Chapter 44: Topics for Research and Exploration

1) The new paradigm will be symbiotic and peer-based. Hierarchical social structures will be discontinued. Yet we need to avoid absolutism. It would be a good idea to do research to learn, if possible, which people are most likely to become abusive and despotic in positions of power, and which are highly resistant to such responses. While we know that being in a position of power suppresses the brain centers for compassion and empathy, the effect probably varies among individuals. We also will want to identify who is vulnerable to becoming submissive in a hierarchy. Identifying predictors, if they exist, would allow us to develop treatment modalities for those who are overly attached to being in dominant or subordinate roles in a hierarchy.

We humans are, of course, complex and dynamic. We are not deterministically predictable automatons. Yet there may be a combination of factors that may predispose some to seek and abuse power, and others to seek to be led by someone in power. If such factors can be identified, it will be most beneficial, though we most emphatically do not want to catalog and categorize people in an attempt to dictate or limit their options!

If, in spite of the new deeply peer-based nature of the new paradigm, circumstances arise that necessitate a temporary hierarchical social structure to deal with them, then we would naturally want to staff them with people who are the most highly resistant to domineering or submissive responses.

In the unlikely event that need arises for hierarchies at all, it will be minimal, limited in scope, and temporary. In such cases, such hierarchies must be clearly defined as to very specific purpose, scope, and temporary duration, and never allowed to take on a life of their own. As soon as their purpose has been accomplished, they will be disbanded immediately. Such temporary hierarchies will only be formed if, after careful consideration of all options, they are found to be the best solution for the greatest good.

Other strategies may also further minimize the risk of authoritarian degeneration of any such hierarchies. They should be as small as practically possible. In such social structures, every involved person will be trained to fulfill every role in the hierarchy; roles will rotate or reshuffle frequently enough to prevent empathic brain centers from shutting down or emergent dysfunctional personality traits from becoming entrenched.

Another important measure will be to make it clear that any member of such a hierarchy will be free to leave at any point with no negative repercussions. There will be no coercive or punitive mechanism of enforcement within the hierarchy. If authoritarian abuse occurs, then roles will immediately be reshuffled, with no penalizing of any parties. There will be no system of status, perks, privileges, immunities or lack thereof associated with any level of the temporary hierarchy.

2) We must accept that we are unlikely to ever achieve perfection. It is problematic or impossible to even define it, much less to attain it.

Our guiding principles must be to constantly work towards greater and greater universal empowerment, well-being, thriving, and symbiosis. At the same time, we must be wary of absolutism. The noblest, best-intentioned ideologies and principles become oppressive when applied and interpreted blindly, insensitively, mechanistically, inflexibly.

For example, individualism is positive and beneficial when it supports and promotes us to be authentically empowered, expressive, and to make our best contribution to the world. It is destructive and harmful when it pits us against each other, isolates us as islands in an abrasive social ocean, and makes it hard for us to form trusting, symbiotic, caring relationships and support systems and act in concert to any large degree. This is common in many Western cultures.

Similarly, strong teamwork is a positive thing and fundamental to our humanity. Yet when taken to extremes as in some Asian cultures, it suppresses individual empowerment, initiative, and expression and becomes oppressive.

The principle of equality is fundamental to our new paradigm; yet in more than one context, it has been interpreted and implemented in a way that demands absolute conformity and expects people to try to become identical. It becomes oppressive and negates its own purpose.

Any principle, even the most compassionate and loving one, becomes oppressive and harmful if interpreted and applied insensitively, inflexibly, or brutally without common-sense, without accommodation to the wide variation between people, communities and circumstances. The moment any concept or principle is treated as being above people’s happiness, well-being and quality of life, it is being mis-applied to the detriment of the people.

We will most likely not see a lot of this kind of issue in the new paradigm, due to its very operating principles; but if we do encounter it, our response is crucial. In such cases, we will need to re-examine and reformulate our implementation of the principle as needed, and not abandon the principle itself, unless the principle itself is determined to be erroneous, in which its replacement must be formulated with the goal of maximizing human happiness, fulfillment, empowerment, peace, harmony and well-being as well as environmental sustainability.

