Future thrills

The Christmas season is ending, and we have a new year 2012. Celebrations have been taking place, many people went to their Christian church, we saw great fireworks – Sydney gave a fantastic display!

Christmas is about companionship, love, sharing and it is a Christian ceremony focusing on the birth of Christ – giving it great importance for Christians all over the world.

New years eve and day is about cheering the old and new years – preparing for the new activity that is coming.

Christmas is also about gifts that we give to each other, and it is about having a quiet time. Especially for children Christmas has always been a great time – expectations of gifts giving rise to great expectations and even causing grave nervousness for some.

But there is a change coming as we increasingly lose touch with the real meaning of this ancient ritual. The market and business have taken Christmas and made it a pretence for shopping, for consumption. They are pressuring us hard to make  it a good Christmas. The ritual has turned into a mockup, a setting for buying things, a perfect mishmash of everything.

The Christmas ceremony seems to have been instituted by the Romans, some say it was constructed or chosen by the Romans, it was made as a forceful combination of the birth of Jesus and the birth of the new year. Green decorations has been used for a long time, say 500 years. And now the mass production economy has taken over – the occasion is focused on buying. Even Asia is catching on, although the colour of Christmas is often blue there – blue trees, light, and even a bit of Disney and Grimm thrown in.

Asia already have many ceremonies tied in to the seasons of the year, so Christmas is not really needed.

The central part of Christmas is now the gift – as it once was. But there has been a profound change. Community is difficult in a society where there is lots of money. You just pay people to do what you want – you do not really need the people themselves. Community is based on relationships, dependencies, gifts, exchange of services – all interwoven. Poor people often have strong communities.

Many writers have said that a gift should represent yourself – tell the recipient who you are, what you do, what you think. It could be from your occupation, handicraft, gardening, a written piece perhaps.

These days most people make nothing, they have nothing representaive to give. Mass production and increased material wellbeing has solved this – we buy and give in abundance. But gifts are now often what you need anyway, so the symbolic effect, the picture of the giver, her personality is now totally absent. There is not enough depth in this kind of giving. Often money is given because people need that.

Christmas cards also play a part. We have moved far from each other, from country to city which has made gifts very unpractical, we send a greeting instead – a fine card. Many people are putting a lot of effort into these greetings, they become both rich and personal and are a turn back to the roots of Christmas.

Father Christmas is another invention of uncertain origin, and he is also a confidence man as he does not sell, he merely makes you buy, a role that is not so easy. His logistics of reindeers is also rather impractical, but builds the myth well.

The food that once was so essential is still there, but the situation and the circumstances have changed – maybe we should not eat so much? And cut the drinking?

Gifts are symbols of love, we send gifts in the hope of receiving love, and this works both ways. In the old days a bearer of gifts was expected to have a reward, a gift had spiritual content, it meant something, it was a message also.

It may be that what is now happening in the course of a Christmas and new years celebration is empty of real meaning, it does not satisfy us mentally any longer. In many countries the support for the Church is waning. We are left with a celebration that is a mix of basically unconnected elements and we see commercial pressure piling up.

We are left wanting – the emperor wore no clothes – we know how much it all costs, we can add it up, and it is now done as part of a commercially wild behaviour. Empty myths that are commercialism in disguise are not sustainable.

Seasonal celebrations and religious celebrations are a strong combination, but now we have been left confused, because it has become a shopping gala – the taste of it all is not so good.

So where do we go now: Start thinking, man, think and then make changes – amazingly we need to go back to our roots of personalized gifts, common ceremoy, joy and reflection, even without religion. And buy less – even nothing – give your self first, then build community – then we have the foundation for a good celebration.

Common rituals for all is what we want – ceremonies that offers meaning, depth and that we can find reason to take part in.

We live in a city now – more than 50 % of us – and the percentage is increasing fast.

There will be more and more cities, and they will be bigger and bigger. In many countries the movement towards cities is slow – e.g. Norway, England – where big movements took place many years ago, but is still happening. In other places – China, India – there is huge movements off the land into the cities, and all in all there is a strong tendency toward urbanization. The biggest cities now has tens of millions of inhabitants.

The problem of slums is huge in many places, the conditions are not good, infrastructure  like clean water, drains and sewage, electricity is not so good.

So the solution is not to move people back to where they came from, but to improve cities, make them into livable, even excellent places to be.

