Let us consider the problem of societal complexity through the lens of technology for a moment. Technology is indifferent to the ideas of good and evil. A tool of technology does not decide the manner in which it is used; only the wielder of the tool can decide whether it is used for good or evil purposes. However, one of the problems with the idea of "good and evil" is that it requires a subjective moral judgement as to what is "good" and what is "evil." When it comes to any subjective determination, different cultures, subcultures, and individuals will never fully agree on specific issues or criteria. This the place in which complexity arises in social life. Additionally, "the road to hell is (often) paved with good intentions," in which good natured people with genuinely good intentions can still cause serious harm because they simply could not grasp or foresee the consequences of their efforts. For example, as Elon Musk and others have warned their contemporaries working on General Artificial Intelligence (AI), although their intentions are generally well-meaning, the outcomes of their work cannot be comfortably predicted, and one reasonably possible outcome of their work is the extinction of the entire human race through the accidental or intentional whims of AI. Such is why collective intelligence, and the simplicity that supports it, is so critical to the wellbeing of us all.
In certain societies we may do well (or not) at using cultural values and moral principles to inform our decision-making by using the terms "beneficial" and "harmful" instead, while erring on the side of more freedom and less restrictions on individual liberty. However, even this approach requires an active use of the skill of discernment, and people (each having their own conscience) will never entirely agree on specifics. I say "skill of discernment" because it truly requires the skillful use of mindfulness, intuition, and critical thinking not distorted by ego-desires or fleeting emotions. The most viable approach in ensuring a group of people can interact harmoniously and with stability (and use technology wisely), with maximum freedom and least harm to one another possible, is to use the simplest, most general set of values and moral principles possible.
With a simple moral code of ethical conduct (incorporating individual rights and responsibilities) agreed to by all participants, it falls on individuals educated to effectively use the skills of discernment to modulate their own personal behavior to, primarily, minimize harm to other life while, secondarily, maximizing their own happiness. And, when a person causes another harm, intentionally or unintentionally, and the parties are unable to make amends and resolve the issue themselves, it would fall on the entire group's (family's, community's, city's, or state's) "collective intelligence" to determine on a case-by-case basis what the most beneficial way would be to handle the transgression. There is no need for complex legal frameworks and dedicated "experts" to make this work, and, in fact, such things are generally a hindrance to the application of collective wisdom. It is more beneficial to all if the collective group alone, not an individual or small group of people, is entrusted with the authority and power to enforce on individuals the group's decision of how to resolve a matter. Wider circles of social structures (e.g. states, cities) would defer decision-making on specific issues or situations to more local social structures (e.g. communities and families), only stepping in when the more local social unit was unable to collectively resolve the matter on their own. Law and order is best maintained, effective, and agreeable to people when its implementation is genuinely democratic and, as importantly, built from the bottom-up, rather top-down in which centralized authorities assume a corrupt control over all levels of society.
Unfortunately, the "old-world" social systems of most industrialized nations, buried under mountains of legal language not even experts can fully grasp, corruption that manipulates this complexity, over-centralized forms of power structures, and toxic methods of enforcement, have become so burdensome, confusing, and counterproductive at maintaining social cohesion and harmony, these systems have been causing for more harm than benefit for their peoples. What is needed is a fundamental reset and shift in our way of thinking, such that all complexity, corruption, and harmful methods of enforcing double-standards are stripped from the systems used to maintain social order. The People collectively yearn to return to simplicity in all areas of public life, in which common sense, compassionate wisdom, logical reasoning, and evidence have genuine influence on how our collective values and principles are applied to specific issues and situations.
