Humanities Environmental Crisis—Our Maladaptation to the Environments Mankind Creates
In the largest social experiment ever conducted by humanity, five billion of us have taken up residence in virtual space.? This is mankind’s most recent adventure into environments of its own creation and it is maladapted to this environment.
For the past 12,000 years, humanity has engaged in this tragic race.? It has been running from its genes.? Humanity evolved to live in institutions of its genes—the family and tribe.? After the Agricultural Revolution, mankind developed new tools and technology and used them to create numerous artificial environments—such as cities, nations, entertainment venues, and markets.? It used those tools as well to make these artificial environments safe, easier to live in, easy to access, and filled with pleasurable experiences.?
Since we did not evolve in these environments, it is reasonable to assume our hunter-gatherer brains and minds are not adapted to them. Our maladaptation is one of the reasons why many feel lonely in a city even when surrounded by millions of others. Of all these new environments, virtual space is the most alien.
In virtual space, we are semi-conscious.? We have five senses—sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.? In virtual space, we have only two: sight and hearing.? The missing senses play an important role in our lives.? Touch, taste, and smell alert us to physical threats as well as provide us with pleasurable experiences and play an important role in how we relate to one another.?
Virtual space can never completely substitute for physical space since we are conscious in one and semiconscious in the other.
Institutions of Our Genes vs. Institutions of Our Minds
Homo sapiens evolved 315,000 years ago.? For a little over 300,000 years, they have evolved, lived, and thrived in institutions of our genes.
At the time of the Agricultural Revolution, we were spending almost 100% of our time in institutions of our genes.? Today, we spend about 20% of our time there.? With the rise of social networks, many of us are spending 80% of our waking hours in virtual environments.?
As a species, we have not changed much since the Agricultural Revolution twelve thousand years ago.? We have not yet evolved to the point that our brains and minds are well adapted to institutions of the mind created after the Agricultural Revolution.
There is a considerable amount of research that suggests the hunter-gathers are more satisfied with life than those of us living in American and European cultures—environments created by our minds.? James Suzman makes this argument forcefully in his book Affluence Without Abundance.
When any species takes up residence in an environment it is not well adapted, it faces challenges.? We are the least well-adapted to many of our newest institutions in virtual space. Therefore, residence in virtual space is extremely challenging.? As one might expect, our migration to virtual space has triggered an increase in mental health challenges.
Since 2000, the year virtual space arrived, the number of individuals suffering from mental health issues has increased dramatically.? Depression increased significantly in the U.S. from 6.6 percent in 2005 to 7.3 percent in 2015. The rise was most rapid among those ages 12 to 17, reaching 12.7 percent in 2015.[i] Suicide rates increased 33 percent and were responsible for more than 47,500 deaths in 2019.[ii], 4 A recent study concluded that among college-age students, narcissistic personality traits rose just as fast as obesity from the 1980s to the present.[iii] Nearly 1 out of every 16 Americans has experienced the symptoms of NPD—Narcissistic Personality Disorder.[iv] Anxiety increased from 5.12 percent in 2008 to 6.68 percent in 2018 among adult Americans.[v]? Currently, nearly one in five adults in the U. S. ( 51.5 million in 2019 ) suffer from mental illness that can range in impact from no impairment to mild, moderate, or severe. Alarmingly, 5.2 percent of the population exhibits the symptoms of severe impairment.[vi]
Undoubtedly, numerous factors contributed to these increases.?
There are no known studies quantifying the contribution our maladaptation to virtual space has made to the problem.? But there are numerous studies indicating a high degree of correlation between the heavy use of social media and various forms of emotional disorder. Several studies have been able to identify instances where the heavy use of the internet has increased the level of emotional distress.?
Facebook has been studying the impact of Instagram on mental health since 2019.? Their studies found that “Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse,” and that “Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression.”? Among Instagram users, 25percent of teenagers who reported feeling “not good enough” said the feelings were triggered by Instagram.? On Facebook, users are surrounded by the perfect and patched-up perfect. They find themselves constantly engaging in a comparison race with the ideal—a perfect formula for destroying self-esteem.
Research funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) tracked internet usage of nearly 1,800 individuals across 11 well-known social media platforms.? It concluded heavy users of social media were 2.7 times more likely to be depressed than casual users.[vii]? Researchers suspect that when emotionally vulnerable individuals spend large amounts of time comparing themselves with the “perfect images” of others on social media, they worry about being left out and question their own self-worth, leading to depression.[viii]? So even though the rate of depression went from 6.6 to 7.3 percent, an increase of about 20 percent, it is possible that a significantly greater share of heavy users of virtual space that suffered from depression saw an increase in its intensity.
