The noise we make is hurting animals. Can we learn to shut up?
technologyreview.com
technologyreview.com
We need to keep growing, building, making, taking. Some people seem to really love the bustle and creative destruction. I'm in my 40s, and I've always hated it. When I was a child, I wondered if when I grew up, I would fit naturally into the world the way that so many others seemed to. The answer was no. I don't know why people need to be the way they are. I don't feel comfortable in so many normal situations. The things that bother the animals bother me too, but for most people this is unthinkable in the same way that other modes of thought are unthinkable. (eg, when someone who thinks mostly in words learns that some people think only in pictures)
I think it's a fundamental rule that the 'rape and pillage' types will always overrun the non-'rape and pillage' types. Much in the same way the sociopaths are able to climb the corporate ladder with relative ease. The nature of nature, seemingly.
Wait a minute, that rings a bell!
More than fantastic, it's beautiful.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rights_of_nature_in_Ecuador
https://constitutionnet.org/news/voices/peoples-verdict-why-...
> in the months leading up to the referendum, the government and several pro-government public figures and political commentators openly criticized the 2008 Constitution, particularly its recognition of Nature as a subject of rights, emphasizing that no other constitution in the world contains such a provision.
Turning off Social Media from 10pm to 8am local time would be a great start toward the recovery of human interaction sabotaged by COVID. To put it another way, Grocery Stores which supply life sustaining nutrition are not typically open 24 hours. Comparatively speaking they are more “Good” than social media. As such, rein in the latter rather than expand the former (Wal-Mart finding open 24 hours isn’t worth it is an economic proof of concept here) and we can improve our collective ability to make progress.
https://philosophics.blog/2021/08/01/the-futility-of-words/
I don't know German so I can't search for the original with any facility.
By far the most common and the loudest source of noise, especially in cities, are vehicles, again, primarily cars.
During the pandemic it became painfully obvious how loud cars are. Every time a city closes down streets, the same thing can be noticed. It can be shocking to some, but even the most crowded places on the planet are quite silent when vehicles aren't around. There are some minor exceptions like concerts (duh!) or other huge public gatherings where the noise is the point.
It's going to take a really long time to heal this wound.
Hugely depends on the city. Where I live it's the cargo trains and airliners. Congestion is too severe for anyone to make significant noise, unless they have modified/dysfunctional exhausts or particularly large engines.
Cargo trains, I imagine it's similar.
> Congestion is too severe for anyone to make significant noise, unless they have modified/dysfunctional exhausts or particularly large engines.
Large numbers of cars idling make enough noise to basically rival human conversations at regular speech levels. Anything above that (usually anything higher than 30kmph) makes it even worse. I'm not sure it's exponential, but I think it increases supra-linearly afterwards.
Around here cars are more common, but quiet enough that I rarely notice. Trucks, motorcycles, quads, trains, and boats are all significantly noisier.
A <single> car at 40kmph, and there are a ton more cars on the road than trucks or trains or whatever, already drowns out the average human conversation (68+dB vs ~65dB).
And most roads are rated for 50kmph or even higher, even in city centres.
Cars are the main noise pollutant in every city in the world (and not only in cities). They raise the baseline noise levels from comparable to forests (~45dB) to louder than the average conversation (~65dB), and they raise that level <everywhere> they go, and they go everywhere, almost all the time. You're looking at outliers with trucks & co, but those are just that, outliers. They're loud and stressful, but they're not there all the time, everywhere.
I'm glad you still have functional ears, though.
[1] https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sanja-Grubesa/publicati...
[2] Also double LOL at "redditor" insults :-)))
Also, if you think people can scream constantly, you're sorely mistaken. Ever heard of hoarse voices? Humans can't sustain screaming over long periods of time. Large groups of people can, but then, are we talking about concert venues? Let's be realistic.
And regarding music, do you live in the Bronx in the 80s? In most places you can call the cops for music that's too loud.
Cars are everywhere in cities. If you're closer than 50m from a street (which is basically everywhere in a city), if you open a window you hear them constantly. Once a busy street has no car traffic, the difference is obvious - the street is very quiet, closer to natural levels, even.
At the point when you need to make up arguments for your opponent it's a good time to stop and realize you've lost the argument.
Most of my life I've used public transit, but I've also been a motorist and a vehicle owner. Looking back on my long rides on the train and bus, I began to miss them, because they are (70% of the time) an opportunity for stillness, solitude, and contemplation. I can be alone with God and the angels and I don't need to stress about driving or traffic or navigating anything but my own mindscape.
Riding around in taxis more often these days, it really puts on pressure and a rush. The taxis arrive way way faster than any bus. They put me on someone else's schedule when they arrive to pick me up and rush me somewhere, going at or above every speed limit. If there is a human driver, then there is some forced, awkward social interaction, and sometimes an incipient scam as a bonus!
It is why a lot of urban people take up walking, even getting a pet dog as an excuse to go walking on the regular, because walking is likewise low-stress, an opportunity for solitude and contemplation.
I like white noise and I like background noise. I can be alone in a busy nightclub or restaurant where there is pleasant, amiable background chatter of many people and instrumental music. I have slept inside elevators and on park benches outdoors. I also enjoy libraries, which are not always temples of silence, but at least calm and relaxing atmospheres conducive to thinking and studying.
Yeah, radio and TV can really get to me sometimes. The speech pressures and high-anxiety of capitalist swine trying to shove words into my ears, it hurts. More often I find myself seeking out Jesus in a silent Adoration chapel. It's become the best way to simply listen and open myself up to the numinous.
Many things surprised me there, but it's the relative quiteness that did it the most.
Trains arriving like massive ghosts, cars obeying the speed limit and not a single soul gunning it from the intersection.
Meanwhile back home every night I can hear all kinds of "motoring enthusiasts" abusing their machines so that they won't hear their intrusive thoughts or something. It feels like a zoo in comparison.
There's so much noise around - it really does tie in to the "social model of disability" in that a lot of my issues would disappear if environments weren't so hostile - that includes noise, smells, and lights.
Let's hope there's some more movement in the right direction as a result of _this_ crisis.
nothing you could really call a nuclear war. Just everything else, tangled in the changing climate: droughts, water shortages, crop failures, honeybees gone like they almost were now, collapse of other keystone species, every last alpha predator gone, antibiotics doing even less than they already did, diseases that were never quite the one big pandemic but big enough to be historic events in themselves.
It's not a question of "can we learn to shut up?", it's "will humans ever care enough to even want to learn?".
Example: Diwali is a horrible time to be a stray animal in India. Heck, even my pets hate the festival. But humans will always be self obsessed and say it's for celebration. Sure.
That last part is what really opened my eyes about the noise polution from datacenters
But here we're concerned for the aural experience of some birds.
Not being able to read the argument, I'll just note that dogs are horrible sound polluters. Possibly only when they have bad human owners, but I'm pretty sure they're biologically evolved to mark territory by sound pollution, and should learn to shut up, too.
I recommend it. I can't promise you will like it or find it interesting or agree with any of it. I find it important enough to recommend to people when this type of subject comes up.
this doesnt answer the question because you can challenge established views scientifically (i.e., using data and evidence and testing, etc.) or unscientifically by screaming vaccines cause autism or whatever nonsense directly in the face of (and contrary to) data, evidence, and testing.