Ecology: Biology of Interaction. VI-21. Fear of GM Foods (and a Few Words about Democracy)

VI-17. Eco-conversion If people want to survive, they will need a fundamentally new way of thinking. Albert Einstein To thoughtfully and firmly put an end to growth is the hardest decision, and not an easy one to agree with. "The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome" I often say that taking care of yourself is absolutely necessary. But you can only truly take care of yourself by taking care of others, because we are social animals. Today, the future of each of us depends on all seven billion * humans. Take care of humanity, and it will benefit you the most. And if you only think about yourself, exhibiting short-sighted egocentrism, the result will be the opposite. Caring for others is in your best interest. Dalai Lama XIV * Already eight billion (author's note) Human activity and society as a whole are influenced by both innate characteristics and culturally determined norms. Social consciousness is a very inertial system. Many of its features were formed when humanity consisted of antagonistic groups that exploited natural resources that seemed inexhaustible. Those forms of behavior that ensured the success of small isolated groups (group egoism, parochial altruism, xenophobia, confrontation with a hostile environment) become inadequate for global humanity. Today, despite political fragmentation, humanity has become global. It is no longer individual groups of people exploiting their territories, but humanity as a whole using the biosphere, whose resources are close to depletion. However familiar the current way of acting may be, it is not the only possible one. In addition to the demographic transition, an energy transition is needed—a move away from dependence on fossil fuels, a transition to renewable sources. What other transitions are necessary to ensure our desired future? Probably, a prerequisite for humanity's survival is a comprehensive restructuring of social consciousness, associated with a change in relations with the biosphere—eco-conversion. Perhaps, from what you have read in this textbook, it has become clear that there are no ready-made answers as to what humanity should become—there is only an understanding of what it cannot be. For eco-conversion, it is necessary to free oneself from many common myths—obvious and implicit attitudes of our consciousness that shape our perception of reality and determine the nature of our relationship with it. Of course, no one can offer a "correct" list of such myths, let alone a set of provisions that should replace them. The authors of this textbook offer readers to consider one of the options for a list of these myths—as a basis for reflection and discussion. For some, some of these myths may seem like immutable truths. This can be both a consequence of the authors' error in including some elementary truth in the list of myths to be abandoned, and a lack of freedom in the reader's perception, who may be captive to the myths being discussed. Thus, according to the authors, our development is limited, among other things, by the following myths: — the myth of man as the pinnacle of creation and master of nature; — the myth that there is an authority (political leader, boss, God, prophet, genius, Big Brother, conclave of wise men, etc.) that can establish the correct course of action; — the myth that earthly life is not intrinsically valuable and serves only to test qualities that will determine true, posthumous existence (e.g., in paradise or hell); — the myth that an ordinary person does not need to rack their brains over global problems; it is the business of scientists, who will "figure something out"; — the myth of the omnipotence or superhuman value of science as one of the ways of our interaction with reality; — the myth that human social nature has allowed it to shed its innate biological properties; — the myth that innate biological properties of humans can be evaluated as "good" or "bad" (e.g., that man is inherently selfish and therefore bad); — the myth that other species can be divided into "useful" and "harmful"; — the myth that all properties of an organism are clearly programmed in its genotype (and the value of an organism is exhausted by the features of this genotype), characteristic of a vulgarized understanding of modern science; — the myth of woman as a breed of human beings intended for reproduction (characteristic of primitive patriarchal societies); — the myth of woman as a creature who should follow fashion, shine with beauty, lead a secular lifestyle, and not be overly intelligent (characteristic of a consumer society); — the myth of the existence of nations, as something united by "blood" (kinship) and deserving of sacrifices from individuals; — the myth of imperiality, of the task of ruling other peoples that stands before "great nations"; — the myth of the intrinsic value of the state, which in some way exceeds the value of its citizens; — the myth of "natural resources" as something of which we are the natural masters; — the myth that every person has natural rights to minerals buried within the borders of the state of which they are a citizen, and has no relation to minerals buried outside these borders; — the myth that happiness and the value of an individual's life increase with the growth of their consumption level or wealth; — the myth that a self-respecting person must meet the consumption standards offered by modern advertising industry; — the myth of the existence of "objective" evaluations, more reliable than "subjective" evaluations of individuals; — the myth of the existence of "objective science," in which the researcher merely chooses a methodologically correct algorithm, collects input data, and transfers their processing to an impeccable algorithm that "itself" performs the necessary calculations and conclusions; — the myth that science should explore "objective reality" as a world of individual objects (things, bodies) that exist independently of us and our interaction with them; — the myth that science should find truth, not build a reliable (trustworthy; suitable as a presumption that can be corrected) model of reality; — the myth that we ourselves can be understood if we are considered not as perceiving, cognizing, and adapting subjects, but as certain objects of the "world of things"—"reality"; — the myth of the greater morality or value of the traditional, patriarchal way of life and its suitability for the current stage of human development; — the myth that the experience of ancestors, common sense, omens, and the value system formed in one era can be applied in conditions of ecological catastrophe; — the myth that a post-industrial society, whose main resource is information, can be sustainable while preserving the morality of an agrarian or industrial society; — many other, still implicit myths. Are you ready to take responsibility for your way of thinking, for the future of Earth and humanity?