How will you justify that man-made disasters occur due to the follies of man?

Question

How will you justify that man-made disasters occur due to the follies of man?

Answer 1

Well if man isn't prone to folly, how would we have man made disasters to begin with?

There is sadly nothing new about them, every culture as far as I know has their share of them.  Isaac Asimov wrote a science fiction book called The Gods Themselves.  I thought it was a weird title until I saw the full quote it was a part of: Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.  Wish I knew if that was his or something he borrowed from another writter.

The book Collapse by Jarred Diamond looks at several civilizations that rose to significant heights before receeding, usually (he argues) as a result of environmental folly.  He doesn't justify the collapses - just looks for reasons why.

Some of his reasons why:

(1) Interal pressure.  Elites in power tend to want to perpetuate their power.  The infighting sometimes takes creates dysfunction where rival blocks cannot cooperate.  Worse sometimes the rivalries invite or create a disaster as an unintended consequence of the power struggle.

(2) Cultural values: I was surprised to learn in Colapse that the Vikings in greenland had contact with inuits but never adopted any of their lifestyles.  The reason was one of cultural values - the settlements wanted (desperately?) to see themselves as part of Europe.

(3) False assumptions.  Iceland lost a lot topsoil in the initial days of viking settlement.  They transplanted the same kinds of agriculture to Iceland that they used in Norway.  Initially the two places seemed identical.  But Iceland (for a various reasons) sufferes errosion much more rapidly than Norway.  It was a false assumption that past techniques could be used there.

(4) Meant Well/Unintended Consequences.  Sometimes people don't know what effects their actions will be.  Early work with radiation and nuclear power are one example.  The Cahokia Indians who wanted to build a canal off the Mississippi were another.  Their irrigation technology was not equal to the task and they brought a disaster down on themselves.

(5) Tragedy of the Commons. Sometimes people in a location or environment make decisions that are rational on a personal level but result collectively in an irrational result.  The classic case is of over grazzing the village green.  A village communally owns a Common Green which each farmer can graze cattle on.  Each farmer has the economic incentive to get the most he can out of it.  There is no economic incentive to ease up grazzing - the farmer looses out on free pasture which increases his costs...making it harder to sell his beef.  Worse one of the other people will just use whatever grass he leaves behind making it easier (cheaper) to produce beef...which in turn again makes it harder for the first farmer to make a living!  The field looses out, is overgrazzed, and ultimately the land is ecologically degraded.

Answer 2

I don't and won't

Answer 3

Wonder how many people died perfecting the production and transmission of electricity, and still do.

So would you do away with electricity just because a few people die because of it?

The benefits will outweigh the misfortunes when we eventually learn from these follies.

Answer 4

hmm...bush got into office, and this ********* named katrina messed up everything.