Thank you for the "Clarifications" proposal -- I had a hunch that incrementally increasing the amount of disagreement in my posts might stimulate greater interactivity & self-definition within the blog.
#1) Do you believe we are headed for an ecological collapse?
I believe that we must act as if we are headed for a ecological collapse. Our science contains many ideological blindspots and still-primitive failures but this should not dampen our spirits. The true extent, nature & human leverage over the current biospheric situation is either catastrophic or irrelevant. We cannot say either with certainty but this voice, this Other voice speaks in our hearts, demanding that we move with urgency. And so we must.
#2) What is the correct form for human social structures?
This is too broad a question... and "correct" waits upon thorough testing. However, here is what my heart speaks -- trans-democracy, trans-capitalism, culture-religion, decentralized globalism, ecological ethics, permeable organic castes.
Politics must absorb, improve and willingly pass beyond current quasi-democratic regimes. Economics must produce a maximally safe and vigorous socialist-capitalism which must produce two rivals -- a flourishing, ethical market economy & a vast "free economy" of equivalent strength. Culture must reawaken to its function as religion. Planetary governance is balanced by technologically enabled decentralization of decision making -- at least into custodial cultural-ecology zones as suggested by the Dalai Lama for the Greater Tibetan Region. The biosphere, and the abstract mathematics of "naturalness" must become the ethical demand placed upon social action & flexible, developmentally-ranked organic castes/classes perform specialized functions incl. governance, technological development, military-policing, priesthood-coaching, ecological enforcement, etc.
#3) Can you describe the role of politics/government in the next 10-20 years?
Governments must begin to become both more activist & less controlling. National governments have to begin by shifting tone, up-taking the best available data, and pushing through as many regulatory modifications as possible. Nations must be streamlined, improved in health & intelligence and re-produced as capable of making the necessary changes. International good-will and crisis-response need to prompt potent international regulatory bodies that are empowered to act against violations. Financial regulation, ecological retooling & large-scale international military intervention are their obvious world-historical tasks. They must "starve and steer" the most self-destructive regimes while training their populations to become capable of addressing planetary-scale situations. This will necessarily involve an increase of seriousness and good cheer, transparency & pragmatism, flexible openness & an increasing planetary-imperial aesthetic.
#4) What is the best method of attaining reliable information?
Our knowledge of this subject must improve greatly in the years to come. For now, at the individual level, we must look to, and combine, the opinions of the experienced & the broadly minded -- placing special importance upon the conclusions of minds who integrate vast numbers of positions into coherence and also minds which produce unexpected positions. Logical thought and popular data must be combined with intuitive and physiological knowledge.
Interpersonally we can best rely upon the conclusions that are averaged results of voting-estimates, produced as a gradient marker in response to a specific query, by a maximally formally diverse and permeable set of participants who prove minimum acceptable coherence of communication and knowledge of the subject matter and who are able to process information and articulate their position anonymously and free from consensus or organized persuasion. And, increasingly, the services of mass-coordinating intelligence software operating at ultra-high speed to detect linear and non-linear patterns among humanly incomprehensible algorithms and data sets.
#5) What specific changes are needed, and how many will make them?
The list is vast. Here are just a few: implementation of simple, general, re-takeable entrance exams for democratic elections; mandatory application of multiple-intelligence testing in schools, government and businesses -- intellect, emotional intelligence, ethics, aesthetics, etc. -- and this information freely available online; mandatory meditative or contemplative practice in schools; removal of the security council veto from the United Nations; active inter-penetration of global military forces; decriminalization of drug use and partial decriminalization of drug sales. Drastic increase in investment for alternative and very alternative energy sources & water purification systems. Large scale public works programs laying down new electrical and transportation infrastructures in all nations. Widespread promotion of free video streaming for all materials. Municipal de-automobilization wherever possible. Proliferation of new and more tenacious recycling plants. Medical pathologization of problematic emotional conditions. Creation of an international eco-navy, or else the support of existing models such as "rainbow warrior." De-urbanization by all those who can manage it.
