Journal Article10.1007/S13752-012-0062-2
Will Empathy Save Us
TL;DR: The authors argue that the liberal copying success of our genes is in conflict with the best interests of a sustainable civilization for our descendants, and if so, do the latter risk losing the empathic instinct presently called upon to save them?
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Abstract: Recent prescriptions for rescuing civilization from collapse involve extending our human capacity for empathy to a global scale. This is a worthy goal, but several indications leave grounds for cautious optimism at best. Evolutionary biology interprets non-kin helping behaviors as products of natural selection that rewarded only the transmission success of resident genes within ancestors, not their prospects for building a sustainable civilization for descendants. These descendants however are now us, threatened with ruin on a warming, overcrowded planet—and our evolutionary bequeathal, in giving us empathy, may have also given us potential for resolve in guiding cultural evolution for the best interests of humanity. But can the latter trump the best interests of our genes? And if so, now that the liberal copying success of our genes is in conflict with the best interests of a sustainable civilization for our descendants, do the latter risk losing the empathic instinct presently called upon to save them?
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On Human Nature
TL;DR: In his new preface E. O. Wilson reflects on how he came to write this book: how "The Insect Societies" led him to write "Sociobiology", and how the political and religious uproar that engulfed that book persuaded him to writing another book that would better explain the relevance of biology to the understanding of human behavior as mentioned in this paper.
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Societal Collapse: A Literature Review
TL;DR: A systematic multidisciplinary review of the existing literature (361 articles and 73 books) and identifies five scholarly conversations: past collapses, general explanations of collapse, alternatives to collapse, fictional collapses, and future climate change and societal collapse as mentioned in this paper .
Humanity on a Tightrope: Thoughts on Empathy, Family, and Big Changes for a Viable Future
TL;DR: Ehrlich and Ornstein this article, 2010, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD, Boulder, CO, New York, Toronto and Plymouth, UK, 184 pp., $22.95 (ISBN 9781442206489) (cloth).
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The Tragedy of the Commons
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The Tragedy of the Commons
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Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
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- 01 Jan 2005
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The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology
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- 04 May 2011
TL;DR: A radical and optimistic view of the future course of human development from Ray Kurzweil, whom Bill Gates calls "the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence".