The Demise Of Tityas
You may have read my essay “The Homo sapiens dream in stark reality”. In it, I discuss the difference between the world that we humans contemplate and the world that actually exists. You may wonder what the difference is but that is because you have been conditioned to view the world as our oyster. That gives you a myopic view. I challenge you think outside the box. Forget for a time that you are a human and concentrate on what has happened in the past, what is happening now and so what is bound to happen in the future in the materialistic world. That is, concentrate on what happens in the objective world. Think through the issues raised. You will find it a shattering process and wonder what you gain by gathering the understanding. At the very least you will then find the prattles of our ‘leaders’ amusing. You should also be in the position to make sounder decisions in the difficult times ahead and help others to do the same.
I will concentrate on the objective world in this essay. There is a vast amount of discussion about what is happening in the operation of society. This is particularly so now with the global financial crisis topping the ratings. Aspects of the subjective world like that are not addressed here because they only confuse the issue of what is happening in the materialistic objective world. That is, I will focus on reality rather than on what people believe. The facts are quite plain.
That concentration on the objective world will help you to think outside of the box. It will help you perceive what the future holds because natural forces always determine what happens. Does that statement make you wonder whether it is worthwhile continuing to read on. It is not what you have been taught. Hang on and I will soon put your mind at rest. The terrestrial and marine eco systems on Planet Earth have evolved over billions of years under the stimulus of natural forces. You will have no problem with that assertion, as you will doubtless know something about evolution. Quite probably you will have heard about Darwin and his theory. This evolution has been the consequence of the application of natural forces on matter for a long time. And the basic process has not changed under the influence of human beings. Our technology has only made use of some of these natural forces. We kid ourselves when we believe technology has take over from natural forces. The best it has ever done is use some of these natural forces for our purposes. A coal-fired power station enables the conversion of bond energy in carbon and oxygen to be transformed into the kinetic energy of electrons in a conductor. We do not have the means to create carbon, oxygen or any of the other elements.
I need to expand on that point about the materialistic world to ensure that you understand what I am referring to. Matter has mass. It has sustenance. It is dirt or iron ore or wood or the countless other bits and pieces that comprise the terrestrial and marine ecosystems. It comes in liquid, gaseous and solid forms. It is composed of mixtures or chemical compounds of the elements. Some of it can undergo energy transformation through chemical reactions. Some, such as oil, can supply energy to do useful work, in our estimation! Some collections of matter may undergo motion with a flow of energy that dissipates to waste heat. The kinetic energy so clearly visible in a waterfall ends up as a slight heating of the water at the bottom. Science tells what happens to that energy, as we cannot determine that result ourselves.
All organisms consist of a complex mix of many forms of matter in motion or in transformation involving the irreversible flow of energy. Scientists have identified this fundamental nature of energy flow by the Laws of Thermodynamics. The operation of living organisms is well understood, especially be biologists and the like. This principle, however, also applies to inorganic systems such as rivers. They always flow down hill and heat the water very slightly due to friction. This behavior of both organic and inorganic systems is why Lovelock argues that the ecosystem is a gigantic organism, which he calls Gaia.
Natural forces determine what happens to an organism in prescribed circumstances. These circumstances may be defined by that abstraction, information. It does not have sustenance. It obeys no natural laws. Natural forces control the growth of a tree but information in the seed will determine whether it is a huon pine or an eucalypt. The information makes the decision and natural forces do the work. A number of people will make decisions about the construction of a skyscraper but natural forces will do the work taking the energy and materials required from natural capital.
This generalization applies to everything that happens in the objective world. Many decisions every minute determine what is happening in your body but the organs carry out their specific tasks while irreversibly using energy. Some of the information comes from DNA while room temperature is an external input. These sources of information only determine which possible applications of natural forces are evoked. The DNA defines the organism but natural forces carry out the production. Countless human decisions are made with respect to the day-by-day operation and maintenance of the systems of the city of Melbourne but those decisions have little influence if there is insufficient natural capital to meet the demand.
That has set the scene for what has happened in the operation of the eco systems over eons. Natural forces define the potential for materialistic activities in prescribed circumstances and abstract information often then determine whether these activities take place. In principle, there is no difference between a beaver making the decision to build a dam across a stream using the natural forces available to it, including its energy, and a pilot deciding to take off in an airliner. The decisions result in the irreversible use of natural material resources and the irrevocable production of wastes. There is however, a vast difference in what they have used and the wastes produced. This difference is the crucial point of this essay. The beaver makes use of materials that are replenished naturally. New trees naturally replace the fallen ones the beaver uses. Its dam will, eventually, be washed away by natural forces and the logs rot so nutrients are returned to the soil. The beaver’s activities have done no irrevocable harm to the ecosystem. This is a characteristic operation in Gaia. On the other hand, the engines of the airliner burn irreplaceable aviation fuel to provide the energy powering the aircraft. This combustion process produces gases that are contributing to rapid climate change. It is an un-natural process perturbing the natural carbon cycle. This is a characteristic operation in Tityas.
