Caught Between Self-Sabotage and Learning

"Humans are the species with both the greatest capacity for self-sabotage and the greatest capacity for learning. We see evidence of this constantly in everyday life and in world news. In this essay, I reflect on these two capacities and ask the fundamental question: Can we understand and predict the further evolution of humankind? Our Capacity for Self-Sabotage In terms of direct attacks or territorial rage, humans are not the most aggressive species (hippos, chimpanzees, and ants, for example, are notoriously aggressive)."

"Ecological self-sabotage: By destroying ecosystems through deforestation, climate change, and mass extinction, humans are undermining the basic conditions necessary for their own survival. It's as if we're sawing off the branch we're sitting on. Social self-sabotage: Wars, inequality, and structural violence weaken societies from within. Aggression against fellow human beings leads to instability, trauma, and loss of collective resilience. Psychological self-sabotage: Aggression can also turn inward, leading to stress, alienation, burnout, and depression"

Humans possess both extraordinary capacities for large-scale self-destruction and exceptional learning. Ecological self-sabotage includes deforestation, climate change, and mass extinction that undermine conditions necessary for survival. Social self-sabotage manifests as wars, inequality, and structural violence that weaken societies, create trauma, and erode collective resilience. Psychological self-sabotage appears as stress, alienation, burnout, and depression arising from cultural and environmental conflict. Humans can organize systematic aggression against their own species and ecosystems, producing impact and destruction beyond instinctive aggression seen in other animals. The coexistence of self-sabotage and rapid learning renders human behavior and future evolution highly unpredictable.

Read at Psychology Today