With compassion and evidence guiding us, we could use collective intelligence, at all levels, and the skills of discernment at the level of individual conscience to make much wiser decisions about the use of technology and addressing moral transgressions than our current set of representatives, who are generally corrupt, unqualified, sociopathic, or otherwise manipulated by egocentric forces, are capable of. To make this shift happen peacefully will require us all to have the courage to conquer our fears, transcend our petty or egotistical beliefs, let go of ideologies that no longer serve us, and learn to trust again in simplicity and the essential goodness of one another. A peaceful transition will require carefully building up new socioeconomic models of living from within the old, gradually replacing the old ways without directly opposing them. We must learn to let be, in simplicity, what we wish to see, and let go of all complexity. This is a tall order, I know, but history shows us that it can be done – that it must be done.
Showing posts with label sustainability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sustainability. Show all posts
April 13, 2017
March 28, 2017
Transcending the Cultural Entanglements of Death
One lesson regarding life has repeatedly impressed itself upon me lately: the chains of entanglements society deliberately imposes upon us from birth and increasingly ensnares us in throughout our lives are systemic manifestations of "ego" and "death." These snares of ego-dominated society rob us of our life energy and freedom to live in peace, joy, and harmony.
From birth we are told who we are and what we are supposed to be and do as a person. We are given a name we did not choose for ourself before we were even born; a government we literally were incapable of consenting to being ruled by prints out a fancy piece of paper and generates a random number locking in and imposing that false ego-identity for the rest of our life; we go through childhood being bombarded by other people's ideas about what we should believe and how we should behave, robbing us of our own identity; public education gives us a sanitized, spoon-fed notion of what the world is like, suffocates our creativity and imagination, denies us the knowledge of how to think critically, and robs us of our conscience; as we go about our lives, our mistakes follow and haunt us because society tracks and labels everything you do, judges you for it, and never allows you to live beyond it once you learn from it and make amends (our mistakes are supposed to guide us, not imprison us); and, as adults, the need for money enslaves us into committing our invaluably precious time to corporate machinations that are destroying the planet and our fellow human beings, robbing us of our life-force and destabilizing our families and communities in the process.
Life and death are a dancing pair of dualities; they do indeed need one another. Yet, what we see in the delusional abstract layer of conceptualization humanity has imposed on its self is grossly out of balance with the ground layer of physical reality, dangerously favoring egotistical falsehoods and insatiable desires to a degree that threatens the totality of Life on this planet, and continues to cause immense and unnecessary suffering upon billions of souls. Our collective ego has become completely out of control, behaving like a mental parasite on a global scale. Whenever a duality is so out of balance, it is inevitably subject to a self-instigated correction that restores balance – this is karma (cause-and-effect within a dynamic system). In this case, a karmic correction will mean a mass-extinction of the human race.
(Transhumanism and the "technology singularity," which will inevitably lead to humanity becoming a Borg-like hive mind in which individuality is destroyed, are an unattainable mirage due to the systemic failures and societal decay exponentially increasing in parallel with technological advancement. We do not have the maturity and wisdom as a species to reach this evolutionary threshold without destroying ourselves one way or the other. Besides do we really want to lose our individuality and the creative power of diversity in the process of collective integration?)
The extreme manifestations of our collective ego, such as global capitalism (built upon a sociopathic ponzi banking scheme writ large), xenophobic nationalism, and ego-driven populist individualism are a "clear and present danger" to the People of the world, and the life-support systems of Earth which we all depend upon to sustain us. As I have increasingly urged myself, and urge all of you here and now to consider, we must have the courage and determination to dissolve the societally imposed entanglements that currently siphon our individual life-force into systems that are destroying humanity and the Earth. We must withdraw our consent to be subjects of corrupt socioeconomic systems. We must let go of all entanglements that no longer serve our best interests. We must relinquish our attachments to ideas that misguide as from seeing the "truth of what is." We must redirect our life-force, or precious time, to constructing a new and novel socioeconomic paradigm that is life-affirming and sustainable.
