SHORT-TERM THINKING CANNOT   SOLVE EXPONENTIAL PROBLEMS

Separation is the biggest threat to humanity.

Many problems do not express themselves linearly. They develop according to the exponential principle of mathematics: the larger a quantity becomes, the faster it grows. Exponential rates of growth have affected - or are currently affecting - the money supply, financial investment, debt, natural resource extraction, industrial output, food production, consumption, armaments, AIDS and other infectious diseases, pollution, the human ecological footprint, and biodiversity loss. Despite the exponential progression of these problems, political and economic decision-makers often think in restricted timeframes, developing linear solutions that anticipate linear outcomes.

Governments legitimize themselves within sovereign national boundaries. Many nations are now democracies, where politicians prove their worth by campaigning for office, serving a term, and seeking reelection. Elected government leaders thus have a vested interest in addressing issues of short duration.

Businesses are driven by the gains of profit, interest, and stock value. This, too, encourages short-term thinking. Subject to the same market forces as global corporations, media companies reinforce limited, short-range viewpoints in the public through their brief coverage of news stories.

Civil society organizations, often referred to as non-governmental organizations, typically focus on a single issue, are often locally or nationally oriented, and frequently compete with one another for financing from governments, businesses and private donors. Thus, in many ways, they are also characterized by short-term thinking.

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