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We have had a long history together, but now it's coming to an end. Under an empty sky, cognitive dissonance is stopping us from seeing the machines that are already here. Our only planet is dying and instead of banding together as one and looking for a root cause, we frame the issue in order to sell each other false promises of transhumanism, electric vehicles and tickets for an escape to Mars. The only way forward is to cut through the dissonance and realise the solution won't be bought off a shelf. BurnZero is dedicated to the search for the root cause and how we might establish a parallel system from within the old. If you would like to comment or get involved join us on https://www.reddit.com/r/burnzero/

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We have been failed by the adaptive genes and culture which have kept us safe through time. Pacified by our own innovation, some romanticize that our issues come from a single source, a hooded villain or someone stroking a white cat but it's not what we want. Resolving our issues is outside of an individual's capability, so we look to demagogues and our representatives for answers. But when we examine them we find that they have been captured by a system of lobbying and bad science. So where can we turn?

Cognitive biases reinforce the idea that we see objectively, however, our perceptions are deeply flawed. Evolution has shaped our minds to respond to problems faced by our distant ancestors and coded ancient mental shortcuts (heuristics) which are now getting in the way. To progress, we need to be able to see our errors in the hope to better solve the issues that confront us:

• Conscientious pacifism - many people on earth know the issues but decide to do nothing.
• Logical fallacies - a list of logical arguments which have not been full thought through.
• Relativity of ethics and extent of ethics - paradoxical behaviour born out of compassion.
• Psychopharmacology - even food can bias our decisions.
• Curse of Sisyphus - the ability through story telling to enable us to amuse ourselves to death.
• Binary versus analogue - there are two ways of perceiving the universe.
• Jevons Paradox - a thought paradox which argues techno-optimism pacification.
• Popular Delusions - memetically transmitted ideas amongst the masses.

Whilst these issues have been known for sometime now, to adopt them requires us to be able to change how we think which for most is extremely difficult. Whilst this is easier for the younger generation, facts do not readily change the mind for those over 30 as neuroplasticity starts to decline. To achieve change, traditional learning is a slow but shock can quicken understanding. When understanding becomes inherent, certain aspects become more prominent:

• Expecting infinite growth is not sustainable in a closed system.
• Corporate entities are the most dominant organisations on earth and are hard to distinguish from our government due to state capture. Corporates can be full of well intentioned people but as a collective, they have been shown to take limited responsibility for the externalities they create. This has resulted in 100 corporations causing 71% of industrial emissions. This has indirectly led to a system where rich nations are responsible for 92% of global emissions, and the richest 1% of the world population are responsible for double the pollution produced by the poorest 50%.
• Hoarding excessive wealth is a mental illness - whilst murders get put in jail for individual murders, a billionaire is celebrated for profiteering on a dying planet gets tax breaks. 69% of us own less than 3% of earth's wealth, meaning inequality is rife, the poorest out number the wealthiest by 150 to 1.

These issues are emergent of our system as we are bound in our commonality of the pursuit of profit. We have been tolerant thus far however it has its extent. We need to unite in a stronger commonality, we are all standing inside of a bubble hurtling through the vacuum of space and as of yet, we do not have the technology to vent our waste into space. Given our short timeline, we can die apathetically or come together in the understanding of our own shortcomings and build a parallel system to emerge from the old.

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