Is
© 2003 Joseph George Caldwell. All rights reserved. Posted at Internet web sites http://www.foundation.bw
and http://www.foundationwebsite.org . May be copied or reposted for non-commercial use, with attribution. (I have been
reading more and more, on the Internet and in books, the argument that the
What is a
fascist state? What is fascism? When I was a boy, I heard these terms a
lot. The phrase “fascist dictatorship”
was often used to refer to Hitler’s
At some
point, I am sure that I looked up the definition, and my high-school history
books no doubt included one, but I can still recall that the definition was not
very satisfying, and I never really felt very certain about exactly what
constituted a fascist state and what did not.
With the
fall of “fascist” states in the last century, the term was mainly used in an
historical context. Until
recently. All of a sudden, there
seems to be a proliferation of articles decrying
Before
going any further, let me present some material from some recent Internet
discussions about the
The key is the merging
of state and business leadership.
When the
Thus, the Founders and
the Framers disposed of despotism by church or state, guaranteeing the absolute
and inviolable rights of a nation’s citizens to life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.
But there was a third
entity that Thomas Jefferson and others worried may also one day rise to seize
control of the government and enslave the people. James Madison wrote, “There
is an evil which ought to be guarded against in the indefinite accumulation of
property from the capacity of holding it in perpetuity by … corporations. The
power of all corporations ought to be limited in this respect. The growing
wealth acquired by them never fails to be a source of abuses.”
A few decades later,
President Martin Van Buren said, “I am more than ever convinced of the dangers
to which the free and unbiased exercise of political opinion - the only sure
foundation and safeguard of republican government - would be exposed by any
further increase of the already overgrown influence of corporate authorities.”
In the years since, other presidents - from
But, claiming that the
Supreme Court ruled in 1886 that corporations are the same as natural persons
and thus have rights under the 14th Amendment and the Bill of Rights
(the Court ruled no such thing, but the myth persists, even in law schools),
corporations have exercised human rights of free speech, privacy, and freedom
from discrimination. They’ve used these human rights to seize control of the
airwaves, threaten and bully politicians into promoting their agendas, hide
corporate crimes, and prevent local communities from “discriminating” against
transnational corporations over local companies while wiping out their
competitors.
The takeover is nearly
complete, and a world war will not only vastly enrich the transnationals
who have perpetrated this coup, but could also mean the end of the first
experiment with republican democracy in almost three thousand years.
It’s like the magic
trick in The Wizard of Oz, but
this in a version written by Franz Kafka. The war hides the failures and crimes
of the leaders and their friends. But behind the leaders and their friends are
the real “men behind the
screen.” And they’re not men at all - they’re non-living, non-breathing legal
fictions which have claimed the rights of humans to seize control of
democracies from one side of the
It’s time that we, the
people, recognize the damage this new corporate plutocracy has already
inflicted on our lives, our biosphere, and our government. And, like the ten
communities in
Another article I recently read was Laurence W. Britt’s article “Fascism Anyone?” posted at http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/britt_23_2.htm . Britt writes: “Fascism's principles are wafting in the air today, surreptitiously masquerading as something else, challenging everything we stand for. The cliché that people and nations learn from history is not only overused, but also overestimated; often we fail to learn from history, or draw the wrong conclusions. Sadly, historical amnesia is the norm.
We are
two-and-a-half generations removed from the horrors of Nazi Germany, although
constant reminders jog the consciousness. German and Italian fascism form the
historical models that define this twisted political worldview. Although they
no longer exist, this worldview and the characteristics of these models have
been imitated by protofascist regimes at various
times in the twentieth century. Both the original German and Italian models and
the later protofascist regimes show remarkably
similar characteristics. Although many scholars question any direct connection
among these regimes, few can dispute their visual similarities.
Beyond the
visual, even a cursory study of these fascist and protofascist
regimes reveals the absolutely striking convergence of their modus operandi.
This, of course, is not a revelation to the informed political observer, but it
is sometimes useful in the interests of perspective to restate obvious facts
and in so doing shed needed light on current circumstances.