The infinite growth paradigm of our global culture has crashed into the finite limits of our world. No matter how hard we try, we will only serve to compound the problem (and accelerate our own destruction) if we continue to rely on and feed into the old socioeconomic order. It cannot be saved; it must be allowed to die conscientiously and in deliberate fashion, or we will all die with it. Only by collectively walking in balance and wisdom, built on a solid ground of life-sustaining values and systems, can we safely proceed in our technological advancements and noble ego-drive to explore and understand the universe, without destroying ourselves in the process.
From birth we are told who we are and what we are supposed to be and do as a person. We are given a name we did not choose for ourself before we were even born; a government we literally were incapable of consenting to being ruled by prints out a fancy piece of paper and generates a random number locking in and imposing that false ego-identity for the rest of our life; we go through childhood being bombarded by other people's ideas about what we should believe and how we should behave, robbing us of our own identity; public education gives us a sanitized, spoon-fed notion of what the world is like, suffocates our creativity and imagination, denies us the knowledge of how to think critically, and robs us of our conscience; as we go about our lives, our mistakes follow and haunt us because society tracks and labels everything you do, judges you for it, and never allows you to live beyond it once you learn from it and make amends (our mistakes are supposed to guide us, not imprison us); and, as adults, the need for money enslaves us into committing our invaluably precious time to corporate machinations that are destroying the planet and our fellow human beings, robbing us of our life-force and destabilizing our families and communities in the process.
Life and death are a dancing pair of dualities; they do indeed need one another. Yet, what we see in the delusional abstract layer of conceptualization humanity has imposed on its self is grossly out of balance with the ground layer of physical reality, dangerously favoring egotistical falsehoods and insatiable desires to a degree that threatens the totality of Life on this planet, and continues to cause immense and unnecessary suffering upon billions of souls. Our collective ego has become completely out of control, behaving like a mental parasite on a global scale. Whenever a duality is so out of balance, it is inevitably subject to a self-instigated correction that restores balance – this is karma (cause-and-effect within a dynamic system). In this case, a karmic correction will mean a mass-extinction of the human race.
(Transhumanism and the "technology singularity," which will inevitably lead to humanity becoming a Borg-like hive mind in which individuality is destroyed, are an unattainable mirage due to the systemic failures and societal decay exponentially increasing in parallel with technological advancement. We do not have the maturity and wisdom as a species to reach this evolutionary threshold without destroying ourselves one way or the other. Besides do we really want to lose our individuality and the creative power of diversity in the process of collective integration?)
The extreme manifestations of our collective ego, such as global capitalism (built upon a sociopathic ponzi banking scheme writ large), xenophobic nationalism, and ego-driven populist individualism are a "clear and present danger" to the People of the world, and the life-support systems of Earth which we all depend upon to sustain us. As I have increasingly urged myself, and urge all of you here and now to consider, we must have the courage and determination to dissolve the societally imposed entanglements that currently siphon our individual life-force into systems that are destroying humanity and the Earth. We must withdraw our consent to be subjects of corrupt socioeconomic systems. We must let go of all entanglements that no longer serve our best interests. We must relinquish our attachments to ideas that misguide as from seeing the "truth of what is." We must redirect our life-force, or precious time, to constructing a new and novel socioeconomic paradigm that is life-affirming and sustainable.
The infinite growth paradigm of our global culture has crashed into the finite limits of our world. No matter how hard we try, we will only serve to compound the problem (and accelerate our own destruction) if we continue to rely on and feed into the old socioeconomic order. It cannot be saved; it must be allowed to die conscientiously and in deliberate fashion, or we will all die with it. Only by collectively walking in balance and wisdom, built on a solid ground of life-sustaining values and systems, can we safely proceed in our technological advancements and noble ego-drive to explore and understand the universe, without destroying ourselves in the process.
March 21, 2016
On the Future of Democracy
I discuss, on a systems-thinking level, how the basic structure of our current discussions are the root of the problem, and suggest a more holistic, bottom-up approach that is ideal for a genuine, technology-based democracy.