3) Compared with some of the other issues mentioned, this one may seem insignificant, yet it is an important aspect of the mindset that we develop going forward. Many movements tend to form their own jargon. When there are no existing words to describe important concepts or phenomena, new terms are needed. It’s all to common, however, for unnecessary jargon to unconsciously emerge that isn’t really needed, except to identify the speaker as a member of that group. When this happens, it is often accompanied by a trend towards rigid, automatic mannerisms and thinking, and groupthink. This happens in many cults and autocratic movements. It becomes part of a mindset that divides people into us and other that goes against every fiber of the Transition and the new paradigm. A form of arrogance can arise in the process.

Such gratuitous jargon is also alienating to many people. Whenever there is an existing term that already expresses something, then use it. If there are multiple terms that apply, then choose carefully, to avoid triggering conditioned responses in listeners. New terms must only be coined when truly needed, and be well thought-out. We will be much more successful in every way, if we internalize this concept.

4) As already stated, there are a plethora of unknown, undeveloped inventions, discoveries and innovations languishing in patent offices, corporate files, and the basements of undiscovered inventors that could be of tremendous benefit to us all. These treasures span every field, from medicine, to electronics, to psychology, to energy generation and more.

All, or nearly all, of the reasons why these gems are untapped, can be traced back to the operating principles of the modern feudal socioeconomic paradigm. Some never saw the light of day because their inventors were too poor, and lacked business and marketing skills or connections to bring them to market. Even if such an inventor got the product to market, they couldn’t compete with the vastly greater resources of the producers of established products.

Some innovations were deliberately suppressed by corporations who perceived them as a threat to their profits, stock prices and market share. Many an inventor has approached a company with an invention, only to be given a lump-sum payment for all rights, only to see their invention disappear into corporate file storage. The amount offered was significant enough to the inventor to be irresistible, but insignificant to the corporation, and fatal for the invention itself. Conversely, sometimes the inventor sees their invention rejected or bought off cheaply, only to watch the corporation make huge profits from it while the inventor retains no legal rights to develop it.

When the Transition ends the current modern feudalism, it will be a priority to devote significant resources to uncovering forgotten, suppressed, mothballed, or otherwise untapped inventions, innovations, and discoveries and bringing them to light, to be developed where appropriate. It might be prudent to send people into corporate facilities during the Transition, to prevent the spiteful, willful destruction of such information and other resources, as some corporations will likely attempt. We’ll also make public invitations to inventors and other innovators to come forth to share. Whenever the information is available, the actual inventors and innovators who actually created them will be publicly acknowledged and credited with their work, and widely celebrated for their contributions. The benefit to all of humankind from this alone is vast and incalculable!

5) Beyond unearthing existing untapped inventions, we’ll benefit tremendously if we foster a culture of active research (both pure and applied), exploration and innovation in science, engineering, and the arts.

While no avenue of research will be suppressed, we will emphasize sustainable technologies that have zero or minimal damaging environmental or human impact throughout their life cycles. Our guidelines will be to focus as much as possible on technology that is sustainable, non-damaging, long-lived, user-friendly, easily serviced and upgraded, and that has a positive impact on our quality of life.

A product or medicine that you can make at home from reasonably simple instructions, is preferable to one that requires large, polluting, intrusive industrial infrastructure to produce for he same purpose. Goods and services whose production is environmentally damaging or harmful to human beings, will be rapidly phased out and replaced with equivalents that do not have such unacceptable effects.

Some things won’t practically be downward scalable, physically requiring large centralized facilities to produce them. Airplanes, cars and ships are examples. We can, however greatly mitigate their harmful aspects. We will transition from fossil fuels to nonpolluting, renewable alternatives, including electric, electromechanical, artificial muscle, and other novel kinds of engines. Public transportation will be greatly expanded.

