Dunkirk NY – In the mid-70s, AML’s sister’s husband was diagnosed with lung cancer. When they brought him to the hospital to attempt to diagnose the extent of the cancer, they opened him up, took a look, and closed him right back up. The tumor was already too large and entangled in too many other areas in the lungs and body. He died shortly after.
We face the same sort of situation in today’s society. All the issues that are straining at our societal infrastructures and norms have become too big to solve, and are so deeply entangled within the web of our culture that we cannot truly get in there and extract or solve them. Even if you were to consider all the advances in medical science that we have to fight cancer now as compared to the mid-70s, cancer inevitably wins.
Every societal issue you can think of in the 21st century has now become too large to solve. Add to that the tendency of people to hang on to the past as well as protect what they consider their own self-interest, and you have a highly potent mix of human forces that will insure that social entropy continues unabated.
Take transportation. The entire transportation infrastructure is so massive today that thinking about any path to a solution becomes impossible. Legislative mandates will raise issues of freedom of choice. Efforts to move from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles will be met with strong opposition from fossil fuel companies. The idea of modernizing, repairing and restoring the nation’s passenger rail system (Amtrak) will cost an exorbitant amount of money. Alternative means of transportation within major cities is, again, too expensive; people do not want to see their taxes raised to support these kinds of initiatives. Even worse, they do not want to see other parts of the national budget – namely, defense – have their funds re-allocated to help solve these problems.
Recently I read about a study done on Long Island that crystallized this idea very well. There is a massive affordable housing shortage on LI. Houses are too expensive, and the pool of buyers with the means to buy a house has dwindled. A recent poll indicated that a majority of LI residents agree that the need for more housing exists, and favor building more housing. But when you suggest that the housing needed has to be multifamily dwellings, apartments, or anything other than a single-family home, the majority of those polled were against all those solutions. It’s a common thread in American society: yes, I want that problem solved, but no, not at my expense.
In my neck of the woods, the same mentality exists. There are companies in the region trying to develop solar and wind power. At every turn, whenever a new proposal is brought forward to a local town board, there is strong opposition. The most recent opposition has been to offshore wind turbines in Lake Erie. The main point brought up in opposing wind turbines is that they will spoil the view. If you were to ask them where they expect to get clean, non-polluting power 50 years from now, they have no true answer. 50 years from now is not their problem. They prefer to see the status quo maintained, and carbon emissions continue to pollute the atmosphere, rather than spoil their view.
And this might be the greatest problem in terms of a problem too big to solve – changing how people think. Psychologically, people are not wired to think about issues or problems beyond their own personal death. And, naturally speaking, there is no reason that they should. Inevitably, when you see people dig in against a particular proposal, it’s because it represents some aspect of change to their current mode of existence. We need housing, yes, but don’t build an apartment complex here. We need power, yes, but build the solar farm where I can’t see it. We need to get people out of ICE cars and into EVs, but don’t take away my pickup truck that I seldom use for what it’s designed for. We need better public transportation, but make sure the people from the poor side of town can’t easily get to my neighborhood. And on and on.
The biggest contributor to societal entropy and the eventual breakdown of social norms and rules will be this inability to change humanity’s point of view from one of selfish self-concern to one of mutual support and co-existence. While humans have been wired to survive at all costs, they’ve also been given the ability to reason and modify their behavior, and to think beyond their own personal existence. Finding the balance between present self-preservation and future sustainability will be extremely difficult, and perhaps the biggest problem too large to solve. -twl