I don’t see this as a conscious choice people make to not solve the problems the institution they’re a part of is supposed to address. I agree that many of the individuals within the institution are working in good faith and genuinely care.
The issue is that the incentives of the people are not the same as the incentives of the institution itself, which are to grow and attract more status and money, which happens when the problem is seen as harder and more important.
Yes, Climate Change is obviously not solvable by a few activists, but there’s a finite amount of time/energy/money in the world, and it’s not clear to me at all that it’s optimally distributed between cause areas. More time/energy/money going into solving climate change means less going elsewhere.
I don’t see this as a conscious choice people make to not solve the problems the institution they’re a part of is supposed to address. I agree that many of the individuals within the institution are working in good faith and genuinely care.
The issue is that the incentives of the people are not the same as the incentives of the institution itself, which are to grow and attract more status and money, which happens when the problem is seen as harder and more important.
Yes, Climate Change is obviously not solvable by a few activists, but there’s a finite amount of time/energy/money in the world, and it’s not clear to me at all that it’s optimally distributed between cause areas. More time/energy/money going into solving climate change means less going elsewhere.