January 15, 2016
Systemic Vulnerabilities in the Global Economy
Hello All,
It would seem, 14 years later, that I was correct in the grander thesis I strongly eluded to throughout my H.S. Senior Paper (available at http://j.mp/SeniorPaper). In the global economy there has been an ever-growing trend of:
Increasing over-interdependence of large-scale economic providers, within increasingly-globalized supply chain-webs (most courtesy of “J.I.T.” supply systems, globalized ‘vertical specialization,’ and as I now recognize, the overly interdependent Banking & Lending {financing} web), have made what once was a relatively resilient economic system, capable of dampening out local disruptions, turn into one of a remarkably systemically fragile nature — inherently of the nature to propagate and “snow-ball” microeconomic disruptions into massive socioeconomic disruptions (recent e.g., the 2008 “Sub-Prime Mortgage Bubble” collapse, inducing the “Great Recession”).I would appreciate your feedback. This economic trend is going to inevitably be disastrous if we do not alleviate the fundamental systemic vulnerabilities elluded to in my research paper. Thank you.
"One Love"
Matthew L. Morgan
{ dJ_5entIn3L℠ / WiseFromWithin℠ }
[ Wise ‘Trip’ Records® / Harmony through Music Foundation℠ ]
March 22, 2015
Petition to Restore Community Self-Sufficiency
[From my old WhiteHouse.gov Petition]
Petition to Restore Community Self-Sufficiency
All around the world, and especially here in the United States, communities have been completely disarmed by the forces of global capitalism. Small, community-oriented businesses everywhere are getting squeezed out by large corporations flexing their legal and economic muscles--it's seldom a fair fight, especially with lobbyists setting the legal and regulatory 'mood' in DC by physically outnumbering our Congressional representatives over 3 to 1. (In America, the moral of the business story seems to have become, "May the best paid legal team win".) Yet, it is not just an issue of competition.
If you look at the long, drawn-out recovery process in New Orleans as one example, you can see evidence in several areas of once vibrant communities that remain nearly ghost towns because corporations are still not yet willing to invest in those communities again because "they're not a good market" right now. Large corporations are more worried about profit than communities; but that's not much of a surprise, nor precisely the point here. New Orleans neighborhoods that had a richer small-business sector, prior to Katrina, were almost always the quickest to bounce back (many in just a few days after the flooding receded), and in many cases were the only help of any kind many residents received for several days during the disaster. Several small-business restaurant owners bravely ignored fines from government food-industry regulators as they served food to as many hungry, displaced residents as possible--all while FEMA's supplies were days and weeks away for most.
Several communities in Japan that bore the brunt of the tsunami were isolated and cut-off from help from higher authorities for several days in dangerously cold temperatures, even though their country is considered by most experts to be at the bleeding-edge of disaster preparedness systems and procedures. Those communities only had each other and themselves to rely on, despite a government genuinely desperate to reach and help its own people. Even if the federal government wanted to put its weight behind helping you, they may not be able to for a period of time quite longer than you may presume and currently be prepared for.
As a final example, the statistics on hunger and starvation in America are indicative of a for-profit, food mass-production system that makes money off selling nutritionally-deficient foods (often containing unpronounceable "fillers" and "preservatives" to boost profit margin) to Americans who can afford it, while subsidiary corporations own (directly or indirectly) most of the arable land in this country and the expense of buying land keep the poor helpless to provide for themselves and their families. Tax-payers currently pay for food stamps for over 43 million people and families. Unhealthy Food + Tax-Payer Subsidized Food Distribution = Increased Healthcare Costs + Stressed Crops/Animals/Soil + Welfare State (i.e. large-scale economic servitude to, and dependence on, a hand-full of affluent landowners).
