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Loquebantur • yesterday at 8:53 PM • 1 reply • view on HN

The point about our current situation can best be understood with complexity theory.

Complex systems can be interpreted as trajectories in high dimensional spaces. When a complex system is pushed out of equilibrium too far, it "runs up against its constraints", the borders of the space it can operate in.

It follows those towards edges and along those finally into corners (so to speak), reducing the degrees of freedom along the way. "Being cornered" is an accurate visualization of a complex system out of options: you have nowhere to go.

Our society is such a cornered complex system. "Crises" are themselves symptoms of reduced resilience: the system cannot evade them. They compound, eventually overwhelming the coping abilities, leading to catastrophic break down of entire subsystems and further domino effects.

The same observation is correct for our natural environment, whether you look at biodiversity, climate or other pollution-induced stressors.

So no, it's not "the human condition". It's the end-state of a prolonged lack of course-correction.


Replies

polishdude20 • yesterday at 9:02 PM

Isn't this how it always was though? It just feels to the individual it's different probably because our news feeds are all so toxic. The stuff that's happening in the world is bad but the way it's presented and with such significance is way worse.

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