There is much good thinking about this taking place, and practices will surely follow.

There are many factors involved, here are some:

• There may be an optimal size for a city, where strains are low, where people are comfortable and can know their city. May be this size is about 1 million people? Or less? Or 5 million?
• Small scale production should be introduced into cities reducing the need for transportation, storage and giving jobs. For food this could be made more fresh based on day to day consumption, there should be a lot of local production of clothes, mechanical, shoemaking, other handicrafts.
• Plots and roofs should be made available for small scale agriculture giving fresh fruit and vegetables all the time. Greenhousing should be a normal practice. Communal food gardens should be found.
• Research and innovation in new forms should take place utilizing the advantages of humans being close to each other.
• Distribution systems must be optimized, integrating producers locally and far away.
• Transport systems for goods and people should be tightly controlled, traffic reduced, people should live near where they work, public transport the norm.
• Social development should take place to develop community feeling and practices, to make people know each other, to function well together.
• Slums should systematically be removed.
• Education should be modernised, to let people decide for themselves, more practical towards how you fend for yourself, create small businesses, to be an artist, craftsman, programmer, city farmer or whatever you want.
• New and more participatory forms of local democracy should be tested out, why must we always accept what central government wants?
• Develop base stations for activity in production, learning, sports, entertainment … so that it is easy to see what is going on, what is possible, who can be contacted.
• The role of the sexes should be normalized based on equality principles, and children should be made active participants in the city’s activities as part of their education.
• Housing including water, heating, power should be tightly integrated and coordinated to increase efficiency, to benefit from living close together.
• The crime, violence should be eradicated, poverty removed, equality made a principle, drug policy normalized.
• Noise and commotion must be taken away – we must have a quiet city.
• Environmental issues should be adressed clearly, waste control a necessity, recirculation a basic practice taking place in the city.
• Open houses, communal activities are desirable.
• City planning should be integrated based on holistic principles – you must be able to find it all near you.
• Green areas, playgrounds should be small scale and found in many places, creating green lungs and diversity, encouraging participation from all.

This also means the end of suburbia which is a thoroughly wasteful way of running societies. The choice is rural or urban, and both will be good.

So let us do it – let us start.

The seasteading environment have had a bit of attention lately as we are getting nearer to the realization of the ideas of establishing communities offshore – in international waters, free communities.

The notion of a government that shall rule us all is well established. Although we may have democratic rule it appears that continous long term governance adds more and more strictures, in the end making people uncomfortable. There are too many rules, too little freedom. Also allowing special interests a deep influence is now largely seen as unwanted, even undemocratic. When income distribution becomes serioulsly skewed we have a situation that must be fixed.

It seems that present ideas about seasteading centers around freedom to innovate, less bureaucracy, lower taxes, moneymaking, fewer entrenched interests, no lobbying etc.

So the idea is to move offshore, establish new societies where participants can do what they like, pull together people with the same attitudes and ideas, so that ideas, entrepreneurship, creativity can flourish, even making money from the activities. The seasteading movement is in its infancy, but the growing interest in the movement indicates a need for renewal.

Some say it is merely a good idea whereby international large corporations may establish facilities so that they can do what they want unfettered by anybody. This could be banking, manufacturing, hospitals, hotels and resorts. It could be profitable. You could skip all rules and regulations, get rid of unwanted legal confines, establish superfacilities.

If the most important idea is to create a new and modern society, a society of equal citizens, participation, sharing, deep democracy, then we are on to something good. So far the ideas are not very clear – there is a lot of ongoing thinking in process.

But there is another aspect as well: Must we leave our own countries to live well, the way we want? Or can we change what we have into what we want? Is the dynamics of government gone, locking us all into rigid structures?

It is sad that we must start all over to get what we want. The ideas of seasteding is about frustration. We must surely look into and try to mend our ways – for the thrilling future we could have.

Asia is becoming hot – or hotter than it was. Europe is being cooled down as the US shift their attention to other parts of the world – the Asias.  The US military budget is also being adjusted to the new strategy – more air and marine, less army. It is all rather chilling – the thinking is obviously threatening towards Asian countries.

