From Big Think and the Nantucket Project

What are the ways our civilization might collapse, and how might the human race become extinct?

According to sociobiologist Rebecca Costa, the answers are all staring us straight in the face. Just look at current events. Costa writes in her book The Watchman’s Rattle: Thinking Our Way Out of Extinction that human existence is threatened by "a global recession, powerful pandemic viruses, terrorism, rising crime, climate change, rapid depletion of the earth's resources, nuclear proliferation, and failing education."

Fortunately, Costa argues we are remarkably equipped to counter these threats today, due to our current understanding of the "biological reasons for the ascension and decline of civilizations." The problem, as Costa describes it, is that humans are governed by two clocks: the very slow-ticking clock of human evolution and the fast-accelerating clock of technological progress. The result of these two clocks not synching up is the human brain (and the public policy our brains generate) is unable to keep up with the complex environment around us. According to Costa, we're then left with "paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology." Put all those in the blender, and look out!

So how do we stave off our collapse? The solution involves what Costa calls the most (surprisingly) controversial word in the English language: evolution. Costa asks why, if Charles Darwin's theory is "the most important scientific principle governing life on earth," we don't utilize it as a relevant tool to solve our problems today? In other words, why is evolution "the greatest discovery you've never heard of?"

From Big Think and the Nantucket Project

What are the ways our civilization might collapse, and how might the human race become extinct?

According to sociobiologist Rebecca Costa, the answers are all staring us straight in the face. Just look at current events. Costa writes in her book The Watchman’s Rattle: Thinking Our Way Out of Extinction that human existence is threatened by "a global recession, powerful pandemic viruses, terrorism, rising crime, climate change, rapid depletion of the earth's resources, nuclear proliferation, and failing education."

Fortunately, Costa argues we are remarkably equipped to counter these threats today, due to our current understanding of the "biological reasons for the ascension and decline of civilizations." The problem, as Costa describes it, is that humans are governed by two clocks: the very slow-ticking clock of human evolution and the fast-accelerating clock of technological progress. The result of these two clocks not synching up is the human brain (and the public policy our brains generate) is unable to keep up with the complex environment around us. According to Costa, we're then left with "paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology." Put all those in the blender, and look out!

So how do we stave off our collapse? The solution involves what Costa calls the most (surprisingly) controversial word in the English language: evolution. Costa asks why, if Charles Darwin's theory is "the most important scientific principle governing life on earth," we don't utilize it as a relevant tool to solve our problems today? In other words, why is evolution "the greatest discovery you've never heard of?"

http://bigthink.com/ideas/41129