For the purpose
of this perspective, I will consider the following regimes: Nazi Germany,
Fascist Italy, Franco's
Analysis of
these seven regimes reveals fourteen common threads that link them in
recognizable patterns of national behavior and abuse of power. These basic
characteristics are more prevalent and intense in some regimes than in others,
but they all share at least some level of similarity. [I will just list the fourteen items here –
see Britt’s full article for explanations, plus references.]
1.
Powerful and
continuing expressions of nationalism
2.
Disdain for the
importance of human rights
3.
Identification
of enemies / scapegoats as a unifying cause
4.
The supremacy
of the military / avid militarism
5.
Rampant sexism
6.
A controlled
mass media
7.
Obsession with
national security
8.
Religion and
ruling élite tied together
9.
Power of
corporations protected
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts
12. Obsession with crime and punishment
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption
14. Fraudulent elections
Britt closes
with a quote from Huey Long: “When fascism comes
to
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In his
book, The Party’s Over, Richard Heinberg
writes: “Giant corporations are engines of growth and
have become primary power wielders in modern industrial societies. One way to rein them in would be to challenge
important legal privileges they have acquired through dubious means. The Fourteenth Amendment to the US
Constitution was adopted soon after the Civil War to grant freed slaves the
rights of persons; but by the last decades of the 19th century,
judges and corporate lawyers had twisted the Amendment’s interpretation to
regard corporations as persons, thus granting them the same rights as
flesh-and-blood human beings. Since
then, the Fourteenth Amendment has been invoked to protect corporations’ rights
roughly 100 times more frequently than African Americans’ rights.
“The legal
fiction of corporate personhood gives corporations the right of free speech,
under the First Amendment to the US Constitution. In recent years, when communities or states
have sought to restrict corporations’ campaign donations to politicians, the
courts have overruled such restrictions as a violation of corporate free-speech
rights as persons. Corporations also are
allowed constitutional protection against illegal search and seizure so that
decisions made in corporate boardrooms are protected from public scrutiny. However, corporate “persons” do not have the
same limitations and liabilities as flesh-and-blood persons. A human person in
The
preceding are but a few of the growing number of references to the
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So what’s
going on? Has
But does it
matter? With respect to solving the
world’s environmental crisis (destruction of the biosphere, mass species
extinction, pollution of the land, oceans, and atmosphere), what difference
does it make whether
First, it
is important to recognize what is going on.
The world is in the end stages of the technological age. It has discovered the secrets of physical
science and technology, and it has had access to massive reserves of fossil
fuels to implement technology without constraint. Because of access to large fossil fuel
reserves and the technology to utilize them, human population has exploded to
the point where it is destroying the very biosphere in which mankind evolved
and which is necessary for its continued existence.
The most
significant aspect of the current technological age is that virtually no one is
willing to stop the destruction of the biosphere. All world leaders are calling for more
industrial development and activity, not less.
All world leaders, and almost all people, are calling for higher
material standards of living, regardless of the consequences to the environment
or to future generations of mankind. The
human population continues to grow at an incredible rate, close to one percent
per year. Commercial energy consumption
continues to grow even faster, at about two percent per year. All of the world’s nations have embraced
industrialization, and they are all competing to produce and consume more. It is very clear that human society has no
intention of “drawing the brakes” on industrial development and activity, and
that the industrial age will continue at full throttle until the world runs out
of petroleum and the entire global industrial system crashes catastrophically. Individuals who see that large human numbers
and industrial activity are destroying the planet are utterly helpless to stop
the destruction.
So what can
be done to stop this, to avert the catastrophic collapse of the industrial
age? The answer is simple: Nothing. That is, nothing can be done to stop the
industrial age from continuing until global petroleum production starts to
decline, in just a few years, and the system of global industrialization
crashes catastrophically. The development
of global industrial society is a natural part of the life cycle of a planet’s
development, once an aggressive, competitive, intelligent species is introduced
into it. The philosophy of economics has
a stranglehold on all nations and most of the world’s population. It does not matter to present human society
that the biosphere is being destroyed, that millions of species are being made
extinct, and that nothing will be left for all future generations of mankind. Absolutely nothing is being done to stop the
process of continued economic growth and large-scale industrial activity, which
is destroying the planet and the quality of life for all species for millions
of years to come. In spite of the fact
that the petroleum age is about half over (i.e., half of the global oil
reserves have been used up, global energy utilization per capita has been
declining for a couple of decades, and the global annual rate of production is
about to start decreasing), modern industrial society has shown no interest or
ability to avert the catastrophic collapse that is just around the corner. At the very latest, the industrial age will
end by 2050, when all of the world’s oil reserves are exhausted. More likely, it will end in within the
present decade, as global oil production starts to decline.
