Interesting take. I haven’t seen this happen on AI, but I do know two people who have an environmentalism fear spiral thing. My diagnosis was very different: I think the people I know actually have anxiety, or panic attacks or similar for mental health reasons. The environmentalism serves as camouflage. Thought 1: “Why am I depressed/anxious/whatever when things in my life are pretty good?” Then, instead of Thought 2 being “Maybe I should talk to a friend/do something that might cheer me up/see a doctor” they instead get thought 2 “Oh, its because humanity is going to destroy the world and everything will be awful. Man, its great that I am such a well-adjusted, big-picture, caring person that giant planet-scale forces that barely effect me personally have more impact on my emotional state than the actual day to day of my own life.” Not only does the camo prevent them addressing the real problem (Ok, the environment is a real problem, but its not the only problem, and its not the problem they are suffering from at the moment), but it also weaponizes all kinds of media against themselves.
Interesting take. I haven’t seen this happen on AI, but I do know two people who have an environmentalism fear spiral thing. My diagnosis was very different: I think the people I know actually have anxiety, or panic attacks or similar for mental health reasons. The environmentalism serves as camouflage. Thought 1: “Why am I depressed/anxious/whatever when things in my life are pretty good?” Then, instead of Thought 2 being “Maybe I should talk to a friend/do something that might cheer me up/see a doctor” they instead get thought 2 “Oh, its because humanity is going to destroy the world and everything will be awful. Man, its great that I am such a well-adjusted, big-picture, caring person that giant planet-scale forces that barely effect me personally have more impact on my emotional state than the actual day to day of my own life.” Not only does the camo prevent them addressing the real problem (Ok, the environment is a real problem, but its not the only problem, and its not the problem they are suffering from at the moment), but it also weaponizes all kinds of media against themselves.