Oldal 20 [20]
18 ] THE PuitosopHy or Eco-Pouirics
despoiling of nature. But it was not the concept of sustainability they
abused, but rather that of development itself. Whoever speaks of
sustainable development claims that the development is undiminished;
it is merely its continuance that causes some problems amidst the
difficulties that have arisen. It automatically rules out the possibility
that what we have is not development but decline, which must not and
also cannot be sustained. One cannot speak of an accidental or innocent
slip of the tongue when the pretext of sustainable development is used
to speak ever more bravely of sustainable economic growth (which is an
absurdity), sustainable consumption (under which must be understood
the justification of a hopeless, degrading way of life) or sustainable
wellbeing (forestalling the question as to whether being is good at all
and what would make it so).
The dramatic decline in the rich variety and versatility of the natural
world in the wake of human intervention signifies a historical dead end.
It bears witness to the predominance of self-destructive tendencies in
our civilisation. As proof of this, the following are often mentioned as
examples of the destructive behaviour irreconcilable with the concept
of development, i.e., sustainability: : the irresponsible use and misuse
of chemicals, synthetic materials, nuclear power, nanotechnology, gene
manipulation and fossil fuels; radical change in our way of life induced
by artificial intelligence — as well as the predominance of the methods
of social organisation that warrant and require the application of the
listed technologies: the overcentralisation of control, the deperso¬
nalisation of communication, the growing impossibility of communal
self-organisation, the atomisation of society, the cult of wasteful
consumption and extreme ethical relativism.
Why should this state of affairs be sustained?
Whether the motivation be innocent goodwill or intentional
deception, to speak of sustainable development in the shadow of the
impending catastrophe is an error with serious consequences: it
prevents the search for a way out, the mobilisation of the resources of
survival. It is a fact that our planet is not capable of supporting 7-8
billion or even more humans without the serious and irreversible
decrease of its biological capacities, the collapse of the ecosystems. The
decrease in the human population will in all likelihood be achieved
by the wars and pandemics caused by extreme forms of want as well
as natural disasters (species extinctions, climate change), because a
global agreement on intentional self-limitation currently seems
unobtainable. As for the techno-optimist fantasises about the