Being able to provide one's self and family with nutritious foods grown out of non-toxic, nutrient-rich soil is a natural, God-given right. Likewise, there is no excuse for millions to go hungry each day in this country while obesity is meanwhile considered an 'epidemic' here--no excuse, period. Ultimately only greed and indifference, being the root of the problem, can explain this sad state of affairs and it needs to stop. Remember, "global capitalism" is not the same as "global trade". Global trade is not the disruptive, disarming force imperiling communities; it is the proliferation of monopolizing, international corporate conglomerates (calling plays from the 'profit-motive handbook') that act as middle-men in particular markets for goods and services, driving up the prices for consumers and reducing the quality-of-life for the supply-side labor force (by artificially suppressing the true value of their work), while adding little true value themselves to that particular product or service.
A critical first step to getting 'at the root' of these particular problems and vulnerabilities is to restore families' and communities' capacity to provide (through non-profit, 'quid pro quo' cooperation) for their own basic necessities (i.e. food, water, shelter, heat, etc.)--a capacity that can not be reliant on or otherwise affected by outside socioeconomic forces, for the capacity for survival is too critical to risk unnecessary exposure. Any product or service not essential to survival would naturally continue to fall under global capitalism (at least for the time being). As with global trade, state and federal resources are still very important and beneficial to us all, but none of those things can ever substitute for a culturally-vibrant, close-knit network of community-oriented citizens and community-oriented small-business owners whom, in times of disaster or other dire need, would be able to effectively "take care of their own", as opposed to large corporations and governments whom would either be disinterested or unable to do so.
The country, and indeed the whole world, are in dire need of bold, selfless leaders who recognize and appreciate the importance of acting on this issue now and are willing to put their fellow human beings and the unborn before country, party, reelection, or other personal profit. It is wholly wrong to allow our brothers and sisters in the "third world", our younger generations, and future generations to suffer a bleak existence, just so the affluent and entertained of today can continue on about their greed and indifference.
I urge those holding positions of influence in our government to consider acting on this matter as being "in the nation's vital interest". Ultimately, it is a national security matter for a government purporting to serve "the People", particularly in light of:
By signing this petition you are sending a clear message to the highest levels of U.S. executive and legislative government (and indirectly to other world leaders), reminding them that the same principle applies to nations and humanity as does to a house: it is only as strong as its foundation. In the case of country and humanity, the core foundation for a non-self-destructive society is one built upon strong family units, vibrant community life, and self-sustainability. Ask your leaders to take immediate actions to promote community-restoration for the sake of the greater good in securing the blessings of this Earth for all.
Petition to Restore Community Self-Sufficiency
All around the world, and especially here in the United States, communities have been completely disarmed by the forces of global capitalism. Small, community-oriented businesses everywhere are getting squeezed out by large corporations flexing their legal and economic muscles--it's seldom a fair fight, especially with lobbyists setting the legal and regulatory 'mood' in DC by physically outnumbering our Congressional representatives over 3 to 1. (In America, the moral of the business story seems to have become, "May the best paid legal team win".) Yet, it is not just an issue of competition.
If you look at the long, drawn-out recovery process in New Orleans as one example, you can see evidence in several areas of once vibrant communities that remain nearly ghost towns because corporations are still not yet willing to invest in those communities again because "they're not a good market" right now. Large corporations are more worried about profit than communities; but that's not much of a surprise, nor precisely the point here. New Orleans neighborhoods that had a richer small-business sector, prior to Katrina, were almost always the quickest to bounce back (many in just a few days after the flooding receded), and in many cases were the only help of any kind many residents received for several days during the disaster. Several small-business restaurant owners bravely ignored fines from government food-industry regulators as they served food to as many hungry, displaced residents as possible--all while FEMA's supplies were days and weeks away for most.
Several communities in Japan that bore the brunt of the tsunami were isolated and cut-off from help from higher authorities for several days in dangerously cold temperatures, even though their country is considered by most experts to be at the bleeding-edge of disaster preparedness systems and procedures. Those communities only had each other and themselves to rely on, despite a government genuinely desperate to reach and help its own people. Even if the federal government wanted to put its weight behind helping you, they may not be able to for a period of time quite longer than you may presume and currently be prepared for.