With the
world’s present system of over 200 sovereign nations, each champing at the bit
to outproduce the others, the end of the industrial
age will come quickly. Despite all the
warning signs, all nations and all major international or multinational
organizations (the United Nations, the World Bank, nongovernmental
organizations, corporations) are working to increase industrial production
(and, it follows, energy production / consumption), both in absolute terms and
per capita terms. Because of the facts
that human population is increasing, that all nations and people want higher
standards of living, and that the global rate of oil production will soon start
to fall, all energy conservation efforts are a complete waste of time. No matter how much more energy-efficient or
energy-conserving industrial society becomes, the saving will be used up
rapidly, as global oil production starts to decline (within this decade).
This fact
bears repeating. Because we are soon to
enter the phase of the petroleum age when global oil production starts to
decline, energy conservation now – no matter how extreme – will not extend the
end of the petroleum age even by a single year (since whatever savings are
realized while oil production is still increasing will be immediately used up
when production starts to decline, because demand will increasingly exceed
supply). Because the human population is
continuing to grow (projected to reach nine billion by 2050, in the absence of
catastrophic collapse), because the demand for oil increases every year, and
because global production will soon fall to levels far below global demand, the
end of the petroleum age will occur at about the same time, even if very
significant new oil deposits are discovered. The industrial age will soon be over, either
as soon as global oil production peaks (by 2010), or by the time it ends (by
2050).
Nothing can
be done to stop the continuation of the industrial age until it collapses
catastrophically. That is the natural
fate of societies, civilizations, and dynamic systems. It is the fate of all biological systems that
gain access to a windfall source of new energy: population proliferation, overshoot,
and collapse (dieoff). But does this mean that nothing can be done
at all – that we should just continue the industrial age as in the past. No, not at all. There is an incredible amount that can be
done, and should be done, and must be done. What must be done is to take actions so that,
when the industrial age collapses, the damage to the biosphere will have been
minimized, and a new system of planetary management is set up to preserve and
maintain what is left – a long-term-sustainable system of planetary management
that minimizes the probability of extinction for mankind and for the other
species of the biosphere. That is the
objective of The Omega Project.
What can be
done is to take whatever measures possible to preserve genetic material, so
that as much as possible of the biodiversity that is destroyed by the
industrial age can be replenished. Since
much of the species loss from the industrial age is caused by habitat
destruction, it is imperative that as much natural-growth forest be preserved
as possible. And, most importantly, it
is important to disseminate information about the reasons for the collapse of
the industrial age and the incredible environmental damage that it caused, so
that no large-scale industry is ever allowed again on the planet. All of these things are possible, and all of
them can make a tremendous difference.
It is very
important for people to understand that it is not possible to operate a planet
on a long-term-sustainable basis with multiple sovereign nations, all committed
to industrial development and activity.
It is very important for people to realize that the planet was able to
support at most a few tens of millions of people for millions of years, with
virtually no damage to the biosphere, and that that level of human population
is all that can exist, if a healthy, diverse biosphere is to be preserved and
maintained. It is very important for
people to know that in a minimal-regret population of ten million people, all
people will be free from poverty and war, free to take full advantage of an
ecologically rich planet, and free to develop physically and spiritually.
So, in the
last days of the industrial age, there are things to do that can make a
tremendous difference in the quality of life for mankind and all other species,
for millions of years to come. There is
nothing that you can do to stop the collapse of the industrial age. And there is no reason why anyone who cares
about nature and the quality of life for mankind would wish to do so. The sooner it collapses,
the more of the biosphere that will be saved.
