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I think learning to give up unnecessary comforts is going to be an important part of the development of the human species. If we are every going to mature and learn to be stewards of this earth instead of stripping it for short term gain, we're going to have to change our outlooks.

So I believe mass change must be a necessity no matter how hard it is. If we don't change, we're not going to solve this problem.



Personally, I don't think individuals can learn this. To me, it seems that human psychology is essentially fixed. The changes need to be cultural - you need human civilization to learn this. But culture, I believe, is mostly a function of techno-economical landscape, with some small flavouring added from path dependence (i.e. history). Think of culture as water flowing into and settling in a valley, which shape is defined by available technology. It gravitates towards a particular configuration matching the landscape, and you can't make it flow differently by just asking. The way we learn, I believe, is through technologies we develop (possibly also through "social technologies" like forms of governance, though I'm not sure whether those can stand on their own, or are also a function of "hard"-technological landscape).


Culture is continuously created/reinforced by individuals. Technology has nothing to do with it really. All cultural change starts with individuals who then pass it on to others through their energy & effort, or by raising their children to be like them.


Nah, culture doesn't get far in a fixed technological landscape. People pass on new folk songs and dresses, but you don't get a Reformation without printing press. You don't break out of feudalism without firearms. You don't get a sexual revolution without countless of other technologies and economical transformations that enabled lots of people to live in dense population centers, above sustenance levels and with enough free time. You won't get long-term stewardship of Earth without technologies that enable us to meet our needs without destroying it.


How can technology have nothing to do with culture?

Culture inherently includes technology.




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