we are all in this together

Humanity is facing a vast problem the closer we draw to the looming technological singularity, namely that most of us are not prepared for it to happen, and are not even aware that it is. Most of the technological breakthroughs of recent history are in communications and interconnectivity, but most of the money and resources are channeled towards weapons systems and maintaining a technological civilization that hasn't moved much further than the industrial revolution. This culture consumes more and more energy, mostly from unrenewable resources, in order to maintain a manner of living that is increasingly ineffective and downright harmful to the majority of beings on our small planet, with hardly any thought to why or what we could be doing different.

When Darwin framed the evolutionary paradigm as "survival of the fittest" he gave voice to the prime drive for humanity's destructive capabilities. Since the beginning of recorded history it hsa been warfare and manifest destiny, one tribe conquering and pushing out another as long as there was room to grow and push. This drive has found its avatar in western civilization, in twentieth century capitalism, in which it is expressed as "the one on top wins." In this view man is nothing unless he is more fit than his neighbors, unless he has complete control over his servants and the environment, and any arguments that such a lifestyle is harmful or not sustainable is laughed at as a bunch of baloney.

But now things are changing, and fast. As telecommunications quickly connects the world's information flows, boundaries dissapear and the diverse tribes are seen to be part of the human tribe. As the globe warms and the rainforests are stripped bare and countless species are driven to the brink of extinction it becomes no longer possible to deny the adverse effects this technological paradigm are having on our world. There is nowhere left to explore, there is no one left to conquer, there are no dark corners left to push those who would not be part of the "civilized world". Space may be the final frontier, but we don't have ourt shit together enough to explore it, and if we did, how long before we conquer the neighboring star systems?

Those in power, those who have the energy and resources to direct the cultural matrix, are afraid. Their world view no longer works, but they have too much invested in it to change. The sun is powerful enough to power all the earth, if it was harnessed effectively, yet we rely on fossil fuels because that is the way it has been done. That is what pays the man. The only room left for us to grow is inward, exploring the reaches of art and mind, yet they instead spend more money on war than on anything else put together. Again, because it is the way it has been done, and it pays. It doesn't pay to accept change, but to freeze it, to hold back the waves and pretend this moment can be stretched on indefinitley.

The ones on top are afraid because if they didn't maintain this illusion they wouldn't be on top anymore. Because now there is no top. The earth is round, small, fragile, and floating in the middle of space. The earth is our mother, and all we've got, but we treat her like a whore, to be used and thrown away. The old evolutionary paradigm of survival of the fittest doesn't work anymore, yet we haven't yet accepted the new paradigm of interconnectivity. We are all in this together, let's stop acting like some of us are not.