Each year that the industrial age continues means another 30,000 species
are made extinct, and gone forever from our biosphere. The most important thing that you can do for
the future of the planet and mankind is to spread the word that as soon as the
industrial world collapses, it is very important for all of the survivors to
work together to set up a new world government based on a single planetary
management organization and a minimal-regret population of ten million
people. And all that is required to
accomplish this is talk -- Logos.
But I have
digressed. The issue posed by this
article is whether
The real
issue of importance is not whether America is fascist, but whether its
continued role – characterized as fascist or otherwise – promotes a rapid end
to the industrial age, with a chance of saving the biosphere, or instead
promotes a slow decline in which mass species extinction and climate change
wreak much further environmental devastation and destroy the quality of life on
Earth for all time. But this will not
happen. The global system of free trade
and multiple sovereign nations ensures that this will not happen. Under this system of planetary management
(perhaps non-management is a better term), it is inevitable that the
If the US
and other countries were to end their commitment to maximum-rate
industrialization, to free trade, and to globalisation, the industrial age
could conceivably limp along for centuries (there is sufficient coal to last
another couple of centuries), albeit not at such a high level as during the
heyday of the petroleum age (before the global peak in production). And that would seal the doom of the planet’s
biosphere. Now that the philosophy of
economics has been embraced worldwide – that economic development is good, that
a high material standard of living is good, that only economic development can raise
people from poverty, that the damage to the environment is an “externality”
that doesn’t matter, that what happens to future generations is irrelevant
(i.e., has a “discounted present value” of almost zero) – the industrial age
has a death-grip on the planet. This
grip is incredibly strong because not only do the wealthy (individuals,
corporations, nations, international organizations) wish to continue the
system, but the ordinary citizens of the world (almost) all have been convinced
that the only way to a life free of poverty is through more industrialization –
even though it is industrialization that has created the billions of
desperately poor people presently on the planet!
But with an
aggressive
The
religion of economics has sown the seeds of its own destruction. It espouses the very things – democracy, free
trade, national sovereignty, economic efficiency, increased production, globalization, disregard for
nature – that will cause it to self-destruct.
So what can
you do? What should you do? What you should do, if you care about nature,
if you care about the quality of life for all future generations, is to work to
promote the acceptance of a single planetary management organization of a
minimal-regret population of ten million people, after the industrial world collapses. Invest your time and resources, to the extent
that you can, in doing whatever you can to promote the preservation of species
– seed banks distributed around the world, national parks, environmental
movements, ecotourism –
anything that will result in more species being alive when the industrial world
collapses.
Do not
waste time on energy conservation. Do
not waste time trying to stop globalisation, free trade, immigration, or
anything else that hinders economic efficiency and industrial development, for
that system will continue, all-powerful – until it collapses. Those of you who know my views on immigration
may not believe that I am saying this, but even massive immigration does not
matter.
Do not
engage in terrorism. Work hard in the
industrial system – a healthy, fast-growing industrial society will expand
faster and run out of fuel faster, and self-destruct faster, than a sickly or
damaged one. A world filled with many
independent industrial nations will self-destruct more quickly and much more
thoroughly than one comprised of a single or a small number of nations,
particularly if banded together in a synarchic
(“joint rule”) union. Work hard for
economic / industrial development of all nations – the sooner the world’s
petroleum production peaks, the sooner the industrial age will end. Work hard and play hard – enjoy the benefits
of the industrial age to the fullest.
But all the while, and above all, work hard to spread the word about the
need for establishing a minimal-regret population after the industrial world
collapses.
What should
you do in your personal life? Take full
advantage of the tremendous opportunities for creative expression in this
age. Get as much education as you
can. Develop yourself as a human being –
physically, mentally, and spiritually – to the max. Enjoy your free time. Enjoy your work. Express yourself. Fall in love.
Enjoy your family and friends.
Have more children! Teach the
ignorant; help the poor and the sick.
And above all, use energy! Use it
wisely, to help the preserve the diversity of the planet’s biosphere and help
world transit to a long-term-sustainable system of planetary management. But, in any event, use it! See the pyramids of Egypt and Mexico, and the
ruins of Macchu Picchu. Build a house. Buy a car.
