Perspective with Ryan Bridge: We're not solving the big problems, and we don't want to

I’ve had it with people running around pretending we’re going to solve big global problems.

Australia’s banning kids from social media on Wednesday. They’re going to lead the world.

Sounds very appealing. Stop the brain rot, etc.

Except kids will be kids and will get around it.

They’ll do this the same way I was able to use Facebook in China—despite the big firewall—by using a VPN. You just log in to an app and piggyback off another country’s internet.

Or they might get a fake ID, or set up a fake account in another jurisdiction.

Good luck with this actually working.

Same goes for climate change. Remember when we were once world-leading?

Well, the problem with being world-leading is that you actually need others to follow. Otherwise, you’re not world-leading—you’re just an anomaly.

What’s the point in stopping your cows from burping if the Aussies keep mining, the Chinese keep burning coal, and the Saudis keep drilling for oil?

Climate change and the internet pose similar problems because they are global in nature. And because they are global in nature, you need kumbaya from all corners of the globe to address them.

Look how that’s working out for the UN. It doesn’t.

The truth is this: if we really wanted to solve these problems, the quickest, most effective way would be individual action.

We could, each and every one of us, tomorrow, take phones off children and put them in the bin.

We could walk to work and stop driving our cars.

But we won’t.

A poll out of Australia says 70% of parents support the ban. Guess how many said, in the very same poll, they would actually enforce it on their own children?

Less than a third.

It’s that same logic that has seen the Ford Ranger ute—a gas guzzler, big macho bull of an A-to-B—be the top-selling vehicle in this country for the past ten years running.

And that’s the real problem with these global issues: governments make a big song and dance, but fundamentally, individually, we don’t actually see them as real problems, do we?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I have had it with people running around pretending that
we are all going to solve the world's big global problems.
We're not. Just stop it. Australia's banning kids from social
media on Wednesday. They're going to be world leading and
doing this sounds very appealing, stop the brain rot, etc.
Except that kids will be kids and they will just
get around it. They will go They'll do the same

(00:22):
thing that I did when I lived in China using
Facebook and get around the big firewall. You use a VPN,
simply log into an app and piggyback off another country's Internet,
or they might get a fake ID, or they might
set up a fake account and another jurisdiction. Good luck
with this actually working. Same goes for climate change. Remember

(00:43):
we were once world leading on climate Well, the problem
with being world leading is that you actually need others
to follow. Otherwise you're not world leading. You're just out
there on your own an anomaly. What's the point in
stopping your cows burping? If the Aussies keep mining, the
Chinese keep burning coal in the Saudi's keep drilling for oil.
Climate change and the internet post similar problems because they

(01:05):
are global in nature, and because they are global in nature.
You need kumbaia from all corners of the globe to
address them. Look how that goes and works for the
UN It doesn't, does it? You know that? The truth
of it is, if we really wanted to solve these problems,
if we really did, the quickest, most effective way would

(01:25):
be individual action, wouldn't it. We could each and every
one of us tomorrow take phones off children and put
them in the bin. We could walk to work tomorrow
and not drive our cars. But we won't, will we.
A pole out of Australia says seventy percent of parents
there support the ban. Guess how many said in the

(01:48):
very same pole they would actually enforce it with their
own children, less than a third. It's the same logic
that has seen the Ford Ranger ute, the gas guzzler,
the big Martro ball of an A to B topping
the top sales list of vehicles in this country for
ten years running. And that's the real problem with these

(02:10):
global problems. Governments make a big song and dance, but fundamentally, individually,
we don't actually see them as real problems, do we.
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