Problems, Predicaments, and Technology

I often post about depressing topics, as the predicaments we face are, in many cases, downright catastrophic. I post about these topics because I know about them and want to pass my knowledge on. I'm not doing this for my health or for money or for recognition; I'm doing it because I think it is the right thing to do and because of the benefits for me. Thank you to Brian for the comment on my last article which inspired me to write today's article! Just like getting together with a friend doubles your pleasure and halves any potential (negative) issues that might develop, sharing this knowledge helps me by reducing stress. I think of it as a form of venting, and all my close friends and family have already heard me go on about these topics thousands of times over the years, so this blog substitutes for those listening ears. I can potentially help some people out with these articles and at the same time spare my family and friends from listening to me go on and on about over...

  Hyde Hall at Glimmerglass State Park

Lake Jocassee as seen from the boat ramp at Devils Fork State Park in South Carolina

  Lake Jocassee, South Carolina

  Wolf Creek Dam , Kentucky

  Seeing the forest through the trees can be difficult; this is the Section Eight Woods in the Cache River Wetlands in Southern Illinois

  Playhouse (for the landowners' grandchildren) in Jonesboro, Illinois Four of my articles over the past couple of years are part of a four-part series titled, " So, What Should We Do? " The first three articles were written, one after the other, back in 2021 after I discovered our lack of free will which condemns us to make choices based upon our biological (see the Maximum Power Principle ) and cultural conditioning (see this article ). This led me to realize that we truly lack agency to be able to control hyperobjects such as nature, climate change, ecological overshoot , the biosphere, etc. Not only is the predicament of overshoot too difficult for most people to grasp, many people unfortunately place it in the category of problems (with answers or solutions) rather than predicaments (with outcomes). Attempting to reduce issues seen as problems tends to turn those issues into bigger problems and/or predicaments. Often this is due to those working on these issues ...

  Pictures from Seneca State Forest, West Virginia

 

  Trail at Bell Smith Springs in Southern Illinois

Martin Marietta Park, New Bern, North Carolina

Recently, I have received several really awesome comments recently across the different media platforms I use, the subject of one of which is the topic for this article. However, I also wish to thank my readers for the encouragement you give for me to continue writing. That in and of itself is what actually keeps me going. Knowing that I am not wasting my time writing these articles and that others enjoy my musings keeps me active and researching.  I also appreciate the opportunity to (try) to explain the science as I understand it. My understanding is constantly being reshaped and clarified by the science as new science becomes available. Part of the reason I tend to focus on psychology is because of how my own beliefs have changed over the past decade or two. Much of how society operates is based upon our psychology and how our behaviors affect the interactions between ourselves and the rest of the planet. Here is a rather poignant quote in this instance, from Albert Einstein: "...

  Lake Murphysboro State Park, Illinois

  A Wish For You by Neil Gaiman I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something. May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself. So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make new mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life. Whate...

Summit Overlook, Black Rock Mountain State Park, Georgia

Kure Beach, North Carolina

My dad on the Hiawatha Rail Trail (the old Milwaukee Route) just outside the St. Paul Pass Tunnel (Roland Trailhead). More info:  https://www.ridethehiawatha.com/ Not that I have all that large of a following, but it has been quite a few weeks since my last entry, and I do feel that an explanation is in order. Normally, I wouldn't find many issues in my own personal life something worth sharing on a blog about science and the set of predicaments we find ourselves in as a species. However, in this particular instance, I do think it reflects an issue connected to the wider sense of what this blog is all about - accepting predicaments we have little or no agency over. The picture above was taken in 2012, almost a decade ago. I had suggested that my dad accompany me on a trip out west. I had been telling my parents stories of my trips out west for the previous decade or so at the time, and while my mom had been to the Pacific Coast with a friend of hers, Dad had never been that far wes...