Meditations on a Wild World
A collection of thoughts written down during the second half of the summer of 2024
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What follows is a collection of thoughts written down during July and August of the most recent summer. They cover many things, inspired primarily by the state of the world today. Almost two months after the end of summer, in the midst of this grey but warm autumn, I gathered those thoughts together, refined them, and made them ready to be published. Dear reader, I hope you will enjoy what follows. And if at any point you feel triggered or offended, I owe you an apology.
Lazaros Giannas
20 October, 2024
The worst thing about the movie Don't Look Up (2021) is that it resembles more of a documentary than it resembles a movie…
The less developed a person is internally, culturally, in terms of personality, the more they tend to pursue external, material, economic growth.1
One should be careful of the (technological) tools one uses. They might have negative effects that one might not have thought of.
One should read books that have the ability to elevate oneself instead of books that merely resonate with someone — that is to say, books that almost mirror and further validate what one already knows, thinks, feels, desires. Reading can be an incredible first step for something truly transformative. It is a pity when it is wasted for mere entertainment or validation of one's existing thoughts and practices.2
Many people do not like the idea of degrowth — namely, the idea of immediately stopping the production and consumption of certain goods and services in response to the climate emergency, instead of keep producing them while slowly trying to make them more environmentally friendly. This is, of course, understandable. Degrowth will be, in a way, costly (it will cost the amount of products and services that we will stop producing). But it will not be as costly as not doing it! For, the various consequences that will occur of continuing business as usual or slowly trying to transition to alternative sources of energy will be much more costly.
If one is above sixty years old, egotistical, with no kids (or with kids but without caring about them and their future), it might make sense to be against degrowth and be indifferent of the future impacts of an ever warming world. But if one is young and/or cares about other people, my suggestion to them would be to reconsider. For, the future today looks ominous.