Hero Impervious

I notice a certain naive indifference to looming world problems.
There are huge lists of potential world-ending theories, From global warming to meteorite strikes, from honey bees to magnetic pole flipping and from grey goo to solar flares. (There's a great TED talk about most of these.)

While the indifference may be attributed to over-stimulation, and media fear mongering, leading to a numb sense, or simply to blissful ignorance, I propose an alternative theory.



What if people don't fear today's looming dangers because they secretly and unconsciously assume that someone more powerful or more intelligent then them will pop up at the last minute to save the day? Do we put all of our eggs in the 'Heroes and Technology' basket, instead of taking dire situations into our own hands?

Floating Ladders.

Societies contain a precarious balances between trust and skepticism, fear and safety.

I find many individuals who are distrustful of new people they see and interact with on a daily basis. Yet, they all live in societies where the most important thing in the world is based in an intangible trust we hold in the value of tiny pieces of otherwise worthless paper, or a numerical blip on a computer screen.

In this same way, humans know that matter is mostly emptiness, yet we still perceive it as solid.