Societal Growth
and Other Thoughts

20070401

devhak

[email-masked]

This is a
second draft of ideas I have previously written as essays or blurbs.

This gives one
the chance to improve upon wording and have a better understanding of the
spoken issues as time passes and the individual learns through personal
experience or experience acquired through outer media. This essay discusses
ideas of social and population growth in this current era, what may occur
before and after the population’s peak, and how the past may be
considered on different aspects of thought.  As with most of my writings, do not
consider this as any more than a viewpoint to discuss for intellectual
stimulation.  Two questions for
thought are:

What
will the world be like after the digital age?

Will
we be back in caves or on the moon?

Once the world realizes
that individual philosophical beliefs should not affect our compassion for one
another, then, and only then, will we arrive at the next social paradigm. We
are still in the ‘Dark Ages” that many consider to be behind us.  We have not improved as much as the
members of this society have been conditioned to believe. The inertia of social
change is strong but with constant pressure we can form the future we desire.

The
paradigms of society vary not only in frequency of change, but also of subject.
Science, social, philosophical, and political are examples of various subjects
of which changes of a paradigm nature occur.  Though changes are often related between
these subjects, each has its own basic structure and entity. Science deals with
the basic accepted scientific theories of the time frame; social with the
interactions of people and social laws that govern the people; philosophical is
a combination of science and spirituality the basic belief structures dealing
with a wide range of aspects such as life, death, morality, and natural laws;
and political which is the governed laws and resources of the people. They are
usually interrelated in some way. We are just entering a paradigm of society
based mostly on the social and technological, which deals with the ability of
the powers-that-be to observe and control society under the false label of
public safety.  Much of its intent may
be safety such as anti-terrorism, but how far does the terrorism label go to
define dissention that will occur due to the unequal distribution of power and
wealth, and how far will those in control act to maintain this ideology and
form/condition the structure/people to what is solely to the ruler’s
benefit?

As
this society ‘progresses,’ it is becoming apparent that the regular
people are losing control to the corporate mega-conglomerates. At this point it
would be easy to develop our society into the totalitarian-type government as
portrayed in Orwell’s 1984 and George Lucas’s THX 1138,
but if the people of our society have the will and education, we can force the
government and corporations to realize they must permit true freedom. Resist
the conditioning that the powers controlling the media and market continually
and with increasing strength force into our minds.

This new paradigm appears to be very mechanistic, starting with
people doing the work and gradually moving towards mechanical machines to
perform the work. When this happens we will see the true natures of the
powers-that-be, whether they maintain their power based on strict control of
society, or allow intellectual freedom to flourish. The latter, I view, is
better for the people and the continuation and expansion of our species, but
the way ‘security’ of our species is developing seems more likely
to lead to the former. The nature of the former possibility is not all bad in
the disruption of destructive terrorism, but negative in that it maintains
control on the basis of fear rather than freedom. It is efficient but maybe too
much so; it takes the ‘humanity’ out of the people, both in the
mechanistic, non-intellectual nature of it, and that the power is too
concentrated in such a small sect of ‘elite’ society. In the
‘middle ages’ of capitalism, it was becoming possible for a person
to progress from one sect of society to another fairly easily with adequate
intelligence and desire, and is quite possible today as well. With the advent of
the digital technology era in this capitalist state, as many people fight
against each other, as many people fight against each other in warlike ecstasy
for an increase in power and individual profit, compassion for the fellow human
has largely been forgotten as people become distanced from each other. The
corruption of personal wealth propagates and evolves into more than mere
individual monetary gain; the corporations now act in the place of private
individual citizens. These corporations acting in place of individuals in the
market world consume the society and culture, and excrete a pseudo-culture
based on materialism rather than intrinsic or real human values. The advent of
materialism discourages true intellectual thought and increases the power of
the wealthy elite over the members of regular society to the point where
control of an individualistic life can be easily conditioned and maintained.

True
rebellion is merely doing what you truly desire, be it aspects of conformity or
not, with an educated mind open to the happenings of life.

