Richard Fisher fears “Our Inability to look beyond the latest news cycle could be one of our generation’s most dangerous traits”. Could this have something to do with having ‘undo buttons’ on our devices? Or perhaps our desire for instant gratification now? We decided to dig into this short-termism culture in the context of climate change. Humanity certainly seems to have difficulty facing up to extreme events that may take a century to materialize.
Is This Short-Termism the New Normal in Adulthood?
Richard asks how many of us in adulthood “can truly say we are thinking about the well-being of future generations? How often do we contemplate the impact of our decisions, as they ripple into the decades and centuries ahead?” We seem to be content with living in a now where knowledge and living standards are higher than ever before.
At least, that is true for those fortunate enough to access the the internet as you have. Doyen investor Esther Dyson once said, “In politics the dominant time frame is a term of office, in fashion and culture it’s a season. For corporations it’s a quarter, on the internet it’s minutes, and on the financial markets [short-termism is] mere milliseconds.”
How Climate Change Has Affected Plant Growth (NASA)
This May Be the Greatest Threat our Species Faces this Century
Well at least that’s what researchers, artists, technologists and philosophers are converging on, Richard Fisher believes. Apparently Silicon Valley engineers are working on a clock that will tick for 10,000 years in an attempt to extend our timeline.
Certainly politicians and industries favoring fossil fuel seem in no hurry to do the obvious. Get rid of it and counter the worst ravages of global warming. News reports so far this year are cluttered with stories of extreme events to the extent our sensitivity is numbing.
Richard Fisher asks “What if we could be altruistic enough to care about people we might never live to see? “And if so, what will it take to break out of our short-termism ways. “And start considering the world and our descendants through a much longer lens?”
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Rapid Climate Shift Event in Arctic Barents Sea
Mali Has Fallen Off Our Radar Screens (ICRC)
Preview Image: Modern Thermohaline Circulation
Video Share Link (NASA)
