Studies in Critical Social Sciences313 The Treachery of Realities

This book represents a unique application of the sociological imagination to the problems posed for humanity and planet Earth by converging existential threats. This volume targets the contemporary atmosphere of lies, post-truths, and alternative facts. Previously, we had no reason to think humanity was about to have its dinosaur moment; we could be confident of surviving for millennia. It now seems that humanity's future might be a matter of decades, given the variety of existential threats we face, from climate change and asteroids to robots and AI. We are not going to save ourselves driven by faith, belief, hopes, prayers, and wishes in an atmosphere of science deniers. What is required is an investment in a renewed and re-energized secular worldview, guided by the sociological imagination and opposed to conventional reasoning and action.