Review of Roy Scranton’s, Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization
Roy Scranton served as a private in the US army from 2002 to 2006, including a term in Iraq. In his new book, Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization, he reflects on one of the greatest threat to humanity—climate change. Scranton argues that, as we destroy the climate that sustains us, we are destroying ourselves. We are our own worst enemy.
Humans have thrived in a climate that has been stable for more than a half million years, but the burning of fossil fuels will end that interval. Our fate follows from our shortcomings. “The problem with our response to climate change isn’t a problem with passing the right laws or finding the right price for carbon or changing people’s minds or raising awareness … The problem is that the problem is us.”
And our capitalist system exacerbates the problem, as we exploit the resources of the earth in a profit-driven world. Our biological nature and our social, economic and political systems have brought us to the precipice. Scranton holds out some hope that things might change, although he doesn’t think this is likely. The story of human civilization, in the end, will likely be one of tragedy.
What then should we do? Scranton tells us that we should probably accept the end of civilization and learn how to die. If practicing philosophy is learning how to die, as so many philosophers have said, then we live in the quintessential philosophical age. We should come to terms with the end of civilization.
But this is hard to do. We rebel at the idea that we are doomed, and like many previous civilizations, we continue to march headlong toward disaster. We can’t believe the end is just around the corner, so we tell ourselves we’ll be fine. We destroy the seas and atmosphere that support us, we kill off other species and pump carbon into the air with abandon. Who cares if we destroy civilization if saving it means riding bikes and becoming vegetarians? Surely that is too high a price!
Yes, we should what we can to preserve the best of human civilization. But the thoughtful, living in the Anthropocene, accept that we will all probably die. While this may be a depressing thought, only honest reflection on it gives us any chance of preventing it.
As for me, I believe we will all die unless we enhance the human species.
