# Our Blindness to Slow Dangers Threatens Countless Species by Daniel Goleman > “The brain's perceptual mis-alignment in recognizing dangers has reached an historic danger point. The human gene pool was robust enough to survive the failure of people in the Middle Ages to see the dangers in rats and fleas as vectors for the Black Plague. But today our collective blindspot has set in motion long-term dynamics in geophysical systems like the carbon cycle that will have devastating impacts not just on humans, but on the survival of countless other species—and will take hundreds of years to reverse.” > **— Daniel Goleman**, *2013, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT *SHOULD* WE BE WORRIED ABOUT?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [Edge response](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/23692) — Edge published this passage in its 2013 Annual Question collection, *WHAT *SHOULD* WE BE WORRIED ABOUT?*. - **Exact archived wording:** “The brain's perceptual mis-alignment in recognizing dangers has reached an historic danger point. The human gene pool was robust enough to survive the failure of people in the Middle Ages to see the dangers in rats and fleas as vectors for the Black Plague. But today our collective blindspot has set in motion long-term dynamics in geophysical systems like the carbon cycle that will have devastating impacts not just on humans, but on the survival of countless other species—and will take hundreds of years to reverse.” - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2013 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2013 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first record for the response cohort and this passage's promotion status. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/Climate Systems as Human Resilience Platforms|Climate Systems as Human Resilience Platforms]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Last Migration Will Not Be Human|The Last Migration Will Not Be Human]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Climate Change|Climate Change]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Climate Change|Climate Change]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “The brain's perceptual mis-alignment in recognizing dangers has reached an historic danger point. The human gene pool was robust enough to survive the failure of people in the Middle Ages to see the dangers in rats and fleas as vectors for the Black Plague. But today our collective blindspot has set in motion long-term dynamics in geophysical systems like the carbon cycle that will have devastating impacts not just on humans, but on the survival of countless other species—and will take hundreds of years to reverse.” — Daniel Goleman, 2013, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT *SHOULD* WE BE WORRIED ABOUT?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-daniel-goleman-blindness-slow-dangers ```