Information overload and environmental degradation: learning from H.A. Simon and W. Wenders

TL;DR

This paper explores how information overload, driven by energy abundance, leads to environmental degradation by disconnecting individuals from the consequences of their actions.

Contribution

It highlights the role of information overload and detachment from nature in contributing to environmental harm, building on ideas from H.A. Simon and W. Wenders.

Findings

Information overload correlates with increased environmental degradation.

Energy abundance contributes to detachment from nature.

Awareness of unsustainable impacts is diminished by information overload.

Abstract

This paper discusses the relevance of information overload for explaining environmental degradation. Our argument goes that information overload and detachment from nature, caused by energy abundance, have made individuals unaware of the unsustainable effects of their choices and lifestyles.