When a species eliminates all predators, it is a threat to everything. And when its population reaches astronomical numbers, this threat becomes existential. Everything is attacked, including the inanimate world: atmosphere, weather, energy, temperature. The planetary infrastructure is taken down bit by bit, much like a Hollywood set hurriedly dismantled to make space for the … Continue reading Hallucinating Parasites and the War on Physics
It is ironic but not at all surprising that, for a civilisation which prides itself in having taken care of its most basic needs a very long time ago, its demise will come down to the one, most basic thermodynamic need which is common to all organisms, regardless of level of intelligence: Food. Civilisations … Continue reading Food and Life: the Double Disappearing Act
Every ecosystem takes steps to curb species that over-proliferate. Those with long arms who continuously eat more than their fair share are always brought to justice and pay a hefty population price. As the population of the species explodes, alarms go off. The ecosystem senses a bottleneck in the food chain, an expanding bulge, like … Continue reading The Curse of the Self-Destructive Predator
A spark, a hiccup. That’s all that humanity ever was on the planet’s geological timescale. A brilliant colorful flicker, a burnt fuse, then time carries on. As they grow and expand, all civilizations are easily deceived by their own momentum. After reaching a certain size, they become arrogant enough to call themselves “empires”. A web … Continue reading The Arrogance of Empire
Although “sentience” is defined as “being able to perceive or feel things”, nowadays the term seems to be used exclusively in the context of comparing humans to animals, or to artificial intelligence applications. There is a desperate effort to prove, once and for all, that humans are the only species, or machine for that matter, … Continue reading The Absurdity of Human Sentience
There was a time when humans were foragers. There were no supermarkets, not even agriculture – in other words, there was no “food production system” as such. The system was Earth itself, and it was the level of food supply that moderated demand, which in turn, controlled population (and this further limitted demand). As long … Continue reading The Myth of a Sustainable Humanity
No human civilization has ever consciously, successfully limited its net negative impact on the planet’s species and resources. Never, ever in our history, has our impact on the planet diminished, except perhaps during events out of our control or conscious intention: plagues, wars and similar situations which resulted in either a big economic recession or … Continue reading The Illusion of Hope
Imagine if the world economy had suddenly fallen appart. Container ships would pile up at ports like driftwood in a clogged river. Factories would shut down in China and people would be sent home to watch cat videos on TikTok. Supermarkets would struggle to fill up shelves with items because moving food around the globe … Continue reading What Would A Total Collapse Look Like?
He reached deep into one of the pockets in his jacket and took out the packet of Black Sky that one of the Revelers at the shelter had sneaked in as a goodbye present. He held the tiny ziploc bag up to the faint light, looking at the transparent crystals inside. Turning the bag sideways … Continue reading A New Earth – Petunia
continued from previous She closed the notebook shut with a single, slow but decisive hand movement. She kept on staring at it for a few seconds, almost in a comatose state, as she tried to wake up from her daydream. How could it be that the entire world was sitting inside a notebook, in a … Continue reading A New Earth – Disaster Gene
George Tsakraklides 