Our Incompetent Society (with a discussion of some of the competencies needed to transform it)

Abstract: a species heading, at an exponentially increasing rate, toward its own extinction1 can hardly be regarded as anything but incompetent. Yet this is precisely the situation in which we find ourselves. We are destroying our habitat – and therefore our chances of survival as a species - through the conduct of endless work which either consumes abundant resources or creates products or by-products which inflict endless damage in their production or disposal. Yet that work itself is largely senseless2 in that it confers few benefits in terms of quality of life. There is ample evidence that long, satisfying, lives can be achieved without current levels of destruction of habitat. It follows that, both paradoxically and ironically, enhancing competence to conduct such destructive work can only be viewed as unethical.