[gonehome]

I generally agree with you that people are apathetic and assume that something can't be done simply because it's hard or they don't feel like trying.

That said I think there's an element of truth that society generally creates incentives that can lead to outcomes nobody wants [1]. You can get equilibriums where without effective coordination people are trapped, sometimes the trapped state can prevent effective coordination itself.

It's not an easy problem to fix.

[1] http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/

[jschwartzi]

This isn't an easy problem to fix systemically, but we need to be making different decisions as individuals. Society changes in the little decisions we make every day, and not by leaps and bounds through fiat.

When people chose to smoke pot, knowing that it was illegal, they were normalizing it. Those were small decisions by individuals that snowballed into legalization. Gay marriage and the acceptance of homosexuality followed the same pattern, where individuals decided to be more accepting, and that snowballed into societal acceptance.

Society is made up of individuals, and we are part of society. Throwing up our hands and abdicating responsibility doesn't serve anyone.