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The Consequences of Virtual Environments
Virtual space powers the growth of narcissism.? Many who spend time on social networks constantly compare themselves to the images others present of themselves. Those images are frequently doctored to make the presenter look better than they really are.? The attempt to compete can lead to grandiose exhibitionism, one of the effects of narcissistic personalities since those with high scores on grandiose exhibitionism tended to amass more friends on Facebook.[ix]
There is a duality between tools and environments.? A city is a tool that facilitates trade and communication.? Many people live in cities, and for them, a city serves as an environment.? Virtual space can be used as a tool to provide us with information and facilitate social interaction or it can be used as an environment.? Individuals who spend a lot of time on social networks are using virtual space as an environment.
The new virtual space is one of mankind’s greatest inventions.? It should be used as a tool.? When used as a tool, it has the potential to greatly improve the quality of our lives.? Unfortunately, many make the mistake of using it as an environment. For many, virtual space is a dangerous environment.
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Old Virtual Space and New Virtual Space
You may be surprised to learn that virtual space is nothing new.?
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Homo sapiens have lived in virtual space from day one—the old virtual space.? Living in the old virtual space enabled mankind to prosper and survive.?
There are two kinds of virtual space of concern to us. The first, the old virtual space, is created by our five senses when they interact with the natural environment—sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.? The new virtual space, the one we are maladapted to is created when we insert technology between ourselves and the natural environment.? In many instances, we interact only with the technology and never make contact with the natural environment.
Our senses provide us with vital information about our environment.? Our senses created the old virtual space we have lived in since day one.? This old virtual space enabled humanity to survive.
In the physical world, there are no sounds or colors only air pulses and electromagnetic radiation.? If no one is in an art museum, the paintings have no colors.? If a tree falls in the wilderness and there is no one there to hear it, it does not make a sound.? Our senses respond to changes in air pressure and electromagnetic radiation and pass signals to our minds and brains that create the colors we see and the sounds we hear.
When we enter the new virtual space, we make the assumption that it is very similar to the old virtual space.? Unfortunately, this is not true.? In the new virtual space, we are semi-conscious.? Only two of our five senses, sight and hearing work.? Sight and hearing are such powerful senses that we feel conscious of our environment even without the other three senses. But those three senses are key to creating the environment in which we conduct our lives.?
When we interact with others in new virtual space, it is a two-sense interaction.? With limited eye contact and devoid of touch, taste, and smell, our relationships are less meaningful.? Eye contact, touch, taste, and smell play important roles in building trust.? It is one of the reasons, we look one another in the eye and may hug a person when we enter a room.? It is difficult, if not impossible, to build trust in a two-sense environment.?
Something does not smell right about new virtual space. No smell is not the right smell.? ?
Threats and fear work differently in old virtual environments. Most of us live in relatively safe physical environments.? When we encounter dangerous environments, our senses alert us. We may smell a noxious environment, hear a loud sound, or see a threatening situation.? Fear is preceded by a signal we sense.? In most instances, we do not have to look out for trouble.? It alerts us of its presence.?
When our senses detect a threat, they send an alert signal to our amygdala which takes charge of our fight-or-flight and emotional response.?
In new virtual space, we have a much larger attack surface.? We can be attacked from any place that has internet access.? We may not even be aware that we are being attacked in new virtual space.? The attacks can go viral, which amplifies their potency. Attackers can easily hide their identity.? It is more difficult to fight off an attack if you cannot attack the attacker.
Attacks in new virtual space need not send warning signals.? So, to determine if I am being attacked in new virtual space, I may have to search for those attacks.?
One of mankind’s great hopes is that technology will improve the quality of our lives.? But that only will happen if we use technology correctly and responsibly.? Technology should be used as a tool to improve the quality of our environment.? We should use it to heat and cool our homes, to speed our travels, and provide us with enjoyable experiences.?
But we must keep technology in its place. When we let technology become our environment, we become the tools of the technology's creators and owners, lowering the quality of our lives.?
If you want to improve the quality of your life make sure you are spending time living with your physical tribe.? Spend time talking with one another and looking one another in the eye.? Spend time helping one another.?
You evolved to do those things.? Your genes were designed for interaction in physical space.? Sorry, in new virtual space, you are an alien.?
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Chief Cyber Risk Officer at MTI | Advancing Cybersecurity and AI Through Constant Learning
3 周Thank you for sharing these valuable insights. The lack of sensory depth in digital spaces indeed contributes to a sense of isolation and detachment, contrasting sharply with humanity’s intrinsic need for rich, physical interaction. This shift highlights the importance of reassessing technology's role in our lives, urging a balanced approach that prioritizes meaningful, in-person experiences crucial for mental and emotional resilience.
Interim Head of Social Sciences | Committed to the Public Liberal Arts
2 个月VERY interesting read, thanks