7 Thought Experiments for Earth Day
Frankly #62
In honor of this Earth Day (my favorite holiday of sorts!) I’d like to present 7 thought experiments geared towards imagining scenarios and outcomes for ourselves, society, and the planet. While not rooted in reality, thinking through hypotheticals can be a valuable way to reflect on our ethics, ideals, and future decision points - and they can be fun to come up with.
From the perceived quick-fix of solar panels to magic solutions for infrastructure and governance, how might human cultural values impact outcomes for the biosphere? How do humans and the climate shape each other, and what does that mean for the less stable climate we’re headed towards? If they knew the situation today, could humans from hundreds of years ago have avoided the carbon pulse - and what opportunities and responsibilities do we have today, living in the future's past?
In case you missed it…
This week, I was joined by inventor and investor Tom Chi to take a broad look at the principles guiding innovation and capital - and how we might shift these to be more biophysically aligned in the future. For the past few centuries, our global industrial system has been dominated by growth-based economics without awareness of its dependence on the biosphere - or the waste that it leaves behind. What cultural shifts could we imagine that move beyond seeing ourselves as simply dependent on ecological systems - but rather as a part of the entangled whole?
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