Proof that humankind can cooperate and think long term

This is not about cats but about everything including cats. One of the great weaknesses of the human is his/her inability to cooperate globally for the good of humanity and to think long term, very long term. Almost every decision is distorted by self-interest and a fast buck.

Doomsday vault
Human global cooperation and long term thinking. Awesome.

However in Spitsbergen Island, Norway is a seed bank. It is under a mountain; 160 metres under a mountain, in fact. The entrance is elegant and a bit mysterious.

Deep inside the icy vault are 800,000 different species of crop seeds. They were donated by a huge number of countries including North Korea. I think that is the only example of North Korea cooperating with the rest of world that I know of!

The vault is called the “doomsday vault” or something like that because it is in preparation for the catastrophic extinction of humankind bar a tiny percentage of survivors. Some of the seeds will survive for 20,000 years.

It is funny that humankind is preparing for its near extinction 😉 It is the only example I know about where humankind has truly cooperated globally for a single objective; and what an objective. There is something Freudian about the whole enterprise.

It is almost as if we are preparing for it – the end. It is a tacit acceptance of the inevitable. That is the pessimistic view (mine!).

The more optimistic view is that the doomsday vault is a treasure trove of human food and the only example of true global cooperation and massively long term thinking; totally against the grain of the human character.

16 thoughts on “Proof that humankind can cooperate and think long term”

  1. The author of the best comment will receive an Amazon gift of their choice at Christmas! Please comment as they can add to the article and pass on your valuable experience.
  2. I believe that, when the end comes, it comes.

    There will be no amount of hidden away seeds that will save the world or its residents. It will, simply, implode. No survivors.

    We are only borrowers of this planet. We were entrusted with its preservation, by whatever power, and we have failed. We have done everything we could do to destroy what is most important in the name of progress.

    Reply

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