This brings us to the central theme of this essay. Humans have made the decisions about how to use irreplaceable natural material resources, such as the fossil fuels, to produce, operate and maintain the vast inorganic infrastructure of civilization, Tityas. This has resulted in the production of material wastes that have done much harm, including precipitating rapid climate change and increasing ocean acidification. It has also resulted in appreciable devastation of the ecosystem and much of this is irrevocable. Mountains have been degraded and arable land has been paved over. Water aquifers have been drawn down and vast tracts of forests logged. Toxic wastes have devastated many sources of potable water.
For eons, Gaia had operated and evolved by using what rightfully can be called natural material income. Then humans developed the means to employ natural forces to use what can be called natural capital to build, operate and maintain the structure of its civilization. It is appropriate to call this temporary usurper, Tityas, the delinquent offspring of Gaia. Tityas is temporary because it uses vast amount of the limited natural capital for its operation and maintenance. That is an unsustainable process. The demise of Tityas is inevitable. The declining human population of that civilization will have to make do on natural income as the natural capital becomes very scarce. But Tityas needs natural capital, including the concentrated energy that powers its operation and maintenance.
I have concentrated in this essay on what happens in materialistic operations as the result of decisions made naturally, including those by humans. Natural forces control what subsequently happens. The consequences are quite clear. The evolving natural organism, Gaia, has been preyed upon by the comparatively recent outcome of human ‘cleverness’, the synthetic organism, Tityas. The demise of Tityas is inevitable even though very few people even contemplate that possibility. Few recognize the energy flow that does the work of operating and maintaining Tityas invariably ends up as waste heat. So, a continuing source of concentrated energy is required to maintain that fallacious belief in the operation of civilization. Insolation alone cannot meet Tityas’ demands. And that energy source must not produce material that seriously degrades the ecosystem. Remember, there are numerous other irreplaceable raw materials that are also becoming scarce. The EU has prepared a comprehensive list. Add to that, the decline in soil fertility and the growth of deserts globally. These compound the problems caused by rapid climate change and the increasing acidification of the oceans resulting from the emission of carbon dioxide during the combustion of fossil fuels. Consider these and numerous other ramifications of the operations of Tityas’ systems and you have an appreciation of what industrialization has done to its life support system.
This essay has focused on what has happened in the materialistic world. Tityas consists of cities, highways, railways, seaports and airports, shopping centres, factories and houses. It includes TVs, cell phones, refrigerators, heaters and coolers. It supplies water, electricity and fuels while getting rid of wastes. It makes for comfortable living for the human population. Consequently, the decline of Tityas will have a significant impact on the life style of many people. I will not comment on that issue here as I am sure you will have your views of the sad outcome.
I expect that there will some very interesting discussion towards the end of the century on what went wrong and why. Economists will have rightfully been dismissed for their inability to account for the divestment of natural wealth. Their belief in market forces will be seen to have been based on the fallacious presumption that these forces act to the long-term good of society and the ecosystem. They had to learn the hard way that these forces drove unsustainable consumptionitis. Scientists will be lampooned for their inability to see the dominance of natural forces in every materialistic operation, even when they had not discerned the natural laws operating. There will be understanding that the best technology can do is worthwhile application of natural forces to the irreversible use of some of the remaining natural wealth. The businesses operating at that time will understand that they can only be profitable by making worthwhile use of natural wealth to meet the needs of a frugal society. It is to be hoped that there will have been a trend in the declining population towards re-localization and an improving quality of living due to better understanding of the place of our species in the natural environment. I will not speculate on how politicians may be behaving towards the end of the century. They have been amongst the powerful elite who has led us down the garden path. It could be that people power will have taken over the leadership mantle by then. There will have been a major challenge for the smart people in society to take up.
The money games have had an impact on the decisions made by some of the population but have had little influence on what happens to Tityas. It is really quite amusing to hear our leaders promoting the virtue of economic growth. The reality is that they are fostering speeding up the demise of Tityas. The credit problems of the US, Japan and EU are being offset for now by the booming economies of developing countries, including China and India. The recent global financial crisis affected the lives of many people but had little impact on the operation of the parasites, cities. No doubt money will still be playing a major part in the operation of society towards the end o f the century. However, it is likely that it will have a more realistic place in valuing the services of people and the operations of Tityas. Banks will probably have reverted to the traditional role of providing the flow of money backing the produce of needed goods and the provision of worthwhile services. The hierarchical nature of society has only had a deleterious influence on some of the populace. The rich will probably still be investing, wisely in the needs of the community and unwisely in financial games. Science and technology has contributed to the construction, operation and maintenance of Tityas by using up natural capital but can do little in the future to slow down its demise. The education system has not woken up to the stark reality that the temporary material wealth of civilization has been at the price of the permanent divestment of the limited natural material wealth available from Gaia.
Tityas is now a gigantic organism with an appetite for the limited natural wealth. It will be denied in the future.
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