Products will be manufactured for extreme longevity, easy serviceability and upgradeability, interoperability, and user friendliness. In place of intentionally inferior, short-lived, frequently-replaced versions currently made to feed the self-devouring cycle, we will have versions that will last long and rarely break. Technical advances won’t mean getting a new car, but only a new part installed to replace an old one, from the engine to the hubcaps. Production and consumption will be driven by physical and human reality. With no self-devouring cycle driving runaway compulsive production and consumption, the rate of natural resource depletion will fall to a tiny fraction of what it is now, as will pollution and waste. Production facilities will run part-time, just enough to keep pace with breakage and population growth. Work hours will scale down, with no negative impact on livelihood. We will all enjoy quality of goods and services currently only enjoyed by the modern feudal lords, and better. There will be no down-side.

In the new paradigm, we’ll also emphasize and encourage research in psychology, sociology, anthropology, and related fields. The better we understand our own inner workings individually and socially, the better we can tailor and fine-tune our operating principles to better reinforce and enhance our individual and shared empowerment, fulfillment, actualization, happiness, well-being and thriving.

We have barely begun to understand our potential, how we tend to respond under what conditions, and why. We’ve long persisted in trying to force ourselves into non-viable paradigms that contradict our nature, causing untold human suffering as a result.

This will change dramatically in the new paradigm. We will stop making arbitrary rules that clash with our nature, and trying to force each other to live them. Instead of punishment-reward, we’ll have operant conditioning. Hierarchical social structures will be replaced by peer-based ones. The self-devouring cycle will die a much-deserved death, leaving our global human activities much more sustainable.

In case you’re wondering if this will involve mind-control or brainwashing, the answer is quite the opposite. Up until now, we’ve experienced mind-control and brainwashing AKA advertising and more. That will finally end.

Every social environment reinforces some attitudes or behaviors and not others. Until now, this has happened haphazardly most of the time, and designed to perpetuate the control of some people over others the rest of the time. We have been conditioned to work and consume in ways that feed and reinforce the power of the modern feudal lords, to fill the role of modern peasants and serfs, bearing the crushing weight of the socioeconomic wealth-and-power pyramid upon our backs.

The reinforcers of the new paradigm will be set up based on a deep, broad scientific and empirical understanding of how we work individually and socially, designed to reinforce our potentials that most strongly foster our empowerment, happiness, well-being, thriving, and fulfillment in a reciprocal, mutually-strengthening framework.

6) We will benefit tremendously if we dedicate major resources and efforts to exploration of space, the deep sea, particle physics and other frontiers. Such efforts have always reliably yielded massive benefits in many aspects of our lives.

Such efforts always lead to technological innovations in medicine, technology, transportation, engineering and more, that directly benefit us individually and as societies. Imagine the benefits in our daily lives spinning off from interstellar exploration or breakthroughs in our understanding of the nature of matter, time, and energy!

Having active frontiers being explored has been shown to have a tremendous positive cultural and social impact by inspiring, invigorating, and uniting generations of people worldwide. Under modern feudalism, that core human drive to explore frontiers and knowledge, has been subverted and redirected into an insatiable appetite for ever more consumer goods.

After the heroic drive to reach the moon and similar efforts, such as Jacque Cousteau’s work, to explore deep sea, we’ve settled for commercial and military satellites with very limited actual exploration in space, and in the ocean we’ve devolved into cruise ships, vast rafts of floating debris, and offshore drilling platforms.

Curiosity, inspiration, passion, and the urge to reach beyond have been replaced with addictive fascination of things, wealth, and status. This spawns the current culture of greed, materialism, cynicism, alienation, destructive competition, callousness, robotic conformity, apathy, inhumanity, inauthentic relationships and living, and disempowerment. Instead of aspiring to reach beyond and exceed ourselves, we’re conditioned to aspire to mediocrity as a value.

Modern socioeconomic feudalism fashions a lobotomized society, embodying a soulless addiction to acquisition and status, living in an endless loop of scripted, parodied actions and interactions poorly mimicking authentic living, endlessly feeding and enabling the wealth-and-power addiction of the modern feudal lords, reinforcing their enslavement to the pursuit of ever more wealth and power. There are no winners in this paradigm, which could well lead to our own extinction if we don’t change it soon.