9781971562179_

Why do the most powerful institutions repeatedly make decisions that produce
nless security, not more? Why do we build systems that cost more and work worse
nthan alternatives we know about? Why does extraordinary intelligence so often
nserve self-defeating cycles?

For forty years, psychiatrist Ravinder Bhalla has watched individuals and
ninstitutions repeat patterns that harm them despite overwhelming evidence of
nbetter alternatives. In ABUNDANCE, he reveals that our major crises—climate
nchange, mass incarceration, perpetual war, extreme inequality, political
npolarization—are not separate problems but manifestations of one pattern:
nscarcity thinking creating self-devouring cycles.

The evidence is clear: punishment creates more crime, not less. Extraction
naccelerates climate instability. Accumulation compounds inequality. Walls
nmanufacture the threats they claim to prevent. Each "solution" perpetuates
nthe problem it claims to solve, consuming everyone it touches—including those
nwho think they benefit.

The abundance alternative exists and works. The Marshall Plan turned enemies
ninto partners. Norway's rehabilitation-based justice achieves 20% recidivism
nversus America's 60%. Portugal's drug decriminalization reduced addiction and
ndeath. The Montreal Protocol healed the ozone layer. In each case, investing
nin root causes cost less and produced better outcomes than managing symptoms
nindefinitely.

Yet we rarely choose abundance. Drawing on Nietzsche, clinical observation,
nand systems analysis, Bhalla shows why: leaders who haven't genuinely faced
ntheir own mortality cannot think in generations. They optimize for quarterly
nreturns, electoral cycles, and personal accumulation—even when those choices
ndestroy the foundations they depend on.

Written at the exact moment when AI deployment decisions will determine whether
ntechnology amplifies human capacity or eliminates human agency, ABUNDANCE offers
nboth rigorous diagnosis and practical framework. The book examines the hardest
ntest case—Israeli-Palestinian conflict—proving that if abundance thinking can
nwork there, objections elsewhere are exposed as insufficient. It then addresses
nAI as the ultimate fork: the same capability that could enable surveillance and
nmass unemployment could instead strengthen democracy and address the "lowest-
nhanging fruit"—Haiti, extreme poverty, water scarcity—that we've abandoned
ndespite having resources to transform conditions for hundreds of millions.

The scarcity trajectory is the path of least resistance. The abundance
ntrajectory requires psychological work most leaders haven't done: facing
nmortality, examining inherited values, recognizing wholeness, channeling will
nto power toward creation rather than domination.

This is not idealism. It is arithmetic backed by historical precedent. The
nquestion is whether enough people with enough power will choose it before the
nwindow closes.

For readers of Yuval Noah Harari, Atul Gawande, and Daniel Kahneman who want
nto understand why we're trapped—and what psychological transformation would
nmake different choices possible.

ABUNDANCE is an invitation to remember what we've forgotten: that we were born
ninto abundance, life itself is abundance, and the cycles consuming us are not
nthe price of being human but the cost of forgetting what we are.

Abundance: Beyond Scarcity and Self-Devouring Cycles

Comentarios