Our work

     Reinventing the World from its foundations is a profound, monumental task and nothing like this has ever been attempted. Critics will naturally ask if such a bold project is really necessary or if it is even possible.  Also, the very predictable, cliché charge will be made that this work is simply attempting to create a utopia and that is an impossible task.  In reality, Civilization and the World are literally human creations so it is certainly possible to remake them if we choose to do so.  Whether this is utterly necessary at the moment is a matter of opinion, but there are growing worldwide calls for exactly such change.  As we move further into the 21st century the current World paradigm may prove increasingly ineffective and calls for change will likely intensify. Furthermore, our work does not attempt to create a dreamy, perfect society.  Our goal is to provide an objective, technological innovation using currently existing knowledge, understanding, and technical capabilities which will offer badly needed improvements to our World and the human experience that occurs in it.  We aim to develop this alternative World paradigm and have it ready to roll-out and implement when it is undeniably needed. 

The End of an Age: Understanding Civilization 1.0 

     Before we invent the future we must first comprehend the present situation and how it came about.  Although general notions of Civilization and the World exist and are commonly used they are surprisingly vague, often contradictory, and poorly formed.  In reality, to most of humanity they are both so-called “black boxes” which are constantly used but not really understood.  This primitive conceptual framework is inadequate for the complex technical work undertaken in this project, so we begin by first developing a clear understanding the technology of Civilization from general to specific terms.  To do this we turn to the discipline of World Transformation which was developed expressly for this purpose.  First, we consider the general nature of Civilization to acquire a basic grasp of what we are working with and what it is meant to accomplish.  In broad terms, we need to know what Civilization is, why it exists, and what it does.  Likewise, it is critical to examine the current paradigm of Civilization, to see how it is constructed and functions in practice.  We want to know about the basis, structure, and operation of this embodiment, the only example we have available.  World Transformation reveals the following: 

What it is: 

Civilization is a human creation, literally an invention, made to benefit humans in numerous of ways. By definition it is a technology. 

Why it exists:

A well-known proverb says that “necessity is the mother of invention” and this holds true for Civilization. Humans invented this technology out of necessity because we are living beings having a multitude of needs. 

What it does:

Civilization has been created through the efforts of countless individuals over many generations to help ensure our survival and wellbeing by satisfying our various needs. These needs are varied, ranging from basic material necessities, such as food and shelter, to more abstract, subjective concerns, such as meaning and fulfillment. This technology is used by humans to transform Nature and create the World, an expansive, dynamic phenomenon in which the entire human experience occurs. 

Its basis:

The current model of Civilization addresses all of our needs to some extent, but it arguably focuses primarily on the more pressing material concerns because they have the most immediate effect on our survival. Necessities must be addressed first. Consequently, this model has a strong material character and its basis, or core principle, is material value.  This basis naturally transfers into the World which Civilization is used to produce. 

Its structure: 

Civilization has both conceptual and tangible elements that allow us to address our various concerns.  Material value and work are two of the most important. The various elements of the current World-paradigm are arranged so that humans can satisfy their material needs through the process of work and can address other non-materialistic needs through other means.

Its operation:

A great portion of our lives are spent preparing for and engaging in work, the process by which our efforts add value to the World and enable us to fill our various needs.  An important aspect of the current model of Civilization is its progressive and evolving nature, a feature of technology in general.  It functions to organize, optimize, and eventually automate our efforts, especially work.  The current World-paradigm is becoming outdated as work becomes obsolete due to increasing automation made possible by technical advances like artificial intelligence. 

     In the current World-paradigm, it is a generally accepted matter that material value actually exists and it enables us to survive, flourish, and progress.  This basic convention, arguably a core feature of our Civilization, may have been valid in the past but it likely will not be in the future.  Improvements in our technical capabilities, like artificial intelligence and advanced automation, are rapidly making the concept of material value and the process of work, critical foundational elements of our Civilization, obsolete.  As a result, our current World-paradigm is also becoming obsolete and is often unable to perform as needed.  The only long-term solution to such a dilemma is to reinvent the technology from its foundations to create an improved version that is more appropriate for our current needs and the prevailing operating conditions.  In other words, the solution is to invent Civilization 2.0 and with it create a new World paradigm. 

A New Era Begins: Creating Civilization 2.0

     Ironically, the current model of Civilization needs to be replaced not because it has failed, but because it has succeeded.  A fundamental characteristic of our first version of this technology, i.e., Civilization 1.0, is that its operations would eventually become automated, making it and the World paradigm that humans produced with it obsolete. The potential for automation exists in this model because it was created largely to address basic material concerns and these tend to be routine matters which can readily be predicted and eventually automated.  The routine operations associated with work are ideally suited for machines and animals, but they are laborious and tedious for humans which have a creative nature and seek constant variety and progress.  The desire to escape the tedium and repetitiveness of work has been a continual underlying motive for automation and the efforts are now coming to fruition. 

     Now that our technical capacity to automate work has matured, it is only a matter of time before this potential becomes fully implemented.  Conventional thinkers consider this situation to be a dilemma and in recent years the future of work has become a popular topic of research and discussion.  The fact of the matter is that work has no future and it never really did.  We must realize that this is actually a positive development, not a dilemma as many claim.  Naturally, the questions of what people will do and how they will survive arise, but these are concerns associated with an outdated worldview.  Such questions are legitimate when considered in the context of the current World paradigm, but it is important to realize that this paradigm and the concerns that are associated with it, like value, property, and work, are becoming increasingly irrelevant.  It is now time to direct our efforts to the future and the creation of a new model of Civilization which is better suited to current conditions and is more able to address our evolving needs. 

     As we begin this project we must first consider some basic issues which will greatly influence the form and character of the technology we create and the World paradigm it will help us produce, in particular, what is the objective, why is it being attempted, and how should it be achieved.  Again, we turn to World Transformation for insight.

The objective:

The purpose of this project is to create an entirely new model of Civilization having a fundamentally different basis, structure, and mode of operation than the current version and with it develop a new World paradigm which is designed to better address our current needs and is more suited to the conditions in which it operates.  As work and material value become irrelevant concepts in the future and our material needs are readily satisfied by automated systems, our focus will naturally shift toward other concerns that are more abstract and subjective, such as meaning, fulfillment, and progress. 

The motive:

Human beings have a variety of needs that must be met to ensure their survival and wellbeing.  Civilization 1.0 was created largely to address our most basic material needs and it now offers the means to satisfy them with little effort on our part, so it is time to shift attention to other needs that are more abstract, complex, and subjective.  A new model of Civilization must be developed which will enable humans to address these higher concerns and simultaneously satisfy their basic material needs.

How to proceed:

The question of how to proceed from this point really is the crux of our entire project. What could or should the basis be of a Civilization which is deliberately created to satisfy needs that are subjective, abstract, and unquantifiable?  Also, how should it be structured and operated?  We aim to address these critical questions and provide humanity with the means to produce a new World paradigm which offers a secure, bright, and meaningful future for everyone.