Futuristic Rhetoric and Social Kinetics

This is a story of persuasion. It is entirely my intention to persuade you, the reader, that these conclusions ought to be kept in mind at all times and pursued with all effort. On to the story:

These are distressing times. At this hour, when it be our prerogative as a species to take the next step, facing existential crises of the sort never seen before, having arrived in the 21st century, with industrialization at the peak of its powers, we seem woefully unable to collectively enact policies and arrange our business and political lives toward an end that is sustainable.

This is a travesty of biblical proportions.

The problems facing the people of our world are myriad and gargantuan. We are killing animals and plants and the well-ordered functioning of our climate and inter-related ecosystem at an astonishing rate. EVERY DAY WE LIVE LIKE THIS, WE PUSH CLOSER TO EXTINCTION. Period. That’s the way things are. Right now. And not only will WE perish, but we will take this entire paradise, gifted to us and all other life, right off the cliff too.

This is the state of our affairs. We must change our course or forever suffer ruin. Do you remember John’s Revelations? Do you remember what we were taught about heaven and hell? I believe the scriptures, if they were to predict anything, they were telling of this coming time. Soon, the question of “whether one lived a good or evil life” and that place of consequence, will nolonger be mere speculation of an afterlife, nor analogy of our individual karma or adherence to biblical law, but will be a reality. We are living the times in which this choice may be made, the times in which our actions are what determine our ultimate fate. Same as our collective lives over the last 500 years may be akin to brash actions of an adolescent, here, now, our species must mature. And we must take responsibility. Our future demands it. Our earthly paradise demands it. And all that we know, and all we have seen, and all that has lived, and all that ever shall sprout from seed to stalk on this green earth; it depends on our actions, now.

But back to the topic at hand. Does the threat of death influence action? What about the threat of happiness? How scary is that?

What about the possibility of paradise? Let us look into the future that awaits humanity if responsibility and reason were exercised. Here be further thoughts of persuasion, based on salient points, and universal human traits:

From the bottom up, we shall see of what, humanity, in this day and age, is capable. The tendencies, if you will. As you walk about the city or the fields, the mountains and shores, sailing seas or winding through trees, you will see people about doing their duties. Imagine yourself a wisp, an incorporeal spirit, observing the daily morning and night, of a people, whether natural, civil, between and outside. Do they shuffle about, unaware of their surroundings? Pass out in blackened pastures? When you see them free, do you see them destroy? Whether natural or civilized, what do you see as tendency? You see them planting trees, crops, feeding livestock, damming rivers to lakes, building homes, creating art, reveling in beauty, the gift of life celebrated seasonally, whether in castle or domicile, behind walls or in open space, humanity lives within and with the gifts the good earth brings. Leave a people unfettered and free, and you will not see them carve the last bits of coal from a mine, demolish mountains, or dredge the sea. Equilibrium is the natural state, and we feel it as much as all those interconnected species in their great interplay. The vibrations speak to action or its opposite, and yet we are spurred onward, whipped and driven, through debt and enslavement.

So of what, in this case, of our present state, can we say? As we take our ethereal trip through the natural and the civilized, we find: action is most evident among the naturalized. In those societies we see, that must grow their own food to fill their belly, they spend their time upon basic needs. Now see the civilized, the great wealth that we enjoy, and what do you see? Inaction, and not without cause. This is merely equilibrium making itself known. “Freedom of pursuit is slacking” when little action need be taken. When all provided for, upon the backs of foreigners or robotic workers, we need not drive ourselves endlessly to points of no return. This is the civilized world’s stop-gap measure. The buck would certainly stop there, were we not spurred and whipped to get off to some bullshit job, to pay back loans unjustly forced upon U.S.

Let us again step back, and see what equilibrium may bring: if within a world of wealth, where few need work to provide necessities for all, what is the end result? In the natural state, you will see the “primary impulse”, to provide food and shelter and teach our progeny. In the civilized, you will find the “secondary”, the impulse to act during times of leisure, which manifests in all differently, as varied as the uniqueness of all human beings. More and better food amongst the gardening sort, more beauty from those of artistic bent, more technology, inventions and gadgets from engineering types, great feats of athleticism from those who use the body extensively, an increase in quality of every object made, for the choice of task is chosen; reduction in crime, for the systemic cause is necessity; increase in happiness amongst all people, leading their lives as they see fit, and benefiting others around them vicariously; and a great decrease in wasted energy, when tasks not fit to perform, benefiting none and enjoyed by fewer, are abandoned. There are more, if you care to investigate: the fruits of freedom from primary needs, and freedom to secondary desires, are far-ranging and deep.