Enjoy a vacation on the French Riviera, or in South America. Send your children on “graduation trip” to
Washington, Paris, London, Madrid, and Rome.
And know, with certainty, that the faster the world consumes its
remaining oil, the sooner and more complete will be the end of the industrial
age.
While the
industrial age lasts, achieve all that you can, with the incredible freedom and
energy of this physical existence that God has bestowed upon you at this
time. If you are an American, work hard
to make America the strongest nation in the world. If you are a Russia, work hard to make Russia
the strongest nation in the world. If
you are a Chinese, work hard to make China the strongest nation in the
world. Do not feel guilty about enjoying
the fruits of the industrial age – the petroleum age will end by 2050 no matter
what you or anyone else does, and it will take very little of its energy to
prepare for the implementation of a long-term-sustainable system of planetary
management after the collapse of industrial society.
Today’s
industrial age is a remarkable – and incredibly short – one that practically no
one else who ever lived or ever will live on Earth has the opportunity to
experience. But never forget your
responsibility and your obligation and your sacred duty to the future. You could not have prevented the industrial
age from occurring, and you cannot prevent it from running its course. But you can help decide what kind of world
will exist, for all time, after it is over.
That is the tremendous and wonderful opportunity that the current world
crisis has given to you, and to the others of the present generation who are
privileged to live in this time of incredible danger and opportunity.
Enjoy the
rewards of the industrial age. It is one
of the inevitable, God-given ages of life on planet Earth. It is a wonderful age, full of fascinating
creations and opportunities and experiences.
Today’s inhabitants of the industrial world live lives that are more
luxurious than those of the kings of all previous ages. The opportunities to conquer, to develop, to
create, to explore, to build, to acquire knowledge, to invent, to discover, to
help, and to make a difference are better and more exciting than in any
previous time, and, with massive energy resources and individual freedom, they
are available to the ordinary individual.
The challenge
of saving the world from total destruction is the most exciting and important
challenge of all time. This is an
amazing time on planet Earth. It just
can’t last for very long. You have
tremendous leverage in your present life on Earth. You can make an incredible difference, for
all time. Very few human beings ever had
this opportunity before, and soon, none will.
How you spend your time while this age lasts will make a tremendous
difference for all future generations who live on Earth.
The fact that the industrial age, the age of economics, cannot last very long has been recognized by many people for a long time. One of the most renowned economists of all time, the mathematician John Maynard Keynes, recognized this. He observed (in his 1930 essay, “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren”) the fatal limitations of economics as a long-term basis for human society:
“Some day we may return to some of the most sure and certain principles of religion and traditional virtue – that avarice is a vice, that the extraction of usury is a misdemeanor, and the love of money is detestable. But beware! The time for all this is not yet. For at least another hundred years we must pretend to ourselves and to every one that fair is foul and foul is fair; for foul is useful and fair is not. Avarice and usury and precaution must be our gods for a little while longer.”
Many other people are very aware of the inevitable end of the industrial age. Science fiction writers have toyed with this theme over and over. Prophets and seers have seen the end of civilization since the dawn of history. Anyone who thinks seriously about the massive environmental destruction being caused by large human numbers and industrial activity will reach the conclusion that this incredibly destructive system cannot continue for very long.
In closing, I would like to speculate on the futures that are possible for Earth. Fred Hoyle did this, in his novel, October the First Is Too Late. In that novel, the various futures were sequential in time – but all of them had low human populations on a planet devoid of other large animals. Today, there is much discussion by quantum physicists and New Agers of parallel universes and alternative futures. Recently, I read an interesting book, The Holographic Universe, by Michael Talbot. In it, there is a passage where Talbot describes the descriptions of future-life progressions (the reverse of “past-life regressions”) by 2,500 people. The results are very interesting from two points of view. First, virtually all of the people see a future world with very few people in it. Second, they see four different kinds of futures – (1) a joyless and sterile “space-age” future; (2) a “New Age” future of happy people living in harmony with nature; (3) a bleak mechanical future of people living in underground cities; and (4) a post-global-disaster future of people living in urban ruins, caves, and isolated farms.
