The Club of Rome (big think tank type org) reached an awareness in the last decade that it is necessary to examine old patterns. Published in ‘The Limits to Growth’, a report for the Club’s project on the predicament of mankind highlighted this particularly:
‘…new forms of thinking that will lead to a fundamental revision of human behaviour and by implication, of the entire fabric of present day society…an overall strategy must be evolved to attack all major problems, including in particular those of man’s relationship with his environment…we cannot expect technological solutions alone to get us out of this vicious circle…to define the balances that must exist within human society, and between human society and its habitat, and to perceive the consequences that may ensue when such balances are disrupted…we affirm finally that any deliberate attempt to reach a rational and enduring state of equilibrium by planned measures, rather than by chance or catastrophe, must ultimately be founded on a basic change of values and goals at individual, national and world levels…only the conviction that there is no other avenue to survival can liberate the moral, intellectual and creative forces required to initiate this unprecedented human undertaking…the last thought we wish to offer is that man must explore himself - his goals and values - as much as the world he seeks to change. The dedication to both tasks must be unending. The crux of the matter is not only whether the human species will survive, but even more whether it can survive without falling into a state of worthless existence.’
Now, it’s great to see this being said but who hasn’t heard these sentiments before? Is it just that the threat to our species has never been so great as in the last decade that we may finally be taking notice?