Who will undertake these and other tasks? As many as are emotionally impressed by the weight of planetary duty, or else who trust in the instincts of such people. This is a highly flexible percentage of the population, dependent upon the credibility, creative energy, urgency AND optimism of seers.
I will shortly post five alternate questions in order to elicit your articulate responses.
Politics must absorb, improve and willingly pass beyond current quasi-democratic regimes. Economics must produce a maximally safe and vigorous socialist-capitalism which must produce two rivals -- a flourishing, ethical market economy & a vast "free economy" of equivalent strength. Culture must reawaken to its function as religion. Planetary governance is balanced by technologically enabled decentralization of decision making -- at least into custodial cultural-ecology zones as suggested by the Dalai Lama for the Greater Tibetan Region. The biosphere, and the abstract mathematics of "naturalness" must become the ethical demand placed upon social action & flexible, developmentally-ranked organic castes/classes perform specialized functions incl. governance, technological development, military-policing, priesthood-coaching, ecological enforcement, etc.
#3) Can you describe the role of politics/government in the next 10-20 years?
Governments must begin to become both more activist & less controlling. National governments have to begin by shifting tone, up-taking the best available data, and pushing through as many regulatory modifications as possible. Nations must be streamlined, improved in health & intelligence and re-produced as capable of making the necessary changes. International good-will and crisis-response need to prompt potent international regulatory bodies that are empowered to act against violations. Financial regulation, ecological retooling & large-scale international military intervention are their obvious world-historical tasks. They must "starve and steer" the most self-destructive regimes while training their populations to become capable of addressing planetary-scale situations. This will necessarily involve an increase of seriousness and good cheer, transparency & pragmatism, flexible openness & an increasing planetary-imperial aesthetic.
#4) What is the best method of attaining reliable information?
Our knowledge of this subject must improve greatly in the years to come. For now, at the individual level, we must look to, and combine, the opinions of the experienced & the broadly minded -- placing special importance upon the conclusions of minds who integrate vast numbers of positions into coherence and also minds which produce unexpected positions. Logical thought and popular data must be combined with intuitive and physiological knowledge.
Interpersonally we can best rely upon the conclusions that are averaged results of voting-estimates, produced as a gradient marker in response to a specific query, by a maximally formally diverse and permeable set of participants who prove minimum acceptable coherence of communication and knowledge of the subject matter and who are able to process information and articulate their position anonymously and free from consensus or organized persuasion. And, increasingly, the services of mass-coordinating intelligence software operating at ultra-high speed to detect linear and non-linear patterns among humanly incomprehensible algorithms and data sets.
#5) What specific changes are needed, and how many will make them?
The list is vast. Here are just a few: implementation of simple, general, re-takeable entrance exams for democratic elections; mandatory application of multiple-intelligence testing in schools, government and businesses -- intellect, emotional intelligence, ethics, aesthetics, etc. -- and this information freely available online; mandatory meditative or contemplative practice in schools; removal of the security council veto from the United Nations; active inter-penetration of global military forces; decriminalization of drug use and partial decriminalization of drug sales. Drastic increase in investment for alternative and very alternative energy sources & water purification systems. Large scale public works programs laying down new electrical and transportation infrastructures in all nations. Widespread promotion of free video streaming for all materials. Municipal de-automobilization wherever possible. Proliferation of new and more tenacious recycling plants. Medical pathologization of problematic emotional conditions. Creation of an international eco-navy, or else the support of existing models such as "rainbow warrior." De-urbanization by all those who can manage it.
Who will undertake these and other tasks? As many as are emotionally impressed by the weight of planetary duty, or else who trust in the instincts of such people. This is a highly flexible percentage of the population, dependent upon the credibility, creative energy, urgency AND optimism of seers.
I will shortly post five alternate questions in order to elicit your articulate responses.
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