Talbot writes: “[Dr. Helen] Wambach discovered she could also progress people to future lives. Indeed, her subjects’ descriptions of coming centuries were so fascinating she conducted a major future-life-progression project in France and the United States. Unfortunately, she passed away before completing the study, but psychologist Chet Snow, a former colleague of Wambach’s, carried on her work and recently published the results in a book entitled Mass Dreams of the Future.
“When the reports of the 2,500 people who participated in the project were tallied, several interesting features emerged. First, virtually all of the respondents agreed that the population of the earth had decreased dramatically. Many did not even find themselves in physical bodies in the various future time periods specified, and those who did noted that the population was much smaller than it is today.
Many quantum physicists and New Agers believe that the past and the future are not fixed, but that a spectrum of Earth paths exist – alternative futures that we can shape by our actions today. I believe that this it true. I believe that you can make a difference. I believe that you can help decide what future unfolds on Earth. The future can be as dismal or as happy and fulfilling as you wish it to be and you cause it to be. You can help make it a living hell, devoid of the magic diversity of today’s biosphere, or a wonderful Garden of Eden in which mankind can continue spiritual development living in harmony with nature. The choice is yours. Which will it be?
From time to time, I receive e-mails asking why I am proposing the destruction of six billion people, to save the biosphere. I am not proposing any such thing. I have said this and written this before, but it evidently bears repeating. The planet’s human population has exploded to six billion people because of the windfall of fossil fuels and the development of technology to use them. Without this energy source, the planet’s recurrent solar energy budget can support at most a couple of hundred million people, long term. The human population is very large at the present time solely because of fossil fuels. As they run out, global human population will fall from six billion or more back to a couple of hundred million.
The issue is not whether this will happen. It absolutely will happen. The only issues that we have any control over is what the state of the rest of the biosphere will be when industrial society collapses, as the petroleum age ends, and what system of planetary management is set up after the industrial age ends. With respect to the former issue, I have written that it is better for the industrial age to end sooner rather than later, since 30,000 more species are made extinct for every year that the industrial age continues. I have also discussed the issue of an optimal timing of global war, with respect to minimizing the negative impact on the biosphere. But I am not proposing war or working toward war as a means of ending the destruction of nature by global industrialization. I am a mathematical statistician – an analyst, a strategist, a planner – not a soldier.
The industrial age will end soon because the petroleum age will end soon. This will happen independently of anything that I or anyone else does. And it will happen whether global war occurs or not. But it will probably happen with war, famine, and plague, since these are what occur when societies collapse. For the reasons I cited earlier (catastrophe theory, systems dynamics modeling, the overshoot condition of humanity, the imminent decline of global oil production – but, most of all, our destruction of the biosphere and our pollution of the land, air, and water of our planet), the collapse of the industrial world will almost surely be catastrophic. In my opinion, as I have discussed elsewhere, it will probably involve global war. But I am not proposing such a war, or trying in any way to bring it about. The industrial world will collapse of its own weight because it cannot continue without the massive input of petroleum, and that is about to decline and end.
What I am proposing is that, after the collapse of the industrial world, the survivors set up a long-term-sustainable system of planetary management, based on a synarchic (Platonic) government of a “minimal-regret” population of ten million people (a single-nation high-technology society of five million and a globally distributed low-technology population of hunter-gatherers). What I am working to accomplish is that people begin to face the reality of the impending collapse of the industrial world, and take steps to ensure that it is followed by a long-term-sustainable system of planetary management and as species-diversity-rich a biosphere as possible. I am proposing discussion of alternative systems of planetary management and dissemination of ideas, not war.
The sooner the industrial world collapses, the less damage it will cause to the environment and the species diversity of the biosphere – that is a fact. And global war will happen with or without me. These are things over which I have little or no control. What I can control, however, is the nature and extent of the discussion of planetary management alternatives, so that the survivors of the collapse of the industrial world will have had the benefit of much discussion of causes and alternatives, and know what to do. To a lesser degree, I may have some control over the state of the biosphere when industrial society collapses, but that is not my area of primary interest or activity – many other people are working in that area, while no one at all, it seems, is working in the area of setting up a long-term-sustainable system of planetary management for the post-industrial age.
