Open Thread - 02-10-23 - The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse
Submitted by JtC on Fri, 02/10/2023 - 8:25am
Authors note: The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse. What is that? Greed. [1]
One may wax philosophically about that which ails man, especially in this day and age of policrises. An argument can be made that our current dilemma is caused by a myriad of causes, such as dwindling resources, or overpopulation, or climate change, or war, or economic collapse, or global health. Any one of these can be considered existential. Here we are in the third decade of the new millennium, confronted with all of these crises at the same time. Is it by chance that this has happened or is there an underlying causal phenomenon at work? It is tempting to lay blame at the feet of overpopulation as the root of all our current emergencies. That may very well be true. This piece is not about the temporal aspects of the policrisis, but more about the philosophical tenets of the existential fork(s) in the road. In other words, that component of the human psyche that has brought us the point of no return.
In my simplistic and humble opinion it all boils down to one human trait: greed.
