Entitled

Has the human race progressed too much too fast?

It seems counterintuitive to ask: Have we, as a species, made progress?

You only need to look at marvels of modern medicine, engineering and computer science to dismiss this claim out of hand. But what did it take to get here and more importantly, is this progress sustainable?

The Journey So Far

We made it here on the back of our insatiable desire for better things. From nomadic hunter-gatherers to space-hopping settlers, humanity has come remarkably far since Homo sapiens first appeared. We achieved this through a combination of innovations that enabled us to understand our world better and push its limits further and cooperation between societies. But did we push too far?

The Destination

We’re here today, on a planet that’s burning up as we speak with ample evidence unequivocally blaming human activities for engendering climate change. This is the price of our progress. We can blame the oil and gas corporations, the governments, the economists, the bankers, hell, even ourselves. But the root cause may be far simpler.

We’re too entitled

We want and want and want. Our economics are built on the fundamentals of consuming as much as possible. Unfortunately — or fortunately — our resources are finite. Some more finite than others. Worse still, we don’t really realise what resources remain finite or how to treat them. Increasingly, we take too much for granted. Developed economies, founded off the back of cheap highly polluting energy from coal and oil and supercharged by cheaper Asian labour continue to assume their birthright to spend and live as their ancestors did. But can they afford to? And can the rest of us afford for them to? Worse still, the trends and quirks from these economies are increasingly finding footing in developing economies.

Solving problems where there aren’t any.

We’re increasingly solving problems that don’t exist. I’m frequently surprised by my colleagues who claim to use as many as 3 screens and a laptop for a job I think would require at most 2 screens. I listen with awe as I hear complaints of travellers from UK struggling to take their “annual vacation” to Greece even as millions visit food banks daily.

What of Uber? The so-called technological behemoth that “disrupted” the taxi ecosystem. Not everyone can afford to take cars and taxis all the time and that is okay. Instead of investing capital — both monetary and political — in improving public transport systems which have time and again proved to be excellent investments, politicians across the world opened the doors for Uber to walk in and devastate local industries before introducing us to the wonderful world of surge pricing (read — screw you over with zero transparency).

So much so that not finding an Uber is now a major inconvenience. Why? How? The last thing we needed was more poorly maintained, highly polluting cars on our roads. What did we get? Just that.

And what of 10-minute grocery delivery? It seems to just be yet another grift for startups to capitalise on cheap credit available so far. Now, there’s growing clamour for the taps of cheap interest to stay on and ominous warnings of recession.

But what does this lead to? “Solutions” like 10-minute grocery delivery are neither needed nor necessary, seeing as we cannot deliver life-saving medicines at a reasonable price, ensure ambulances reach the ones who need them on time. At the same time, we barely bother measuring the resource impact of these actions. What if I walked to the nearby store? What is the environmental cost of a person driving down a distance of 1–2 kms to deliver a packet of chips and a can of soda?

And what of our own lives? We already struggle to concentrate given our penchant for TikTok and Instagram. Do we really need to be more impatient?

Wants Before Needs

There is good reason for the so-called “West” to fear China. Western economies struggle to balance social responsibility with the burning desire to unleash capitalism and unprecedented growth. Do they deal with the communist Chinese? Do you continue to buy cheap oil from human-rights abusing oil empires? Like it or not, these have been bedrocks of the West’s economic growth for the past 30 years.

And it has generated a vicious trend. Cheap products ranging from phones to clothes have eaten their way into our ways of life. Fast fashion — an absurdly destructive practice — has become so commonplace that I frequently notice complaints about the sheer injustice of being unable to return 4 out of 7 clothes they ordered without bothering to check the size. Seriously? A

re we on the quest to employ anyone at all costs? And do we ever pause to consider if these are jobs that people want when they barely pay minimum wage? Would it be so bad if we wore the same outfit twice or, or, hear me out…thrice? It surely cannot be this simple?

Along the same lines, do I really need to eat the delicious chocolate spread that I know destroys Orangutans’ habitat indiscriminately? Probably, since that’s what capitalism tells me is the “most efficient” usage of our resources.

The Problems

There are two problems then; we solve unnecessary problems to generate “value” — the mythical but all important value in the world of cash-rich venture capitalism.

And we keep buying things we don’t need. Over and over again. When we can’t get them, we complain and resist and turn to populist megalomaniacs who lure us with promises they won’t keep, destroying our economies and democracies(looking at you, Liz Truss) for short term benefit and long term pain.

What can we do?

Think. Critically. Populism by definition tells you what you want to hear. Tells you you’re entitled to your life no matter the cost to others or future you. Don’t simply listen. Think. We need to get used to listening to hard truths. We aren’t entitled to things we take for granted. No, you don’t deserve to buy a new dress every week. No, we don’t deserve to be able to call an Uber at a moment’s notice. No, we cannot afford for everyone to have that lifestyle, in fact, the fewer the better.

Let go of the entitlement. That’s how we save the planet.