Machiavelli's thoughts from five centuries ago are relevant today

Consider what the Italian philosopher, Machiavelli (below right), said during the 16th Century Renaissance – It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new system.

Having considered that, now let us contemplate that our survival, literally, hinges on us, that is you and me, agreeing on a new system of living, implementing it and nursing it to success.

So the journey ahead is going to be challenging, risky, the outcome elusive and to plagiarize the five century-old Machiavellian observation, dangerous to manage.

Human instinct sees us turn away from such difficulties to retreat from the unknown and seek solace in what it is we know, that is, put simplistically, business as usual.
Retreat, to that known way of life, is pointless as it is exactly what brought us to this impasse, a place at which human induced changes to the world’s climate have left us with a restless planet.
Science – we rely on it every day for everything from beer to brain scans – has repeatedly warned us of the difficulties ahead and yet many of us seem unable to accept, or understand, its increasingly urgent protestations about climate change.
Massive weather events (floods, storms, blizzards or droughts are now called “events” as that seems softer even though they are equally destructive) have now troubled every continent on earth and yet the skeptics still cling desperately to ideologies that science has long shown to be seriously misleading, in simple terms, wrong.
The idea of capitalistic growth brought many benefits to mankind since it emerged a couple of centuries ago following the Industrial Revolution, but the ideal is now exhausted.
Arriving at the difficult and dangerous system Machiavelli discussed begins with psychologically freeing ourselves of the growth dogma and within that considering something like a steady-state economy that puts human happiness ahead of tumour-like expansion.
Our planet can no longer sustain capitalism as we know it and while it has served us well, it is time for us to take that difficult, doubtful and dangerous journey, a journey whose destination is survival.