Author Archives: nandir

Systems Theory and Crafting a Utopian Society

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The Upside of Down mentions the current trend towards isolated study when it comes to formulating solutions for improving our global conditions. However, the damage created by humans was created collectively. Individuals, corporations, and irresponsible waste across industries, all contributed to the current global warming crisis and vast inequality. However, a solution to this collective issue will not effectively come out of individuals working in their respective disciplines. It is essential to formulate an ecosystem that promotes an interdisciplinary approach with collaboration across fields and sectors. 

I was able to realize this through the Utopian action project. We were only able to fully execute our vision for a more optimistic future by collaborating with each other in a supportive environment. Everyone in our group came from different backgrounds, ethnicities, majors, etc., and were all able to provide our unique insight into creating our own utopian society. This aligns well with the systems theory discussed in the first weeks of class. Donella Meadows claims that “systems often lack sufficient information flows”. This lack of information may be one of the fundamental pain points of our current system. Information gaps can be easily addressed through open communication and the synthesis of ideologies.

 We can only fix our current societal system by working internally instead of looking to external solutions. Humans often deny their dependence and integration with nature. Oelschlager claims that our model “denies the connection between human beings and the natural world”. This is an extremely pertinent source of further issues that complicate our system. We attempt to look at technological shifts that depend on external solutions which only sets off more feedback loops. We must look even deeper and more internally on both an individual and societal level. I believe that contemplative practices and a strong welfare state may help fuel us in the right direction. 

Introspection: the Antidote to Capitalism

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Though I believed I had come to terms with my mortality, the contemplative practices in class helped me wander through depths I had not previously thought to explore. As an immigrant to this country, my family relied strongly on the value of hard work, and the ability to reap the fruits of your labor in America. As a result, I became invested in the allure of Capitalism, while still having concerns over its inherent inequality. This is a commonly explored topic in the book, Learning to Die in the Anthropocene. Though the new carbon-based economic system has provided an increased amount of riches and improved quality of life, there seems to be evident winners and losers. The author explains that cheap, efficient, labor has become the cornerstone of our society with a reverse in our carbon usage to mitigate climate change, nearly impossible. 

When reflecting on this during one of our contemplative practices, I tried to imagine what my life could look like without the riches of Capitalism. Somehow, having close to nothing seemed like it would provide me with a sense of intrinsic happiness like no other. However, I would still need to have some sense of security in living which would require a foundation of wealth. Through these practices, I tried to envision societies that may not be rooted in excessive wealth but in meeting necessities. If my fundamental needs were met, I would be able to truly immerse myself in activities that would help me gain the most value out of my life.

One of Walt Whitman’s poems reads: “human bodies are words, myriads of words, in the best poems re-appears the body”. I reflected on this in another contemplative practice. I filtered memories in the past where I have felt genuinely fulfilled. I realized that these were when I created art, poems, and stories that encapsulated my ideas at the time. I thought of singers and writers whose works are remembered well beyond their passing, and it dawned upon me that I could leave a legacy of my own (admittedly, at a much smaller scale). It is possible that others may be reassured by this as well. I believe that spreading contemplative practices to the masses is a partial antidote to Capitalism; it may only be with true introspection that we as a society may begin to internalize the limit to our quest for materialistic wealth.

The Quest for Immortality

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Our self-awareness and developed consciousnesses have provided us with a plethora of benefits,  but our constant awareness of death has left us in a  permanent state of terror. As stated in The Worm at the Core, “only we humans, due to our enlarged and sophisticated neo-cortex, can experience this terror in the absence of looming danger”. This fundamental state of anticipation leaves our species perpetually in a state of terror. 

