Thread by @AukeHoekstra

I want to inspire more people than just #energytwitter. For that I need people who know more than me about pop culture, art, literature, psychology, philosophy, and social sciences.

Do you know that stuff?
Can you help?
🧵

Most people I know are engineers who think about energy systems, storage, electric vehicles, etc.: technical nerds. I think it's safe to say that for 95% of people, their eyes glaze over when you talk about stuff like that.

I think our current climate problem is ultimately caused by our misconception that if we turn the earth into one giant factory, it will make us happy.

E.g. economics measures GDP that is basically throughput. It doesn't measure if we destroy the biosphere in the process.

The economic rational actor is a loner obsessed with buying as much stuff as possible in ideal markets.

Thank heaven we are social animals that care more about each other than bigger cars. We are just a bit confused by all the marketing that wants us to be buying machines.

At NEONresearch.nl we approach the world differently. Our bottom-up agent-based models aka digital twins like it when people are different. We love modelling how they interact. We construct our models based on real world maps with real buildings etc.

I want to make people understand that gives us opportunities to create a world that is respectful to actual people and circumstances.
(For me the concept that binds it all together is complexity science that sees the world more as a superorganism with emergent behavior.)

Anyway: do you know examples from the arts or pop culture that resist this economic vision? This Moloch that wants to turn the world into a giant factory with us as cogs? Think Modern Time (Charlie Chaplin) and Howl (Allen Ginsberg).

Or maybe that posits a positive alternative!

Do you know examples from philosophy? E.g. I think postmodernism is partly a reaction to the small minded pigeonholing of the 50s and complexity theory might be a theme that can connect such philosophy to thinking about creating our sustainable future.
amazon.com/Complexity-Pos…

If we use the same (mental) models that allow us to understand ecologies, it will enable us to understand & respect humans (ride Haidt's elephant).

Instead of ineffective dictators we become gardeners of a more inclusive and just society. Do you know anybody who thinks so too?

Do you know examples from religion? I love how Chris Atran sees religion as "the creation of sacred values" and Thomas Berry thinks religion can make us understand all life on earth is sacred.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Atr…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Be…

Kaufmann also linked religion to complexity science and I see that too. But I have a hard time finding more examples.
amazon.com/Reinventing-Sa…

Another theme I want to cover is tipping points. A lot is made of negative tipping points. I think @RogerPielkeJr might like the pictured quote about many people being disaster junkies.
But I've found dozens of papers saying this makes people depressed while achieving little.

Insead of "designing nightmares" (Fava) we should look more at positive tipping points. There is some scientific literature about that but what is there in arts, literature, psychology, and philosophy?

Hard for me to find such intuitive connections.

Personally I also like the metaphor of "spaceship earth" (Buckminster Fuller) that reached many people but it's technocratic hierarchical. Gaia is nice too.

What other metaphors are there in pop culture that focus us on the idea that we are on a long journey on a limited planet?

To conclude: I feel we need alternative and inspiring images to counter the dominant economic and Apocalyptic discourse. Images that bring other groups on board. But I have trouble finding them. If you can think of some references and let us know, I would be most grateful.
/end