The only reason anyone even believes it's possible to colonize space is because cognitive and perceptual biases cause us to assume that the human organism is separate from its ecosystem. It is not. The biosphere is one inseparably unified happening of which humans are part.
We developed these biases of perception out of evolutionary necessity; our recently-evolved prefrontal cortices gave us unprecedented capacity for abstract thought, but it couldn't help us advance our survival unless we thought of ourselves as separate from sabre-toothed cats etc
But really the biosphere isn't made up of separate "things" any more than a tornado or hurricane is. An organism is just a process, a happening, that is in nonstop interplay with the rest of the ecosystem on every level due to its need to eat, breathe, drink etc.
We're interconnected with this planet in so very, very many ways, many of which we probably don't even know about since we've never actually tried to live independently from it. Brief visits to space have been nothing more than glorified scuba excursions fully dependent on Earth.
But because we're conditioned to think in terms of a separation that doesn't actually exist in real life, we think we're these separate things that could just ship off into the stars. Really it's like thinking you can snip a swirling eddy out of the river it appears in.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
It's Really Weird How Little We Talk About Humanity's Imminent Doom
"It's like if you knew you had a deadly but treatable disease, and not only did you not pursue treatment, you also didn't think about it much and didn't talk about it with anyone." caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/its-really-w…
It's Really Weird How Little We Talk About Humanity's Imminent Doom
"People bicker and argue about global warming and what should be done about it and if it even exists, but climate change is only one of the many ways our biosphere is moving toward death" soundcloud.com/going_rogue/it…
Did you know the insects are vanishing?
They are. Land-dwelling insects like butterflies, ants and grasshoppers are now half as common as they were 75 years ago.
Funny how governments are suddenly super concerned about holding internet trolls accountable at the exact same time there's a global push for digital IDs to end online anonymity.
Public health or private wealth? How digital vaccine passports pave way for unprecedented surveillance capitalism
Billionaires Are Not Morally Qualified To Shape Human Civilization
Nobody who chooses day after day to let millions of people die of starvation has any business making decisions which affect other people, much less decisions which affect everyone. caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/billionaires…
Billionaires Are Not Morally Qualified To Shape Human Civilization (Audio)
"They are too narcissistic and dysfunctional to be permitted to have any power or influence whatsoever, much less the ungodly amount they wield today." soundcloud.com/going_rogue/bi…
Human civilization is being engineered in myriad ways by an unfathomably wealthy class who are so emotionally and psychologically stunted that they refuse to end world hunger despite having the ability to easily do so.
The Democratic Party is doing exactly what anyone who knows anything predicted it would do when they reclaimed the White House and the Senate and it's going to be rad watching American liberals learn exactly zero lessons from it.
The Assange Persecution Is Western Savagery At Its Most Transparent
"The prosecution has established as one of their grounds for appeal the claim that they can offer 'assurances' that they would not inflict some of their most brutal measures upon him."
What's ridiculous about these "assurances", apart from the obvious, is that within its own legal argument the US government reserves the right to reverse those assurances at any time and impose SAMs or maximum security imprisonment upon Assange if it deems them necessary.
So the most crucial human rights case of our time is proceeding without the person on trial being present either on person or on video, because he is too unwell as a result of his incarceration. #AssangeCase#Assange