What Is Disinhibition?
Disinhibition is a key concept relevant to the past two hundred years of Fossil-Fuelled, Modern Techno-Industrial, Energy-Intensive, Materials-Intensive Civilization and the much-touted Green Energy Transition.
In a psychological context, disinhibition refers to a temporary or persistent loss of inhibitory control that leads to impulsive or inappropriate behaviors or actions that lack social decorum.
Lack of Control:
Disinhibition is the opposite of inhibition, which is the ability to restrain impulses and behaviors.
Impulsivity:
People experiencing disinhibition may act on a whim without considering the potential consequences of their actions or words.
Socially Inappropriate Behavior:
Disinhibition can manifest as rude, tactless, or hurtful comments, sexual comments, inappropriate flirting, or undressing in public places.
Causes:
Disinhibition occurs because of various factors, including certain medical conditions, substance use, or even online interactions.
Online Disinhibition:
The online environment can sometimes amplify disinhibited behavior, as anonymity and asynchronous communication can lead people to say or do things they might not in real life.
Examples:
Impulsive Spending: Spending money without a budget or plan.
Aggressive Outbursts: Losing control and reacting with anger or aggression.
Misconduct: Engaging in behaviors that are socially unacceptable or illegal.
Hyperorality: Excessive eating or chewing on non-food items.
Related Conditions:
Disinhibition is a symptom or characteristic of conditions like dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), ADHD, and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Online Disinhibition Effect:
According to Wikipedia, anonymity, asynchronous communication, and empathy deficit contribute to online disinhibition.
Below I'll discuss disinhibition concerning healthcare, technology, and energy information, and linking economic growth models to ecological unsustainability.
Disinhibition and Systemic Risks:
Disinhibition manifests in a societal context as a lack of restraint in pursuing and adopting technologies and energy consumption prompted by the promise of economic growth.
In healthcare, this can lead to the unchecked implementation of new, potentially risky technologies without fully understanding the long-term consequences. Regarding energy information, disinhibition can mean the rapid dissemination and acceptance of energy-intensive technologies without considering their environmental impact. This lack of foresight and control exacerbates the inherent difficulty in regulating or eliminating technologies once they achieve significant market penetration, even when their destructive secondary effects become apparent.
Economic Growth vs. Ecological Limits:
Both neoclassical and neoliberal economic models prioritize perpetual economic growth, a concept fundamentally at odds with a complex, evolving ecosystem's finite resources and delicate balance. This pursuit of endless expansion directly clashes with reality, as highlighted by the Jevons Paradox (where increased efficiency leads to increased consumption) and the maximum power principle (which suggests systems maximize energy throughput, often at the expense of stability). Our current socioeconomic system, driven by this growth imperative, demonstrates that technology alone cannot reconcile continuous expansion with a healthy biosphere, including human well-being, for much longer.
The Destructive Nature of Unfettered Growth:
As critiqued by thinkers like Jean-Batiste Fressoz and Bill Rees, the relentless pursuit of growth is a primary driver of numerous interconnected crises. These include the sixth mass extinction, accelerating global heating, unsustainable materials use and rampant consumerism, pervasive pollution, the unfolding polycrisis, escalating wars and war propaganda, and international conflict. The planet is exhibiting severe "metabolic syndrome" from this unsustainable throughput. The promises of corporatists and technologists to solve these problems through further technological advancements within the same growth-oriented system are self-serving illusions designed to consolidate their power and wealth through initiatives like the TESCREAL Bundle (Transhumanism, Extropianism, Singularitarianism, (modern) Cosmism, Rationalism, Effective Altruism, and Longtermism) ambitions and initiatives while distracting the public with culture wars from the fundamental unsustainability of the current trajectory.