As a final example, the statistics on hunger and starvation in America are indicative of a for-profit, food mass-production system that makes money off selling nutritionally-deficient foods (often containing unpronounceable "fillers" and "preservatives" to boost profit margin) to Americans who can afford it, while subsidiary corporations own (directly or indirectly) most of the arable land in this country and the expense of buying land keep the poor helpless to provide for themselves and their families. Tax-payers currently pay for food stamps for over 43 million people and families. Unhealthy Food + Tax-Payer Subsidized Food Distribution = Increased Healthcare Costs + Stressed Crops/Animals/Soil + Welfare State (i.e. large-scale economic servitude to, and dependence on, a hand-full of affluent landowners).
Being able to provide one's self and family with nutritious foods grown out of non-toxic, nutrient-rich soil is a natural, God-given right. Likewise, there is no excuse for millions to go hungry each day in this country while obesity is meanwhile considered an 'epidemic' here--no excuse, period. Ultimately only greed and indifference, being the root of the problem, can explain this sad state of affairs and it needs to stop. Remember, "global capitalism" is not the same as "global trade". Global trade is not the disruptive, disarming force imperiling communities; it is the proliferation of monopolizing, international corporate conglomerates (calling plays from the 'profit-motive handbook') that act as middle-men in particular markets for goods and services, driving up the prices for consumers and reducing the quality-of-life for the supply-side labor force (by artificially suppressing the true value of their work), while adding little true value themselves to that particular product or service.
A critical first step to getting 'at the root' of these particular problems and vulnerabilities is to restore families' and communities' capacity to provide (through non-profit, 'quid pro quo' cooperation) for their own basic necessities (i.e. food, water, shelter, heat, etc.)--a capacity that can not be reliant on or otherwise affected by outside socioeconomic forces, for the capacity for survival is too critical to risk unnecessary exposure. Any product or service not essential to survival would naturally continue to fall under global capitalism (at least for the time being). As with global trade, state and federal resources are still very important and beneficial to us all, but none of those things can ever substitute for a culturally-vibrant, close-knit network of community-oriented citizens and community-oriented small-business owners whom, in times of disaster or other dire need, would be able to effectively "take care of their own", as opposed to large corporations and governments whom would either be disinterested or unable to do so.
The country, and indeed the whole world, are in dire need of bold, selfless leaders who recognize and appreciate the importance of acting on this issue now and are willing to put their fellow human beings and the unborn before country, party, reelection, or other personal profit. It is wholly wrong to allow our brothers and sisters in the "third world", our younger generations, and future generations to suffer a bleak existence, just so the affluent and entertained of today can continue on about their greed and indifference.
I urge those holding positions of influence in our government to consider acting on this matter as being "in the nation's vital interest". Ultimately, it is a national security matter for a government purporting to serve "the People", particularly in light of:
- Increasing frequency and severity of natural and man-made disasters in the last couple centuries (continuing to follow an exponential growth and crash cycle of increasing amplitude throughout human history)
- An over-leveraged global economy that now resonates local and regional disruptions, instead of quelling them
- Drastically reduced energy return on energy invested (in non-renewable energy sources, which will mean energy shortages or outages for communities reliant on external power sources {as non-renewable energy projects continue to approach a 1:1 return on investment ratio--eventually making such energy-capture ventures no longer worth the effort})
- A global eco-system that is facing 'runaway' pollution-accumulation, loss of genetic-diversity, and inter-species collapse (leaving communities with fewer and fewer globally- and nationally-sourced food and fresh water resources to pull from)
By signing this petition you are sending a clear message to the highest levels of U.S. executive and legislative government (and indirectly to other world leaders), reminding them that the same principle applies to nations and humanity as does to a house: it is only as strong as its foundation. In the case of country and humanity, the core foundation for a non-self-destructive society is one built upon strong family units, vibrant community life, and self-sustainability. Ask your leaders to take immediate actions to promote community-restoration for the sake of the greater good in securing the blessings of this Earth for all.
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