Open access
FUTUROLOGICAL REFLECTION ON THE BASIS OF THE IDEA OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Wiesław SZTUMSKI1
Transformacje cyfrowe – potencjały zmian
Publication language: Polish
Journal article
Transformations No. 1 (112) 2022, Publication date: 30 March 2022
Keywords: environmental degradation, metanoia, resource scarcity, new slavery, new wilderness, adaptive potential
Abstract The article contains the author's thoughts on what awaits humanity in the near future, probably still this century. It looks dramatic. Despite the warnings of ecologists and the idea of sustainable development, people continue to destroy irresponsibly the natural environment and other species of fauna. They reduce the biodiversity thanks to which they live and they destroy the equilibrium mechanisms, which weakens the stability of this environment. They recklessly exploit the depleted deposits of fossil and non-fossil raw materials, as well as water and oxygen. They also do not oppose the excessive degradation of the social environment, which makes it increasingly risky, unstable, chaotic, unpredictable and full of exacerbating contradictions. They are becoming more and more fooled by politicians and corporatocrats, because of which common sense, self-preservation instinct and freedom are lost. They indiscriminately succumb to new standards of fashion, expression, behavior and thinking that contradict standards traditionally considered good or correct. This is due to the excessive belief in the benefits of science and technological progress, the ideologies of excessive liberalism and consumerism, and the universal cult of money. The rulers of the world ignore expert reports showing real threats and sinister scenarios of human collapse. The turning back from the abyss seems possible thanks to the New Matanoia and the New Enlightenment of the masses. Had it succeeded, humanity would have entered a new phase of development in the Anthropocene and would have had a chance of even longer survival.
Uniwersytet Śląski w Katowicach, Polska
ORCID: 0000-0002-6353-7206
E-mail: ws34@op.pl