Today 
Looking at our world it's hard to ignore that certain things follow precise patterns: the rises in the East and sets in the West. After the rain comes sun, after the sun comes rain. Carnivores eat herbivores, while herbivores eat plants.
Behind these simple patterns, a careful observer will notice further patterns: The sun rises in very specific points, gradually moving further south, then north, as the year progresses. The heat of the sun causes water to evaporate, forming clouds, which is going to result in rain once more. And the abundance of herbivores causes the population of carnivores to go up, which in turn will eat more herbivores, reducing their numbers until their scarcity drives carnivore numbers down, giving a chance for the herbivores to reproduce again.
Many people take a great deal of solace from these recognized patterns. After all, it's comforting to know that the cold of the winter (or the heat of the summer) won't last forever, and that after several years of a bear market we are bound to see a bull run. But just because something has been happening seemingly forever, doesn't mean that it's guaranteed to continue in the same way. When faced with irregularities to expected patterns, many people react with worry and concern. However, these disruptions to the prevailing tendencies are just as natural to our world as regular patterns.
Could you imagine a world where everything followed always exactly the same patterns? Systems in place would soon reach perfect equilibrium, with smaller and smaller swings to the pendulum, until everything would come to a static halt in pure perfection. And for sure, certain homeostatic forces are working precisely for this aim. But there must be something opposing them, or how else could change happen?
Just imagine how the world must have been thrown out of balance when the first plants started making lignin and growing into tall trees, literally overshadowing their herb-like neighbors, hogging all the sunlight for themselves. Or consider the first time a colony of single-celled organisms evolved into a multi-celled one. Or how about the time when primates first started not only using tools, but making them, teaching each other these skills, eventually even cooking their food, and splitting atoms to power their electric stoves.
All of these events included a certain wild-card, something that hadn't been there before, but then changed the game forever for the rest. Without a chaotic disruption, evolution would not have been possible.
With news about global warming and the 6th mass extinction all around us, it seems like we are headed straight into the next great disruption to familiar patterns. Just like the previous mass extinctions, they wiped out all but a small fraction of the existing biota on earth. However, life always managed to find a way back, and each time its abundance and diversity only increased. We still have the reptiles, insects, and fish that dominated previous periods, but this time around they are smaller players in a more complex system... A system that seems to heading towards its own end. We may be correct to assume complete collapse, especially of our own, human-made systems, all built on top of the natural one.
So yes, just like how any reasonable individual should confront themselves with their own demise (we're all going to die, maybe even today), we should also consider the end of our culture, our civilization, even our species as a likely probability (maybe even in the foreseeable future). Once we've come to terms with this notion, it won't look so bleak any longer. Instead, we may take comfort in the thought that whatever comes after us will be more diverse, more complex, and most probably better adjusted to its surroundings. After all, every interruption invites a new balance to develop.
Image Source: Pixabay
#ecotrain | What is EcoTrain | Discord Community
#cyclefeed | Introducing CycleFeed | Discord Community
