by tristero
From a book review by Rob Nixon of The Human Age by Diane Ackerman
The 21st-century rise of the Anthropocene [the “Human Age”] as a unitary-species story coincides with a trend toward rising inequality, between the haves and the never-will-haves. In America, we call this the second Gilded Age, but in nations as diverse as China, Ireland, India, Spain and Nigeria, the idea of the human is also fracturing economically. In 2013, the world’s 85 wealthiest individuals had a net worth equal to that of our planet’s 3.5 billion poorest people. Since 1751, a mere 90 corporations, primarily oil and coal companies, have generated two-thirds of humanity’s CO2 emissions. That’s a serious concentration of earth-altering power.
When [author] Ackerman uncritically quotes the futurist Ray Kurzweil’s prediction that “by the 2030s we’ll be putting millions of nanobots inside our bodies to augment our immune system, to basically wipe out disease,” this reader was prompted to ask: Pray tell, which “we” would that be? The facts are that in 2014 the number of forcibly displaced people has topped 51 million, the highest figure since World War II. Yes, technological innovation will prove critical in the battle to adapt to the hurtling pace of planetary change, but let’s acknowledge that we’re doing a far better job of encouraging innovation than distributing possibility.
(Emphasis added.)
Somewhat apropos, see this unbelievably sad story, too. Truly inexcusable.