As discussed in earlier blogs, the human mind understands things better if we compare it with something simpler or something which we already know i.e. by giving analogies.
In line with that, I will describe another analogy in an attempt to explain “Ego depletion” and much more. It is a bit long but worth the time. So read on.
First, observe the figures.
These figures try to recreate a famous scene from the popular film named “Finding Nemo”.
Those who have seen the film will understand it almost instantly.
For those who haven’t -
“Finding Nemo” is an animated adventure film by Pixar animation studios. In this, a clownfish named Marlin, the father of Nemo, along with another fish named Dory, venture into an adventurous journey to find his lost son Nemo. The film is all about how, on the way to Sydney which is the probable location of Nemo, these two fish face a lot of hardships and how they escape these and meet new friends.
In the scene depicted in the figure, after uniting with Nemo, multiple fish along with Dory are trapped in the fishing net and the net is slowly but surely rising.
Unfortunately, we humans are in a very similar situation as these fish. All 7 billion of us, trapped in a fishing net of global warming which will, slowly but surely rise and the inevitable consequence of it is the total annihilation of our species possibly along with an almost complete wipeout of almost all the other species existing today. The evidence of the rise of the Net is overwhelmingly clear and the consequences, if the net keeps rising are almost certainly dire, just like the future of these fish if the net continues to go up. Alternatively, all these individual fish can be considered as individual countries.
What happens subsequently in the film is extremely inspiring for us.
Nemo, who is small enough to enter or exit the net due to his small size, enters the net and communicates to Dory and to all the other trapped fishes that there is still a way out. But for this to work, all the fish have to understand the grave situation they are in, and start swimming in the same direction, i.e. the direction opposite to the pull of the net. All of them almost instantaneously realize the cataclysm they are in and get motivated enough and start swimming in the downward direction, and in a matter of moments, pull the net so strongly that, to the surprise of the fishermen, they manage to snap one of the ropes holding the four corners together and free all of them. It gives an excellent illustration of “Unity is strength”.
In this analogy, we can learn multiple things as given below.
1. The basic nature of all fish would indeed be to keep swimming in any random direction whichever they want to swim. This randomness is not mandatory and the fish often swim in an exquisite pattern and coordination. However, in an instance of calamity like this, they are more likely to swim amok. This property is called as Entropy. A system is more likely to lean towards randomness and asymmetry rather than pattern and symmetry and additional energy is needed to make a system into a desired pattern or to achieve the desired symmetry.
2. For a concerted effort like this, all the fish have to definitively understand what is the present situation and what it will lead to. If, for example, half of them were unwilling to accept that they were all going to die if they did not put the effort, and they refused to come together and work in co-operation, the result would be quite different.
3. The direction in which efforts need to be focussed needs to be clear. Imagine what would happen, if all the fish swim together but not exactly opposing the net but perpendicular to it. The net would remain and so would their dismal fate.
4. What would happen if, for a minute the fish swam in the right direction, but then for some of their selfish needs or greed, half of them swam in some random direction or worse in the direction of the ascent of the net? Would they achieve their goal?
5. Imagine what would happen if 1/3rd of the fish are busy thinking about politics, 1/3rd about their own lives, their careers, their vacations, their kids and their homework and the rest of them busy behind money or Economy and in the process, they are rationalizing swimming in various directions which their respective needs demand, disregarding the fact that this direction is probably different than the direction in which the situation demands them to swim. This aptly demonstrates "Ego Depletion" i.e. the fish are so busy in their day to day chores that they forget to swim in the direction needed.
6. Imagine what if the number of fish was too small or the rope was made up of carbon fibre or other strong fibre. They would not get enough strength to pull the net and their endeavour would fail. There exists an upper limit to which every fish can push by swimming. If one is expecting a small clownfish to push as much as a whale can, we are bound to fail. Thus, you cannot expect the small fishes to not go to their offices or not send their kids to school. Judgements would vary about “how much we can expect from every fish”. The strategies which completely rely on every clownfish to push like a shark or a whale are invariably going to fail. I.e. strategies which do not take into account the psychology of an Individual who has limited or no knowledge about which direction to swim and expect the individuals to make huge sacrifices in their present, without providing an alternative would invariably fail to be accepted, let alone give results on completion.
7. Imagine what would happen if some fish want all of them to swim in the right direction, some are pleading that they all go left and some want most to go down. Till consensus is not reached as to which direction to go, we cannot gain any progress towards our goal.
Our goal should indeed be to maintain habitability of the planet for our children for centuries to come and thus should aim at all the factors responsible for it. Just maintaining CO2 levels or temperature and disregarding other factors cannot help. The habitability of Earth and multiple vital signs of the planet like salinity of ocean water, global average temperature, CO2 concentration, Oxygen concentration etc. For thousands of years, Earths habitability has been maintained by natural cycles with the symbiotic association of multiple species. It is as if all species are like cogwheels in the grand machinery of Nature. Every cog wheel has a single predetermined goal, to turn the next cog wheel with which it interacts. It will not help if we wipe out the majority of the cogs and replace them with humans. Earth with only humans and their bred animals which they use as food or pleasure is likely to be deficient in multiple of these natural cycles of Gaia. Thus only removing CO2 from the atmosphere with manmade machines although theoretically possible, will not heal the biodiversity collapse initiated by humans.
Thus the right direction towards which all our fishes (i.e. countries) should be to absolutely safeguard ecology and achieve long term balance in the carbon cycle by converting CO2 to biomass. Focus only on renewables or bioenergy or the electric vehicles and continuing our habitat destruction, overhunting, overutilization of resources and ecological annihilation is not the right direction to swim. We have to change every activity of humans that is detrimental to Nature.
There is however a significant difference between the reality of Global warming and this analogy. As soon as these fish realize that there is a net and they are in, they realize their probable fate. Thus motivating them is not difficult. Unfortunately, climate change will not shoot missiles at us like an invading alien civilization. And till the damage done by Global warming is so apparent, probably we would have missed the bus.
Imagine what will happen if most of the Fish are blind and cannot see the Net. Most of the fish would not get alarmed of the situation and would continue the "Business as usual of swimming in a random direction.
(Can you see or feel the Net we humans are in? Are you in denial of the situation? Do you still deny that Global warming can exceed 1.5 degrees by 2050 and in fact go as much as 3 degrees by the end of the century or even earlier making life hell for our children? Probably it is time for you to read more about Global warming - get more knowledge from famous books like "Farewell to Ice/ The Uninhabitable Earth/Six Degrees etc)
Imagine what will happen if the fish in our net wait till the end and start swimming when half the fish are already out of the water and are already suffocating? (see figure below) Their efforts are likely to bear fruit only if they start early.
Imagine what will happen if half the fish start thinking, “how is it useful, we are already doomed and nothing can save us?” They would never succeed. Thus it is inevitable that all the fish have faith in their ability to complete the task and survive. Thus, although they have to be given an idea about the seriousness of the situation they are in, constant doom and gloom do not help.
Imagine what will happen if all the fish are deaf and blind and cannot see or hear the person communicating the truth about their position. No fish would realize the true nature of the situation and none would react the way they did.
This is one important reason why our fish, in reality, are not reacting. Because they are deaf and blind. The thing which blinds people from seeing the truth and makes them shut off their ears to the reality is what I call “Bias”.
In the next blog, I would discuss something which I call “Bias” or “Cognitive Illusion”.
Stay tuned.
Written by: Dr Rohit Kale
Follow on Twitter: @RohitKale23
Contact on: drkalerohit23@gmail.com
Website: saveourmotherearth.in
Good one Rohit.
ReplyDeleteThe example u have provided is fantastic...