SATURDAY, JAN 28, 2023: NOTE TO FILE
Confessions of an Elder Nerd
Not good news for 10 year olds
Eric Lee, A-SOCIATED PRESS
TOPICS: BIG PICTURE , FROM THE WIRES, HISTORY OF ERROR AND IGNORANCE
Abstract: On the Union of Concerned Elders (UoCE) and their delusions. What those who are the problem cannot see. Is this a 'full' confession? No.
COOS BAY (A-P) — I became webmaster for a group calling itself the Naturocracy Alliance in 2019 per request of someone I had maintained an email connection with for about nine years. We shared information (I mostly received information). I knew them only via email.
I had no professional interests and worked pro bono (I easily passed W3schools’ HTML, CSS classes, can read JS and PHP enough to modify, have done WordPress and Joomla! sites, and I used to be a professional assembly language programmer for Commodore 64/128, hence elder), as I’ve no interest in money.
The site was for member use, not for the public, a place to store and share content. Everyone used an assigned email with a redirect; there was no direct contact and members had agreed to focus on collaborative work and leave their persona/ego behind.
There were no political animals, or if some were, they had no ways or means to apply their skills. I’m guessing some were too well known and didn’t want to influence the work of the informal think tank other than by demonstrable merit. If even the most accomplished live long enough, they will cease to merit their reputation.
The only thing I knew was that I wasn’t a member. I was known only as ‘webmaster’ and as such I could view the files that were uploaded and listserv posts. I could see the email address that incoming email was redirected to, but I could infer nothing about who the redirected email was sent to, i.e. there was no email to al.einstein@princeton.edu.
The short of it is that I know nothing. For all I know there is one member with multiple email accounts using VPN to appear to be anywhere on the planet they want to be. Not likely, but I’ve imagined that my email pal who asked me to get involved was, at the time of first contact, a 15 year old with Asperger’s living in her parents’ basement (who would be 27 years old now) who was easily amused. To repeat, I don’t actually know anything (apart from the vast amount of information shared, nuanced opinions expressed, and that I am not a member).
I have been using some of the vast trove of information, such as I could understand, and either ‘they’ don’t know I have been sharing or she doesn’t care. My failure to spread purloined ideas seems curious to me, as they seem right with the evidence and reason thing.
I do know that the idea of ‘concerned elders’ was added to ‘naturocracy alliance’ and then ‘union of concerned elder’s’ came up to rhyme with ‘union of concerned scientists’.
Last year I put up the first public website for the Union of Concerned Elders (UoCE). It is intentionally lacking in any distractions, e.g. stylistic or functional web design elements, just text or information graphics. The current idea is to come up with a consensus warning to posterity (as step 0).
The 1992 World Scientists’ Warning didn’t work, so humanity isn’t listening, but maybe some young’uns would consider an informed, best-guess warning from those who might know more than they do about concerns all humans should have for posterity. The public site is an attempt at outreach to other potential elders.
The ideas of the UoCE may merit consideration. A pathway to a viable form of civilization (that could sidestep human extinction) should interest some, especially 13 to 19 year olds. But the evidence is otherwise.
I shared my view that the concerns of the ‘ecolate elders’ could not be shared on social media or mainstream media (including mainstream science) as to be Liked (clapped for), Shared, or Read, the UoCE would have to tell people what they wanted to hear (could find thinkable, e.g. when I joined ResearchGate I could indicate a research interest in ‘feminist’ or ‘Islamic’ economics, but not ‘biophysical’ or ‘ecological’ economics as such is outside the mainstream science Overton window).
I had mentioned that Medium is a form of social media that traffics in answers (instead of questions like Quora), a purveyor of offerings from pundits for consumers of confirmation bias (Webster’s Dictionary 1912 definition of pundit: ‘a solemn pretender to learning’, i.e. a public intellectual, talking head, citizen or professional journalist).
Assuming email passwords are not shared, I think I have a fair idea what the maximum membership of the UoCEs is (minimum would be one who owns all the addresses). If anyone were to submit a warning to webmaster, I would know.
Maybe in due time there will be submissions, but I’m beginning to suspect that there is not one human out there in bitlandia (that uses social media) that could consider having concerns for posterity that imply that posterity should be concerned about them, that they are the threat that posterity should be warned about.
We are the threat that posterity should be warned about.
'There is no question in my mind that the most harmful part of ongoing environmental despoliation is the loss of biodiversity. The reason is that the variety of organisms, from alleles (differing gene forms) to species, once lost, cannot be regained. If diversity is sustained in wild ecosystems, the biosphere can be recovered and used by future generations [of humans] to any degree desired and with benefits [to humans] literally beyond measure [i.e. modern humans, who like being told they are central to life of Earth, will benefit beyond measure by consuming it sustainably]. To the extent it is diminished, humanity will be poorer for all [human] generations to come. How much poorer [for humans]? The following estimates give a rough idea [of potential harm to humans of biodiversity loss]:...' --The Biophilic Hypothesis 1995, Chapter 1 by E.O. Wilson. p. 35
[The first sentence, if read from a naturcentric view, i.e. as harm to Gaia as world system, aka biosphere, is the non-Anthropocene enthusiast view. The rest is an appeal to Anthropocene enthusiasts to moderate their rapaciousness to benefit themselves as posterity, which reinforces self interested humancentrism, which is the opposite of biophilia and the cause of the Anthropocene mass extinct event, a failure to tell those in power that they are the enemy they need to meet.]
My best guess is that if any consumers of Internet offerings bother to write a warning to be considered by the UoCE, just on the off chance of saving posterity from extinction by Malthusian (i.e. horrible) die-off, that none will be vetted as both concerned for posterity and knowing why they should be concerned. But I could be wrong.
I assume that UoCE members can invite anyone they know in the hadronic world to consider joining them in writing a warning to posterity (I have no way to know), but I’m coming to seriously doubt that there are 17 elders (who are not already members) out there. Sadly, there may well be no where near the needed 1,700 ‘ecolate elders’ out there to help posterity mitigate the overshoot debt we Anthropocene enthusiasts have so wantonly incurred.
Given the overshoot debt posterity will pay, the near future is
not good news for 10 year olds.
I’m wondering if I should kill someone. (We humans are playing a global endgame… very badly, and the vast sea of denial we merrily row our boats on will sink all ships, i.e. maybe someone should do something for posterity’s sake. And… where’s that latte I ordered?).
My best guess is that the UoCE, while focused on real solutions (i.e. any wicked potential solution to our wicked meta-problem of ecological and civilizational overshoot), are foundationally wrong in imagining that there could be 1,700 notable elders (0.00012% of humans > 60, i.e. 1 in 824,000) out there that share their concerns (who among us is not a product of the modern education system?).
I’ve decided to continue with my nerd services, but only because I’d like to be wrong (and know I am) in guessing that posterity will not be warned. I’d rather know I’m wrong than believe my conjecture is correct. I am willing to stand corrected as why wouldn’t I want to be wrong?
Also posted on Medium.
