Living Within Limits - Chapter 19

Major Default Positions of Human Biology

1. Our Earth is the Total World for Most of the Human Species - though I'm a fan of science fiction, it is a difficult to refute this truth, and it is unlikely to change in the near future (if ever).  Space 'Hope Operas' which portend otherwise do a disservice to their fellow human beings.

2. Rewards Determine Behavior - the rewards of parenthood are subtle and imperfectly understood.  It may be rewarding to explore this in greater detail if we want to change our behavior.

3. We Can Never Do Merely One Thing (Hardin's Law) - also known as Law of Unintended Consequences.  Curiously, this is similar to the Butterfly Effect found in Chaos Theory.

4. There's No Away to Throw to - the sooner we begin teaching this to our children, the better

5. 'Guilty' as the Default Position of Choice - ancient Anglo-Saxon law set the default position of criminal law as 'innocent until proven guilty'.  While commendable, social laws should be governed by the opposite maxim.  We are beginning to make progress, but there is still much to undo.

6. The Impact Law (I=P*A*T) - the impact (I) on the environment can be viewed as the product of the population size (P) multiplied by per-capita affluence (A), as measured by consumption, multiplied by the damage done by the technologies (T) employed in supplying each unit of consumption.