One thing that is certain to trip up the human race is its tendency to pursue short term goals and solutions without any weighty regard for the long-term consequences of those actions.
We routinely learn that unintended consequences are the norm, not the exception, and yet that rarely stops us from boldly interfering with complex processes. So we dam major rivers, smoke and drink too much, introduce new systemic pesticides and propose global-scale geoengineering projects to compensate for past technological successes that went awry.
It’s like watching a kid touch a stove over and over again, getting burned each time; their learning curve flat as a pancake.
The funny thing is that even when a simple, linear and very non-complex problem is involved, humans still can’t manage to erect a thoughtful response if the problem is still a few years away; safely tucked into the future as it were.
Even something as simple as drawing down your water supply faster than it’s being replenished, where the end-date of dusty hell is easy-as-pie to calculate, we still see humans alternating between completely ignoring the problem and proposing massive technological interventions. Anything but adapting their behavior to match the actual conditions. That’s always the very final and last resort, if it is ever considered or attempted at all.
Which brings us to Las Vegas, poster child for the human tendency to strongly favor near-term expediency over long-term benefits. By the way, there’s nothing particularly special about Las Vegas in this regard, I could just have easily selected from thousands of other examples.
by lesphelps 