*******

Precepts along these lines:

* The amount of energy required to improve our transportation, manufacturing, and processing infrastructure to fully electric is massive. Fossil fuels are necessary to do so, and we are wasting them running around in circles. Ignoring this problem will end human progress, permanently.

* Renewable electric production is not as troubling. Global warming and climate change, in general, will cause terrible catastrophes, but will not, of itself, guarantee the end of civilization.

* Pure capitalism is obsolete, and communism is a half-truth.

* The capitalist mindset, that of full privatization, when applied across the board to everyone, essentially creates a system of competition with limited resources. It was a great tool to propel us to provide needs for as many people as possible. But by now, it has warped and twisted into some farce of its former self. We presently fight to supply a never-ending and insatiable demand. We fight to create demand where none previously existed. We even fight to be the one to create the demand. These competitors shall continue to fight, so long as the system is enshrined. We will do so until there are no resources left. With no supply to provide the enormous demand, we (capitalists) will reap what we had sown quite quickly: the free market devolves into anarchic free-for-all, with the previously enshrined competitors first to fall. We ought to avoid this end.

* The full communist mindset does not account for the instinctual competitiveness and possessiveness that permeates throughout most of the developed world. Such a thing can only come about naturally, if at all. It cannot be forced upon people.

* An individual knows oneself best, is most aware of their own talents, and enjoys using them.

* Some control is necessary for basic needs, emergency services, and grand projects. And by control, here, I mean a system of direct monetary reward.

* On a more particular note, the enforcement arm of the executive branch would benefit from using common sense in their actions, rather than the presently warped and twisted total law and base prejudices.

With inherent human traits being the case, with freedom from drudgery (achievable in the Western World throughout. And to give it as much credit as possible to capitalism itself toward that end, I believe it is a step that every society must take toward the liberation of which we stand at the precipice), and freedom to pursue, quality of life will improve for everyone on this planet, and we can stop the destruction of our earth, and we can free the civilized people of this world. At that, the quality of life will improve so much, so greatly at this movement in history, that even the people at the very top of the power structure, no matter the grand lives some lead at present through their systems of control, no matter if one were the absolute monarch of the entire world, waited on hand and foot, and gifted the greatest and most valuable objects on a daily basis; yes, even this person would green with envy, fume and boil with jealousy, at the life of the average man in a functioning future world. Same as the Czar of Russia or King of England or Queen of France some 100 years ago would fall to their knees in praise at the sight of the grand cornucopia we call the local grocery store, the kings and queens of today can not imagine the wealth of the good tomorrow.

Now, that being the case, desire for control is another inherent human trait. Very real, and it is this trait itself that causes us consternation, that causes the crisis in which we find ourselves today. And in that case, were I to speak to the top of the pyramid, I would offer this: progress brings fruits that even the richest could not attain at the highest station. And it is a direct result of a release of control, a gain in autonomy by the vast population (us “peasants”), that such things arise. If one desires power, the future world will have even more of it to go around. And that power shall have no bias, especially with the eternal gratitude of all who hold you up. When considering this, that the people at present are essentially indentured to the debt that must, ultimately, have only one debtor, to release such, and with that release as conditional upon further release, “paying it forward”, such that the vast, vast expanses of humanity were free of this antiquated concept, and that those who released this control may step forward, out of the powerful shadows, and greet the people as their benevolent liberator, whether it were one or five thousand, this act, this one act would bestow upon its actors, perhaps our “people in power”, showing such gratitude, that the present grandeur (soon to be past) would seem a pittance, a trifle, a child’s toy, a bauble, beside a masterpiece of reasoned compassion.

*******

And so here we stand. This is the state of our affairs. I do not speak these words lightly. I have spoken in flowery terms, in poems, in novels, in plays, and in endless correspondence. Communicated greatly in effort to piece together the inner workings here from the outer frame. And here, right now, I wanted to speak directly this peace. And as it seems benevolence may only come from the same, giving a reason to trust is the first step. I hope this concern touches upon the hearts and minds of those who may bring about its fruition, and propel our shared fate toward the greater reward.