At
this moment the Homo sapiens-sapiens population on earth is growing, though its
acceleration, or rate of change, is decreasing and will likely drop to zero as
the population peaks before the world population starts to decline (if it
follows some extrapolated trends). The evolution of our biology and technology
is based on whether or not environmental factors stress our population. As a
method of coping with these stresses, our brains have developed the mental
capacity to adapt with our survival needs, and to modify the living environment
to ensure the species moves on and expands its territory. Need and ability spark
desire to improve our living conditions, making living a much simpler
task.  Eventually our mentality
developed the awareness of self.  This
may have sparked curiousity of life and the world in which our ancestors lived
in at the time. Curiousity gives an individual ambition to learn and explore.
This innate curiousity, though considered by modern standards, is what brought
about marvelous jumps in technology: fire, wheel, chimney, guns, mechanical
engines, atomic power, telephones and computers, to name a few. As our
population grows it creates environmental stresses which it must overcome.
Often these stresses are self-inflicted. If the society in any of these
situations cannot adapt to the changing environment, either by adapting the
body, lifestyle or technology, or by emigrating, it will perish.

Likely
its downfall occurs when the environmental threshold, the point where the
environment cannot sustain the population at current use of resources, which is
usually at the peak of the population curve.  It is at this point that the population
overall starts to decline, eventually moderating itself until it either dies
altogether, or some environmental factor (such as expanded territory) or
technology allows it to rapidly grow again.

Humans
are a competitive species, working together as is necessary but always
attempting to “be #1.”
As the population stresses increase, humans become more competitive as
each person is naturally working primarily for their own individual self,
secondly their immediate kin, and tertiary, the greater collective. It is how
our species evolved as these traits had been necessary for our ancestors to
survive.  This competitiveness is
another factor that drives technological progress, though it is not necessarily
negative; there are some positive aspects to it.

When
people are competitive, it means each individual or group is striving for peak
efficiency, which can improve with time; but when groups of people work
together, share information freely, and each person working to his or her
skillset and desires, efficiency is greatly improved.

As
the population is rising it is gradually closing in on the carrying capacity of
the environment. During this rise, new, fresh minds are continually surfacing,
building on the past knowledge of society and evolving the mind alongside
technology. The rise in populations as mentioned prior creates stresses on said
populations, resulting in the advancement of technologies, social affairs and
the physical body (brain included-hopefully). As there are more minds competing
to pass on its influence and genetics to the succeeding generation, a rise in
technological progress mirrors population growth. Since our bodies have adapted
to near their peak efficiency for this environment, and our minds have the
ability, we evolve our technologies to suit our living environment. Technology,
for humans, has always been based on overcoming obstacles that our environment
places upon us, and fairly recently on the evolutionary scale, curiousity has
been a major factor.  At different
times throughout history, competitiveness and co-operation have dominated for
various aspects of a species evolution as necessary. The individuals and collectives
most suited for the environment of the given time and place were the ones that
survived. Those whom are able to prepare for and adapt to the future would
likely thrive in the upcoming environmental transformation.  Though the increase in mechanization of
the human society may make the future seem bleak and dull; it will progress
well if people remain curious. Need will drive technological changes, but
curiousity is what will bring our species to the next natural stage of human
exploration following land, sea and air: space, the moon, the outer solar
system, and beyond.  These
technologies are a mandatory subject of research and exploration of we wish the
species to survive into the next millennium. As well, if we are to explore this
new horizon, this is the time to do it, while our population is still
increasing and there is pressure to refine technology.

If
it works out well, our population will be able to increase beyond the projected
peak as new frontiers are being opened up for human colonization: orbiting the
earth on space stations and the moon.
To reach this goal and beyond, we must, as a whole, put aside our
differences and stop this pointless bickering of uncivilized barbarians and
work together for the future of our species as a wise and intelligent
spacefaring society.  It is within
our reach but unless a radical change occurs it will forever fall beyond our
grasp. If we wait too long it will disappear, either temporarily or forever.  Our future destinies are dependant on
our desire. What will it be?

Each of us is
the subsequent step in evolution from our parents.