Yes it was sarcasm.
The only celebrity I take seriously is Schwarzenegger... because he's an American from Europe ... and because he has defeated lots of cgi-animated robots and saved the world more times than I can count ... one more time shouldn't be a problem for him ^^
This mentions the ultimum game:
http://ariresearch.org/new-economy/the-psychology-of-economics
I think that's an example of how irrational and stupid people can really be. They rather lose something themselves than to let the other person get away relatively better than they.
If Europe would invest a lot lot lot of money in measures to reduce CO2 for example, the whole world would become a better place. Everybody wins. But Europe pays and therefore it's perceived as inequal and nothing's done.
We should really be more single-minded than this - the only thing that matters is our survival. It doesn't matter if it costs money and if other don't want to participate. I think we (Europeans) should simply do what needs to be done - not for the rest of the world, but first and foremost: for ourselves, so that we will survive. It's a bonus if the rest of the world will be saved, too.
This is a psychologist who's investigating the reasons why people don't do anything.
http://science.time.com/2013/08/19/in-denial-about-the-climate-the-psychological-battle-over-global-warming/
In the following you can find a paragraph about the myth that if 2 people have the same information, they'll come to the same conclusion... which they don't
http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/persuasive-techniques/
Of course that's nothing new ...
Also interesting, might apply to some politicians as wel:
http://nymag.com/news/features/money-brain-2012-7/
I'm thinking of the US of course, which acts pretty selfishly in the world. The biggest pollutor (CO2), and they just don't care about anything...
Perhaps it is in our nature to deny something that's bad, really bad.
History has examples of that ... even the bible has an example of that ... it had to do with a flood I think. And the second world war was also something where politicians kept denying problems until it was too late. And the financial crisis too ... well in fact every economic bubble is like that: things get out of hand but people think it's the new normal and they cannot believe there is a problem, until reality catches up with them.
We humans are very good at adapting and we quickly forget how things were. I know that from my own experience in the stock market. One year everything is doom and gloom and a year later stocks are up, everybody is used to the new situation and it is really hard to remember the period of doom and gloom. You actually think: what was it again that we worried about so much? I don't really remember...
Yes... I think we are naturally born deniers.
Oh I found this very nice article.
http://strongopinions.org/living-in-the-anthropocene-toward-a-new-global-ethos/
I will quote the last paragraph because it's so good:
"Imagine our descendants in the year 2200 or 2500. They might liken us to aliens who have treated the Earth as if it were a mere stopover for refueling, or even worse, characterize us as barbarians who would ransack their own home. Living up to the Anthropocene means building a culture that grows with Earth’s biological wealth instead of depleting it. Remember, in this new era, nature is us."
On the bright side, after our angry descendants cleaned up our mess, the descendants of our descendants will think very highly of our descendants.
And humanity will have learned a very important lesson.
- Never to mess with mother nature -
