Chapter 7 Paths to the Sustainable Human
Civilization
A (possibly) sustainable civilization (human society) is described in the previous chapter. It is set for 2080, but there is no specific reason for 2080. Unless the human society assumes at least some semblance to the society described by that future time, the human civilization would have deteriorated significantly by then and would be facing a collapse as a civilization. Human, as a biological species, may still survive, though. In this chapter, we get back to the present (2008/9/10) and will explore ways to realize such a sustainable society as described above.
The image presented in the previous chapter, however, may not be sufficiently concrete. It will not be fruitful to discuss the more details, unless people can agree on that the sustainable society described here may indeed be sustainable and be worthy of further exploration. A large number of issues have not been looked in this short essay, but they will be discussed and worked on, once building of such a society begins. The difficulty in this process is to find ways to arrive at such a society starting with the present chaotic situation.
Many concrete proposals have been put forward to bring forth sustainable societies [1~4]. Some fundamental issues that have not been touched on or not well thought-of will be briefly discussed in this chapter. Some basic issues in the economy are dealt with in chapter 4.
7.1. Changes in Worldview and Value System
One’s worldview and value system at the deepest level influence his or her behaviors. These are dependent on the culture/civilization. A child, since being born, would be constantly exposed to, and hence ingrained of the value system and worldview of the parents and the society. He or she breathes the culture. And it is hard to change the value system and worldview once being ingrained in their head. However, some of those common value system and worldview may have to be changed in order for us to attain sustainability as meant in this treatment. It is not our intention here to deal with all the different cultures on the present and ancient Earth. Only some of more prominent cultures will be discussed briefly; i.e., the European (including US), Islamic and East Asian (China and Japan). This does not imply that others are unimportant; only this writer is ignorant of those.
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