The Koreans keep killing each other, the Japanese are wary in relation to the Chinese, but the biggest activity is in the south China Sea and adjoining waters. China is showing it’s intentions, the US is there. The developments we now see have been brewing for many years. The Vietnamese have found oil in its northern waters and China have found oil near Hainan. Contracts have been given to many companies, and an industry is growing. China have said that if there is more oil they want it – a truly strange statement. This seems to many to be a veiled threat, and the Chinese should explain their intentions like civilized citizens of the world are expected to. The era of landgrabbing is surely over?

The US also wants to find out where Chinese subs are travelling, and check out other military movements – so that they can be prepared. In the South China Sea the Chinese are now publishing strange drawings or maps indicating a wish for confusion about the issues. The strange U people call it.

The islands in the area – the Spratly and the Paracel which are tiny numerous islands, and a few more are partly occupied by China, Vietnam. The world’s policeman the US is checking out the openness of the seas, where they can go by sea and where they can fly.

In 1987 the Chinese entered the area pushing out the Vietnamese. There has already been fights here – in 1988 and 1992 Vietnamese were killed by the Chinese. The seismic cables were cut by the Chinese this summer. The Chinese have built shelters for fishermen on some of the islands.

The newest power game is building up, nations are finding their positions, their allies, putting forward what they want. They have all signed the international convention about nation’s rights at sea, so negotiations are part of the game. All the countries in the area are there: China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Fillipines, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan. Australia will take part in the new developments – 2500 US military men will be posted in Darwin in the north of Australia. The US clearly has a new focus area in preparation.

So we are all set and ready to go. Negotiations will undoubtedly start, deals will be made, sharing between countries may be part of it. And the ubiquitous US are always there – their role is about security – their own security. The Americans are increasing their presence, meaning they want to be where the action is, even wanting to initiate some action themselves.

The challenges are great: The marine law is difficult, discussion about economic zones, territories, boundaries, transport lanes at sea, what is in there like fish, oil, metals maybe.

In the Pacific – Sea of Peace – new attention may be bestowed upon its huge waters – a possible  extension of what we see in the South China Sea. The fisheries which are not sustainable are slowly emptying the sea, leaving little for the future rulers, and the extent of oil fields is not known.

There is a commercial side and a security side to this, a short term and a long term. The expanding Chinese are playing a game, the weakening US are joining in – it is all set for a new phase. Powerplay is the name of the game, world domination maybe. Is there really no other way to find what it shall be? Fair and reasonable practice based upon signed treaties and international law so you get what is rightly yours? And reducing tension all over?

Surely there is a “rightly”, a reasonable solution. We should all help to find that, at the same time advancing human culture. We have had the Cold War, War on Terror is ongoing, now a new Great Game is being ushered in.

The Earth is full of them: minerals, metals, rare earths, coal and more. Manufacturing products  require the use of large amounts of these substances, up to now there has been a good supply. But things may change. A race for resources that may soon be scarce is coming. Big countries like China, India, Brazil are increasing production of industrial goods, and have started the hunt for materials to do it.

Oil is also among the coveted substances, but oil is being run down, we are now heavily into shale oil and tar sands. The oil industry will rather soon be much less than it is today. Lots of oil is still found, but prices are high, the resources are increasingly hard to find. Expensve techniques like fracking, digging up tar sands etc. are being used.

The emptying of the oil fields in the world will have taken place in about two centuries and a bit. It is not all used yet, but we can see the end coming. We used most of it in the course of two centuries! The global warming problem will then take care of itself. This era will undoubtedly be seen by historians as a sad chapter in the book of humanity. We never thought for a moment about what we were doing.

The coming transition will be gradual, it has already started, an era of sustainability is possibly starting now, with new sources and forms of energy, new thinking.

Now the era of  full focus on minerals, metals, earths are opening up. Gold, platinum, zinc, copper, iron, rare earths and all else are in great demand. The powers to be are travelling the world to secure their share of the riches. Nations with these resources are stepping up the mapping and search for what they have. Prices will increase, there will be heavy politics, even fights and wars.

This new era will be the same as the oil era, but the money are perhaps not so big and the diversity is greater. But profit hungry investors will be there as always.

Industrial growth for the next centuries will be fine – and then that will be over too. The ground will again have been emptied, large areas have been damaged – and we will realize once more that we never thought for a moment what we were doing.

It will be futile to try to change this course of events, the forces involved are great, and collectively humanity is clearly lacking in forethought practices, as well as logical development of ideas that are clearly seen. Transition into an oil-less world has already started – see the Transition Network movement.

