Abstract
In the authors' research, it was discovered that when people lose a little of their many possessions due to a disaster, they become unexpectedly upset as though they were cheated out of their share. This happens even if those who behave indignantly are otherwise nice people. They grumble over having to make repairs instead of being grateful to have survived. But curiously, when they lose absolutely everything to a disaster (even though one would expect them to be even more upset), they become surprisingly grateful instead (almost relieved). The authors propose that the unexpected indignation at losing a little is really just the habituation of gratitude coming out at last, because long ago a little was all humans had to lose. But as humans have too much to lose these days, it is hard to get back to the sense of losing everything. Extreme loss is required to rediscover extreme relief, and this requires letting natural outcomes determine when and where one loses everything—not by greater control of outcomes, but by broadening the idea of faith.
TopThe Hurricane Survivor Effect
As a consequence of the incapacity to know the future with any degree of certainty, natural disasters exact a toll on human civilization because humans build upon Nature as though Nature would never injure them—simply because humans are special. The reality of course is that humans are not special, and a tempest will sweep away thousands of human beings as non-prejudicially as thousands of cattle. From floods to hurricanes to famine, natural disasters exact tribute from a faithless species (faithless in the sense of disbelieving that Chance dictates their future, not their leaders or their beliefs)—which stubbornly builds settlements and pens animals up where natural forces (including diseases) find them easy prey. Then humans get upset because disasters strike, even if humans could simply become nomadic and avoid them entirely like their ancestors did. A tent does not crush its occupants the way a brick building does, yet humans do not allow people to live in tents and make their building standards stiffer instead. There is therefore an inescapable idea of acceptable losses with respect to adaptations humans would rather not make. Some of their friends will lose what is dear to them, and humans hope it isn’t them when it occurs.