In my writings, I have described the general characteristics of alternative long-term-sustainable systems of planetary management, but I have said very little about the detailed structure of such a system, or about the mechanics of setting up and maintaining such a system. This is partly due to a lack of time; partly due to lack of detailed vision in this matter; partly due to lack of necessity, if most of the survivors of the collapse of the industrial world want it to happen; and partly due to the fact that this part of the process of transiting to a New World Order will fall to someone else (viz., the survivors of the collapse of industrial society). My role is strategic planning and knowledge dissemination, not execution of The Plan. What I have written in this regard, however, is that it would be difficult to control a planet by force, and that a much better (more efficient, more reliable) approach is to convince people of the absolute necessity of implementing a planetary management system based on a synarchic government of a minimal-regret population, after the collapse of the industrial world. Action follows belief – if most of the survivors believe that this is the best way to go, then that is what will happen, with little force or violence required. And that is why the educational goals of The Omega Project are so important. The long-term success of the effort will depend more on spirituality and religion and belief than on force and violence.
I have written before that I do not see that war and conflict and evil will ever be absent from this physical world. What I do believe (and have written), however, is that the nature of war and conflict will likely change very much in the next age (following the end of global industrialization). In my view, the industrial age will end in massive, violent, extremely destructive global war. Given the tremendous overshoot of the human population, I do not see any chance that that will not occur. After that, however, in the post-industrial age, there is a tremendous opportunity to set up a new world order based on global peace and harmony with nature. Even then, however, the battle between the forces of good and evil will continue – there is no point to physical existence without challenge, conflict, risk and uncertainty. It is in that sense that I believe that war will never end. The battle will continue to rage between the forces of global industrialization that would destroy nature and our biosphere, and those who would seek global peace and harmony with nature. That battle – that war, if you will – will never end. With a planetary management organization such as I conceive in charge, however, there will never again be large-scale industrial war, such as the world saw in the twentieth century and such as will soon destroy the global industrial world. It will not happen because, under a planetary management system based on a synarchic government of a minimal-regret population of ten million, multiple nation-states will not exist, nor will global industrialization.
I am not
saying that no force will be required.
Some effort is always required to accomplish anything of value. And we live in a world in which good will
always be opposed by evil. In a physical
world filled with independent, sentient beings, some force will certainly be
required. Monitoring will be necessary
and action will be necessary. A world of
peace and harmony with nature will not happen by itself, now that technology is
out of Pandora’s box.
But the level of force required to maintain a synarchically
governed minimal-regret population will be very small. The effort will be corrective in nature, not
radical or revolutionary or convulsive.
It will not involve large, industrial-scale war. All that is required is to prevent the rise
of industrial civilization anywhere on the planet except for the single-nation
high-technology city. All that is required
is to destroy industrial developments as they start to occur. And this is easy to do, as long as they are
not allowed to grow.
The level
of force required to maintain a minimal-regret population will be very
low. In fact, it will hardly be
necessary at all if the religious and spiritual movements are successful in
showing the importance of eschewing industrialization to the survival and
health of the biosphere. It will not
involve wars in which large populations are pitted against each other. It will involve simply the destruction of
whatever industrial artefacts or manifestations arise, such as large buildings,
bridges and dams (outside of the single-nation high-technology
city-state). The destruction of towns or
underground complexes would not be required, unless the situation is allowed to
get “out of control.”
The situation
is analogous to keeping a lawn free of dandelions or clover, or a garden free
of weeds. If you weed the lawn once a
week, it is an easy job, and requires little time and energy. If you ignore the lawn or garden for an
extended period of time, however, the lawn will be come overrun with dandelions
and clover in short order, and the garden will become filled with weeds. Yes, some force – attention and action – is
required to maintain anything that is worthwhile. Our physical world will never be filled with
people playing harps. The issue is what
the goal is, and how best it may be achieved.
While the industrial age was fascinating and helped produce an explosion
in human knowledge, a continuing cycle of growth and destruction of industrial
societies is no longer helpful for human beings to accomplish spiritual
development, and it is not beneficial to the biodiversity of the
biosphere. It was great fun while it
lasted, but that age is over. The
Party’s Over.
Let the new Party begin.