The battle for minerals will now commence and then heat up, scarcity will build – and in a few centuries we have depleted it all. The devastation of the Earth is a consequence – but by then stark realities will force us into a better world.

The solution is clearly about establishing new values on a global level – sharing, cooperation, developing sustainable local practices – are some of the catchwords we have to put into our world.

This is soft thinking and not very dynamic, even without the element of profit. Yes, but why not? Cooperation among conscious and thinking people can’t be all that bad? Let the new culture grow!

“It is a comprehensive civil rights act”.

An undefined protest is going on – the demands are not specific, there are no big leaders to focus on, but a general sentiment is being put forward – there is unease about how we run our societies.

To speculate and try to sort out the elements –  here goes.

There is a lot of attention given to OWS, and it is growing in numbers of participants. Established politicians are obviously unsure what to do, their voters are expressing undefined discontent.

One element seems to a strong dislike of the democratic processes, as well as critique of the financial domination taking place by a select group of financiers, investors. The world economy is shaking, it is clearly unstable, it all hangs together, there is unrest. We can not have a situation like this.

In many countries there is a divide between the electorate and  the elected politicians as they are professionals acting in complete independence of the people electing them. The concentration of economic power via the interconnectedness of businesses combined with the unrestricted international flow of capital into large scale production units make local economies all over the world shake and shiver. The regulations are not there and they can do whatever they like. The financiers/investors support politicians they like and so make them do or die.

The global financial system is completely open and makes it possible – for the toughest – to wield global power – to outcompete and crush everybody else all over the world. Combined with huge efficiencies – of a kind – the number of jobs will be dramatically reduced as this goes on.

All is done for business reasons, for profit. Society is all about buying and selling, monetizing and profit as the only motive, we put a price on everything. The jobs are increasingly simple and require no skills, and we must have them to survive.

Our culture is one of senseless competition so you must become big and make others submit, even knock them out. Values of sharing, voluntary work, community are out – how come we behave like this? The moral sentiments are not of a high standard.

This process is clearly unsustainable and we will see more problems – joblessness, economic instability, power politics, resource shortages, conflicts, poverty, exclusion, lack of democratic process. What is this? How has it come about?

The clearly visible global economic concentration can lead to power misuse, to forces being unleashed to protect profit. The owners of this capital will be able to resist all changes, as it may lead to less profit. And what a shame that would be.

The next step could be a global economic power, submitting us all to the final countdown of total economic control. Then freedom will go, and who knows what will happen.

The question of a willed process behind all this comes up – is there an agenda of people seeking world power? With present developments there is a real possibility of this happening.

We should clearly start thinking about a change, and the solution is not global control – it is clearly local control – let people control their own destinies, share, have community.

All we see now are possibilities and speculation, but the unrest is warranted – there are many things that should be put right.

At present no one knows what will happen. Let us make sure the future is increasingly about equality, having a say among equals, about sharing, about sustainability.

“It is pure democracy – it is magic”.

The banking systems of the world need reform. They are so busy trying to make money they forget what they are there for: serving businesses and persons. They keep going bust because they are too greedy, and businesses suffer.

So we say, and sadly there is more than a little grain of truth in it.

The purpose of banks, financiers has become that of making a profit, no longer a helper of trade and business. The business of finance should be to make society work well by making businesses work well.

The American system, the European system and the Chinese system – all very different but displaying some kind of troublesome behavior all of them, again and again. Some banks are even going bust.

Americans have made bad investments, especially in housing and also created products where risks seemed to disappear. The Federal Reserve system is extraordinary as it is doubtful who really controls it. So reform must come.

European banks are now becoming scared and are stopping credit to weak nations – having wrongly assessed risks in many areas.

Chinese banks are controlled by the state and are building their own economy by exporting, leaving the exchange rate low, holding back welfare, building reserves, hurting businesses elsewhere.

In the process of all this banks have failed to make it easy for society to run their daily lives and their little businesses. They have also been very intent on making transaction or agent profit, moving money all over in search of profits. They did not do it for us.

The value creation in society should be the main consideration of banks, not banking or financial profit.

So our financial systems must be rebuilt with a new purpose that is social foremost, fully transparent, having to go broke when need be, small enough to fail, adaptable to the situation, with much less interconnectivity than now.

A bright future is coming up – with changed banks.