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That's pretty bold classification of Human Nature. Even those posts that make this claim of short-sightedness as the basic 'American Human Nature' are being extremely general. Sure, there are countless examples of it, as there are also examples of people building well-designed infrastructure meant to last for generations, just as these Renewables that we should be installing ought to be. NYC water tunnels, Brooklyn Bridge, Holland's great Dikes, Terraced Irrigation systems.. etc..
What you might have said was that this is counter to the 'prevailing business-models' that we have since allowed to run some (most) of the systems that we rely upon to survive, without also retaining a limber mechanism (Government?) for looking any farther ahead to our developing needs than these businesses do, so that someone can step in in a timely way and say 'some new preparations have to be made now'.. As it stands, business leaders can 'legitimately' say that they cannot let their love of Humankind force them to make 'Irresponsible' business decisions.
Jokuhl wrote: "That's pretty bold classification of Human Nature."
Actually, IMHO it isn't too bold. This is the way the entire rest of the animal kingdom works. AFAIK, humans are the only species that gives any thought whatsoever to the future. So I would adjust the original statement to say, "It's also counter to all nature, which is to focus on the present."
It's a real credit to humanity that we give any weight to the future at all. It's strong evidence that we really are smarter than yeast. The next question is, are we smart enough to avoid the outcome of all yeast? So far, we have several thousands of years of track record in our favor :-) Of course I've never heard of yeast going to war :-(
What some Americans now claim to be human nature is no more than what they've been taught to believe by the propagandists of consumption. The conduct they claim to be universal is actually no more than a relatively recent materialist ideology.
regards,
Backstop
Of course it's also true that bees don't "think" about putting honey aside for the future. Bees just do what bees do.
The Swiss voted in 1998 to do a twenty year, 31 billion Swiss franc (= to $1 trillion for US) upgrade of their rail system. The keystone of the entire project will take 17 years to complete (from memory).
Miami wants to build a 103 mile elevated "subway" over 25 years. 90% of the population will be within 3 miles of a station, over half within 2 miles. They are taking themselves a 1/2 ¢ sales tax to pay for it.
Large dams, etc.
and i think behavioral economics does document a discounting of the future ("intertemporal choice," etc.). such discounting may be an advantage because it is statistically correct ... but that's the whole point of the "black swan" argument, that we are less prepared (by nature) for the statistically infrequent.
... and peak oil is a classic black swan
http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/blackswan.pdf
If you want an example - in times of negative interest (when money was not a good store of value for instance due to taxes upon money levied by local lords) long term thinking was order of the day. Hence the construction of cathedrals in mediaeval England. Building a cathedral took generations but guaranteed income (via pilgrims) for even longer ...