Social value of Newton’s law of gravity: Ramesh Shrestha

What goes up must come down

In physical science, Newton's Law of Gravity means that Earth's gravitational force will attract all objects thrown in the air, will eventually fall back on the Earth with a speed proportional to the mass of the object and distance from the Earth. Metaphorically speaking, in social science it could mean that a high success in power or growth is often temporary, and could eventually decline or fall. There is no shortage of examples from our history of how empires and colonialism collapsed with their own weight. A curious question is, could this happen to our economy? Technology? Or perhaps our civilisation itself? Human civilization has been progressively on the path of evolution biologically, politically and economically. If we go by our own civilizational history, it may very well be a nosedive. Individually people may survive but the system as an institution may not. What is unsure is the method and timeline.

Human civilisation has made and continues to make all-round progress in physical science, biological science, economy, political ecosystem and needless to say in technology, especially cyber technology. Works in all these fields brought about positive changes in our ambiance for centuries with non-stop discoveries contributing to human's comfort and wellbeing. In the 21st century it has picked up a hypersonic speed. Will the political ambition and aspiration of science be able to maintain a balance between humans and nature in our quest for development for the benefit of humanity forever? What are the chances of crashing any one or more of our development strategies that could bring down human civilisation?

Dealing with double edged sword

The three main risks that are haunting us are our economy without a control mechanism, political malfunction and environmental degradation. These three interrelated factors act like catalysts both positively and negatively depending on how we use it and how politicians and critics interpret it, like a glass half full or a glass half empty. But what we fail to imagine is that the glass could break with the weight of its content. Over the past few decades, the entire world adopted a system of democracy with open arms and thus far remained resilient to many exogenic forces including political and economic turmoil. Human development is literally fueled by finite natural resources. The combustion of natural resources produces byproducts. Managing byproducts has remained inadequate to prevent degradation of the environment which has serious impacts on all forms of life on Earth.

Economy with no control mechanism

While the economic growth has remained positive for decades, its benefits remained limited largely to the inner circles of elites close to the governments only, thus creating growth in social and economic inequality. Soup kitchens in the USA and Food Banks in Canada, two richest countries, for example received a record number of beneficiaries in 2024. They include children under 18 years, daily wage earners, seniors, etc. The income inequality between low- and mid-income countries have improved but income inequality between rich and poor within countries is worsening (Oxfam 2025). In recent years the cost of living has spiraled while people's income remained stagnant and at the same time taxes in various forms increased. Such a disfranchised economy could be a seed for unrest which is going unnoticed, or perhaps wilfully ignored. While this one factor alone might not be enough to collapse the human civilisation itself, it could ignite the process for mass instability. We have one globally interconnected economic system. The cash flow, excavation of natural resources, raw materials and their distribution, manufacturing and supply chain are all controlled by a handful of international corporations. Interruption in any one of these components could disrupt the economy of countries and daily life of people worldwide. The global policy of one size fits all economic models has impacted the sovereignty of national policies to fuel the globalist agenda of the few. It has weakened traditional national economic systems. There are no efforts to think 'outside the box'.

Political malfunction

While people believe that we are living in a democratic world we are also witnessing the spread of violence which is antithesis to democracy. There are at least 32 active conflicts ongoing with issues such as border conflicts, ideological differences and simply domination by the powerful against the weak; it is beyond extending their sphere of influence. Many violence of today has deep roots which have been forgotten or ignored at best. Rise of Islamist in Iran for example has its roots in the dismantling of democratic government in Iran in 1953 but we only remember the rise of Ayatollah from exile in France to Iran in 1979. Iraq has been on the erroneous path since the assassination of King Faisal in July 1958. Congo entered chaos after the assassination of democratically elected Patrice Lumumba in January 1961; it even cost the life of the second UN Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjöld, one of the best known humanists. The severe mistrust between the Bamar majority and other ethnic minorities in Myanmar has to do with the East India Company's use of minorities to suppress the Bamar majority for centuries; the ethnic conflicts continue even today. These are beyond extending spheres of interest by the powerful against the weak; it is pure exploitation and taking control of resources resulting in a long lasting political malfunction. There are many such examples. Even today democratic West, while talking of democratic rights, continues to assist the genocidal state to depopulate Palestine. There are few hot spots which could ignite thermonuclear engagement which will render a major part of the Earth uninhabitable with radiation for centuries to come. The nuclear weapons countries have in their warehouses today can yield as much as 1megaton of energy compared to 15 kilotons dropped in Hiroshima. If the current power game is not checked, our civilisation risks being incinerated.

Environmental degradation and resource crisis

While democracy is resilient and continues to adapt and evolve, our environment may not be as resilient. Human development is dependent on extractive industries with many negative byproducts. The outcomes of human beings' current model of development are a process of many interconnected processes such as gradual building of extreme weather patterns through deposit of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, acidification of oceans, loss of biodiversity with excessive use of artificial chemicals, depletion of fresh water, deforestation and soil degradation. These facts have been known for decades. Our consumption-based development dream has become a nightmare for the environment with gradual obliteration of the ecosystem. Our development has become an unsustainable success which is causing permanent damage to our environment and to life on Earth. Concern of the environmentalists is that overconsumption, especially hydrocarbon fuels and forests could trigger an irreversible ruining of the environment, leading to collapse of human civilisation starting with dramatic reduction in food production and fisheries, depleting fresh water and bad air quality. An Australian academics group predicted 2050 as the starting point for collapse if mitigation actions are not initiated NOW. An environmental model developed at MIT predicted the beginning of collapse between 2020 and 2060 if our business model did not change.

Difficult way out

To prevent collapse, human civilisation requires a significant shift in political position on economic policy, consumer behaviour, industrial policies, energy management, and taking actions to mitigate fallouts from the climate crisis. It is true that there are many initiatives on all these issues including legal mechanisms to address them but the bottleneck is the lack of effective reinforcement mechanisms. While the idea of sustainability has been promoted left, right and centre its actual meaning has not been realised by the general public starting with people's lifestyle and consumption behaviour and the industries alike. Preventing the collapse of human civilisation is the collective responsibility of the political leader, private sector and the individual consumers.

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