In a constant search to find meaning in the seemingly bleak circumstances of the cosmos, humans have established multiple methods to try to and defeat this monster. To manage this terror, humans “sustain faith in our cultural worldview, which imbues our sense of reality with order, meaning, and permanence”. There is a constant search for a value system that supersedes death; humans cling on to their religions, political views, and educational perspectives. These systems of belief may be the reason why individuals seem to be so polarized in their political views as they stand their ground on “being right”. For example, take the politicization of climate change. Some groups derive meaning in their lives out of “fighting for something greater”, whereas other groups may deny the existence of our effect on the earth in order to justify their current behaviors and quests for capital. 

An additional way that humans manage this looming terror is by finding ways to remain immortal. The “path to literal and symbolic immortality laid out by our world-views require us to feel we are valuable members of our cultures”. Extremist political acts or quests for power seem to be the result of this framework of thinking. The argument can be made that our entire capitalistic system runs on this strategy for terror management. In Escape from Evil, Becker claims “power means power to increase oneself, to change one’s natural situation from one of smallness, helplessness, finitude, to one of bigness, control, durability, importance”. We’ve established an environment where the means to achieve this power and change in status is through wealth accumulation. The greed to achieve this faster has led us to exploit the resources around us in a quest to separate ourselves from the animal kingdom. 

There are ways to manage this terror in the Anthropocene without permanently destructing our environment. For example, we can incentivize and educate individuals to work on their symbolic selves as opposed to physical selves through positive immortality projects. 

 

Death as a Force to Unify Humanity: First Thoughts

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As a late addition to this class, I was completely unsure about the content that was to be covered but was excited about the interdisciplinary approach to learning. I’ve always found it frustrating when some classes seem to operate in vacuums as I am unable to place them into a greater global context. Regarding political interactions as an open system solves this issue; Donella Meadows’s article claims “when individual subsystems each have a different goal [they can] produce extremely unnatural and problematic behavior”. This created a concrete image in my head which allowed me to look at political and social issues from a novel perspective. Specifically, the claim that “paying attention to the inner workings of systems” would help further understand current issues resonated with me greatly. Modern news outlets and mainstream content seem to be rather pessimistic and hopeless in regards to any social advancements. Understanding this rich history of our society, cultural norms and previous configurations of the system would provide me with a starting point to materialize change.

I already feel as though this class has reframed some of my questioning as well as the ways in which I am filtering in new information. As humans, we know that we are all bound to die. I truly believe that this realization has cursed us instead of uniting us. Instead of working together to increase our quality of life as a species, we seem to be regarding each other as competition. As Rupert Read insists: “this civilization could collapse utterly and terminally, as a result of climatic instability […] food shortages, nuclear war, or financial collapse leading to mass civil breakdown”. Since those who bear the greatest burden of climate change are not the ones contributing most towards it, it is easy for developed nations to adopt the “out of sight, out of mind” view. The common experience of death should have unified us as a human race but has created a value system on life.

In this era of the Anthropocene, the irreversible impact that humans have on the world is indisputable. As an individual living in a time where every political decision may lead to further damage, it is essential to accept the current state of our world but still maintain optimism in terms of the change we can make through mass education and collaboration.

References:

Bradshaw, S., Richards, Jenny, Kyriacou, Sotira, Gabbay, Alex, Ostby, Magne, Cassini, Stefano, . . . Flaxmoor Productions, production company, copyright holder. (2016). Anthropocene. Oley, Pennsylvania]: [Distributed by] Bullfrog Films.

Ibe, Khalil. “Summary of Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows.” Medium, Medium, 2 May 2019, https://medium.com/@opuhasanopu/summary-of-thinking-in-systems-by-donella-meadows-b54aec0f40f8.

Google Image Result for Https://C.tenor.com/szzil3ny__caaaac/Life-Death.gif, https://images.app.goo.gl/XHj8dWSwA7gStSbq5. 

“This Civilisation Is Finished: Conversations on the End of Empire – and What Lies beyond: The Simplicity Collective.” The Simplicity Collective | A Community of People Exploring a Life That Is Materially Simple, Inwardly Rich., 14 June 2019, http://simplicitycollective.com/this-civilisation-is-finished-conversations-on-the-end-of-empire-and-what-lies-beyond.