Questions for the Future

Action is the root of change; change is the root of evolution. At this point in the development of our species, we have taken control of many of the evolutionary pressures that have guided our species through the passage of time. We can write changes to DNA, grow organs from stem cells, and shape our environments to our whims. What’s next for us? Who will we be in another 1000 years? Likely for the best, no one knows for sure; but our stories from the past 100 years have painted a myriad of differing visions for us to either aspire or fall victim to. The choices that we make in this day, and age, will have far reaching impacts on the futures our untold descendants will experience; no one can predict what the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings will do hundreds or thousands of years from now, nor can they predict what making the choice to follow one ideology or another will cause. History can be an excellent teacher in this regard, informing us of the patterns of past mistakes and accomplishments. Let’s take a moment to run through a thought experiment:

Imagine it’s 100 years from now; the climate has stabilized, all living things on the planet have their survival needs met to the best of planetary boundaries, and, as a species, we are looking to creating a functional human colony on Mars. Who, in this bright future, controls the planet’s resources? How are they distributed? What boundaries have been set forth and normalized such that one person doesn’t take an amount that would do harm to the overall system of humanity? In this hypothetical future, humans would have had to come together to halt the progression of climate change. As described in Earth for All, we would have needed to make the five extraordinary turn arounds, and redistribute the planet’s wealth and resources to where they are needed most. All, or at least most, of our sources of energy would have to be non-fossil based. Women and the impoverished would have to be lifted to an equitable playing field, thereby deconstructing the patriarchal hegemony that is, at present, normalized. The effects of colonialism would have had to be repaired; reparations paid by the most wealthy entities to the most vulnerable groups. Everyone’s voice would have to be heard, at least to some extent. In this society, how is money and power distributed?

The greatest harms that our human society, on the whole, is presented with stems from the misallocation of financial resources; simply, the money is going to the wrong places. Currently, it is concentrated in the hands of the very few; those few riding on the backs of those who produce the world’s wealth and resources. The question of what can be done in the present day to mitigate these harms, and bring about a future that is safe for unborn generations of humans, is multifaceted and complicated. Thinkers and doers are currently alive who have thought of and are doing to work to create the tools that are going to be needed by those who are not yet here. To my knowledge, the ones that will work are as follows:

• A Basic Universal Income or Dividend

• Universal Health and Child Care

• The Right to Repair

• Non-Fossil Based Energy Sources

• Reskilling and Workforce Training Programs

Meeting the needs of everyone on the planet seems like a lofty, naïve aspiration; but it is not so impossible as many would have us all believe. Anything can be shifted through strategic policy implementation and technologies that are emerging before our eyes. We could change the tax code such that it is much more difficult to hoard vast quantities of wealth, using those funds to provide a robust social safety net for vulnerable people and environments, as well as training programs and education for those who want to engage in the economy. The technology to shift the sources of our energy production are showing improvements to efficiency and cost, seemingly, every day. Technologies that are commercially available can be repaired either at home or by specialists. And all of this can be done by individual people, if they are given the resources to do so. Sure, there will be some few who don’t want to participate in the wider system of humanity, but they are a small fraction of the population. Each person can contribute something; in whatever ways they are able. If everyone is given what they need to survive, we would have another renaissance to revel in. So, why not? And what do we do about those who stand in the way of the progress of the human project?