Problems, Predicaments, and Technology

  Backbone Rock in northern Tennessee

  The view from Pretty Place Chapel , South Carolina

  Picture of Table Rock Mountain in South Carolina taken from Bald Ridge Heritage Preserve

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

  Lake Jocassee, South Carolina

  Forest clear cut along Chattooga Ridge Rd. in South Carolina

  PHOTO: Paul M. Walsh/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK

  An early morning picture at Black Rock Mountain State Park in Georgia

  Popcorn Overlook, Lake Burton, Georgia

  Gum Gap Overlook, Grandview, Tennessee

  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

Gazebo in Jonesboro, Illinois

Cliff View Park, Alto Pass, Illinois