Technocratic Paradigm Plus Cult Equals Perfect Storm

The technocratic paradigm has been brewing for 200 years and is the major cause of the global environmental collapse.  This paradigm is that every technological discovery and every economic (financial) gain is positive and drives society into the future.  These factors take precedence over any other concerns which should be the most important such as human beings and the environment.  The naming of the dismal condition is eloquently expressed by Pope Francis in Laudato Si.  The rising global temperatures, which rose to 1.5 degrees above historic levels in 2024, is hard data showing one result of following this paradigm.  The rapid loss of biodiversity and extinction of species is another.

Cults emerge from time to time, with the current Trump administration in the United States being the most recent.  In Laudato Si (122-123), Pope Francis states, "Hence we should not be surprised to find, in conjunction with the omnipresent technocratic paradigm and the cult of unlimited human power, the rise of a relativism which sees everything as irrelevant unless it serves one's own immediate interests. ... is the same disorder which drives one person to take advantage of another, to treat others as mere objects,  ... It is also the mindset of those who say: Let us allow the invisible forces of the market to regulate the economy and consider their impact on society and nature as collateral damage."

It seems that lessening the storm will require first of all breaking the cult.  Over the 200 years of technocracy, we have had a number of cults and after much resistance and suffering harm to many people, they were finally subdued, e.g. Hitler in and World War II and numerous other dictatorships around the world.  Let us shed more and more light on the current cult of human power, self-centeredness and greed.  Resistance to evil governmental action by not being afraid to speak out and resistance to hate and intolerance is a beginning.  Doing your part for the earth in every small action is another.

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