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Technology, Money, Optimism, and Hope
The quartet that is killing humankind - De En Fr
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Nina Paley writes: "You know what makes me angry? Hope. Hope is worse than desire. Hope is when you actually believe your desires are real, that what you desire may come to pass. Desire is an illusion, Hope is a delusion. One of the greatest stories about Hope is Pandora’s Box, about which I made a film several years ago. According to legend, after Pandora released from the box all the plagues of mankind, only one was left: Hope. Consequently, all the other curses of humanity may be recognized as such, but Hope remains a gift-wrapped curse." Hope is indeed the insidious curse that prevents people from doing the necessary, in face of environmental problems caused by humanity's hyperactivity: We produce und consume much, much more than the planet is able to sustain. Hope and Optimism are good when they serve to keep us motivated. They are deadly sins when they prevent people from using the means we have and instead make them wait for yet-to-be-invented-or-developed future technology. The ultimate argument of the BPE Compact, i.e. the power elites in Business, Politics and the discipline of Economics, to any environmental problem is always: Technology, Money, Optimism, and Hope. They are BPE's last resort and suggestion to deal with any of the so-called "challenges" - in common language: very serious problem. But no amount of TMOH can revive extinct species. Neither can it stop the depletion of non-renewable resources. On the contrary: Technology and Money are leverage mechanisms that increase humanity's burden on the planet. Nor can Optimism and Hope recreate resources that have been depleted, like old-growth forests, fossil fuels, fossil water, eroded soils, fish stocks in acidified oceans, or a normal climate. These resources will be gone forever - at a human time scale. Nina Paley quotes Friedrich Nietsche: "So now man has the lucky jar in his house forever and thinks the world of the treasure. It is at his service; he reaches for it when he fancies it. For he does not know that that jar which Pandora brought was the jar of evils, and he takes the remaining evil for the greatest worldly good – it is hope, for Zeus did not want man to throw his life away, no matter how much the other evils might torment him, but rather to go on letting himself be tormented anew. To that end, he gives man hope. In truth, it is the most evil of evils because it prolongs man’s torment. (link)" Nietsche did not foresee the depletion of our world, because then he could have written: Hope is the most evil of evils because it is killing mankind, which is hoping for the impossible miracle to happen. Such are the miracles that the power elites are hoping for: immaterialisation of growth, i.e. the illusion that we can expand the economy by producing ever more goods and gadgets without using more resources; future inventions that will solve today's problems; a timely population transition without active demographic policies. Nina Paley searched for Hope Management and adapted an article on Anger Management, writing: "I’ve been afflicted by hope recently, so I searched online for some management tips. Of course I had to google “anger management” to find anything, and then substitute “hope” for “anger.” My results, after the fold… Controlling Hope Before It Controls You (adapted from this) We all know what hope is, and we’ve all felt it: whether as a fleeting desire or as full-fledged optimism. Hope is a completely normal, usually healthy, human emotion. But when it gets out of control and turns destructive, it can lead to problems—problems at work, in your personal relationships, and in the overall quality of your life. And it can make you feel as though you’re at the mercy of an unpredictable and powerful emotion. This brochure is meant to help you understand and control hope. Like other emotions, hope is accompanied by physiological and biological changes; when you get hopeful, your heart rate and blood pressure go up, as do the levels of your energy hormones, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. Cognitive Restructuring Remind yourself that getting hopeful is not going to fix anything, that it won’t make you feel better (and may actually make you feel worse). When you’re hopeful, your thinking can get very exaggerated and overly dramatic. Try replacing these thoughts with more rational ones. Logic defeats hope, because hope, even when it’s justified, can quickly become irrational. So use cold hard logic on yourself. Problem Solving Sometimes, our hope and desire are caused by very real and inescapable possibilities in our lives. Not all hope is misplaced, and often it’s a healthy, natural response to these opportunities. There is also a cultural belief that every problem has a solution, and it adds to our hope to find out that this is sometimes the case. Better Communication Hopeful people tend to jump to—and act on—conclusions, and some of those conclusions can be very inaccurate. The first thing to do if you’re in a hopeful discussion is slow down and think through your responses. Don’t say the first thing that comes into your head, but slow down and think carefully about what you want to say. At the same time, listen carefully to what the other person is saying and take your time before answering. Listen, too, to what is underlying the hope. The underlying message of highly hopeful people, Dr. Deffenbacher says, is “things oughta go my way!” Hopeful people tend to feel that they are morally right, that any blocking or changing of their plans is an unbearable indignity and that they should NOT have to suffer this way. So, what now? Should I give up hope and resign? No, certainly not. Giving up means losing. But I have to get off the grass of false illusions. Recognise that the power elites are unable to listen to environmental science, because of their training and career paths. Continue working to get through the smog of misinformation to the brains of normal citizens who can still count one and one together and get two. Cheers!

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