn't even breed very fast. Perhaps, part of the explanation lies in the human ability to assess a situation and develop an appropriate response. Our early survival decisions were fight or flight decisions. These days the decisions are more complex. The threats we face are of a bigger magnitude than a marauding lion.

The task of determining an appropriate survival response is ever more difficult. Whether we have the ability to take effective action against the multitude of threats that currently face humanity remains to be seen. Presumably, there will come some point when we no longer have the capacity to assimilate all the relevant information and implement an effective response. Maybe we have reached a point where the scale of the threat will overwhelm us. Perhaps we are deluding ourselves that we are still in control. Arguably, our biggest challenge is to acknowledge the reality of the threat now facing humanity. We need to face up to this rather than burying our heads in the sand and hoping it will be all right.

Changing perceptions

This book has argued that radical social and economic change is required. Whether people wish to change will depend on their perceptions of the future compared to the present. For example, if levels of positivity or negativity were measured on a scale of +5 (positive) to –5 (negative), then it is possible to plot how people feel about the impact of change over time.