Because individual motivation and macro-behavior aren't necessity aligned, individual understanding might not be enough to changes behavior of the system as a whole. Maybe individual bacteria understand the impact they might have on a host system and are concerned about outcomes as well.
I sometimes think that it is a valid mental model to think of us as not much different from ants in a hive who think they possess more control and freedom than they do
> I sometimes think that it is a valid mental model to think of us as not much different from ants in a hive who think they possess more control and freedom than they do
I think it is the opposite. We are different from ants, and have a lot of control and freedom, so we know that if others will not make the sacrifice, why should we?
In an ant colony, I imagine the orders are being given top down and they do not think about what others are or are not sacrificing.
As I understand it, ants and other similar it's like bees don't have a hierarchical structure that issues orders. Instead they follow quasi-baked in behavioral patterns and pheromone signals provided by peers.
I'm not a biologist though and also have no experience in what it's like to be a bee or ant
We do. Problem is, while individually, we're much smarter than bacteria, as a large group, we're just as dumb as groups of them.
Take our main coordination mechanism - the market. For all that's been said and written about it, it's still basically gradient descent. As greedy as it gets - in the technical sense. It's what's been driving the development of humanity ever since we formed societies. It's what controls the behavior of everyone.
We may think we're smart and have principles - and we do. But the reality still is, everyone is spending most of their lives trying to align themselves to exploit the local economic gradient - because that's how individuals get more of what they want, and less of what they don't want. Nobody is strong enough to single-handedly reshape the larger economic gradient. So while individually, we play complex games, at macro scale, we're not all that different from slime molds or fungal growths.
Maybe one day our economy grows so sophisticated it'll gain sentience. But that doesn't necessarily mean things will get better - much like an individual human being sentient doesn't mean their cells are happy.
We understand it but humans are composed of a variety of minds and what the rational one wants isn’t necessarily what we do.
Although conservation probably has more to do with reality looking different depending on your own local observations, to a Brazilian cattle rancher or Indonesian logger at the frontlines of the biodiversity crisis, things look different. For a consumer of those goods and materials, they likely don’t realize the connection.
I think “we” do, but we don’t quite care as much about future generations as we like to think we do. Especially not when others today are disproportionately benefiting.
If you tell me to deprive myself of some conveniences because some people in another part of the world in another decade/century will suffer as a consequence of my actions... I agree with the selfless option in theory, but in practice I will usually choose the selfish option.
I think humans have a hard time with sustaining independent action. If you knew that everyone around you was going to be deprived of some convenience, say a restriction on driving to every other day (like they do in some countries based on the last digit of your license plate), I think it'd be easier to accept and adhere to for a long duration. I think this is both because you know the burden is shared, but also because the impact of a large adherence will tend to be more measurable.
If, on the other hand, you independently decide to stop driving your car because you know the world is getting smothered with carbon dioxide, but see people daily driving modified diesel pickups belching smoke into the sky, you're going to feel a bit like you're pissing in the wind even trying.
I sometimes think that it is a valid mental model to think of us as not much different from ants in a hive who think they possess more control and freedom than they do