No time to waste

‘No time to waste’ was first used as a slogan by Greenpeace in the early 90s. It became one of Greenpeace’s most iconic ‘crisis’ campaign slogans, calling for action to protect the environment. More than thirty years later, humanity is not only still in the middle of a global environmental crisis but also has to deal with several other crises on an international or even global scale. People’s mental and physical health is under pressure. Inequality within many countries is on the rise. The global monetary and financial system is vulnerable to various risks. Geo-economic tensions between countries are increasing. Too rapid changes from global migration threaten democracies. In large parts of the world people have less access to adequate housing. Cyber and financial crime is running rampant due to digitisation of global society. Large parts of the world population are aging rapidly, while birth rates lag far behind. Devastating effects on human settlements, previously built by people under different natural conditions, due to long-term changed weather patterns, put the way people are used to live under pressure. The uncertainty about having enough clean drinking water is increasing in more and more places around the world. And let us not forget the (regional) conflicts currently happening around the world. How did the world become like this, and what if an even bigger crisis is happening right now?

Industrialisation first began with the Industrial Revolution in the northwest and the Midlands of England in the eighteenth century. The main reason for it was not human well-being. It was neither about social well-being, nor the resilience of the environment. It was also not meant to undermine human and social well-being, nor the resilience of the environment. It was simply a technological opportunity.

Technology-driven standardisation

Technological innovation made it possible for Britain to switch from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy. Relatively expensive labour, combined with the abundant supply of coal and cheap energy, pushed society towards this industrial transition, which gradually spread across the world. Initially, the purpose of compulsory education must also be seen in this context. The main reason was to create a skilled, disciplined workforce that would increase productivity, which in turn drove further industrial economic growth. In this way, the threat of relatively expensive labour to economic growth was addressed. Through industrialisation, not only products and services were standardised, but also people. Over time, people were increasingly reduced to merely an economic resource in the light of economic growth.

Securing the status quo

To ensure industrial growth, the key roles in society went to bankers, economists, lawyers and judges, security companies, and politicians. All of these disciplines do not primarily focus on the well-being of people and society, nor on maintaining the resilience of the environment. Their main job is to protect the global industrial system. Law and order uphold this industrial status quo.

Minorities at greater risk due to incorrect data

The current digitisation of global society and the immense rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is basically just the continuing of the Industrial Revolution on steroids. This way, society is becoming fully automated. All products, services, and economic resources are digitalised in one way or another. Every aspect of people’s lives becomes fully connected to the internet. All lives are mainly digitised based on wrong assumptions, based on incorrect data collected by humans throughout history, while much of what we think we know is only valid within the current industrial society we live in, and while our species is inherently biased. This puts all minority groups in the world at high risk, and those who are not even recognised by societies as a minority even at a higher risk. Whereas up until now people used to be able to somewhat escape standardisation of themselves in certain ways, because of massive digitalisation this will not be possible anymore soon.

This does not necessarily have to be a problem if industrial society had been built with humans and their natural human behaviour towards each other and the natural environment in mind. However, that is not how the global societal structures we completely rely on today were built. Besides that, most people are not fully aware that this data is full of flaws, which leads them to make daily decisions assuming, often unconsciously, that most data is entirely reliable. In reality, though, it is much more likely that most available data is at least inaccurate, simply because of our biased nature and the unnatural world we have created and which is the perspective we base our decisions on, while the most of today’s world does not support natural human behaviour.

For instance, while most people acknowledge that it is unhealthy for a lion not to eat meat, there seems to be an ideologically driven belief among humans that we can ignore the natural nature of humans without any health consequences for people. This blind trust in malleability and data, combined with the lack of legal means to have incorrect data removed or corrected, puts both known and unknown minorities at even greater risk, which further increases inequality and can have devastating effects on all aspects of their lives. If we as humanity continue like this, eventually everyone will lose.

Lifelong digitisation of people’s lives

Nowadays, in more and more countries, every aspect of the lives of humans become digitised and thus automated. From birth, your child’s development is measured and compared to a theoretical average. The same happens in daycare and at school, with digital systems to track the development of children, pupils, and students. At work, your performance level is also measured. Your medical records are digitally stored in medical systems too. Not to forget all the data that is stored from all devices you use. Everyday the risk is growing that all this data will one day be combined. Then you really have to hope that all this data is correct. And even then, will you still be save the moment evil peaks around the corner? And even then, will you still be safe when evil lurks around the corner?

A conditioned moral compass

On top of that, after nearly three hundred years, the global population has been so conditioned by the educational system and industrial culture that most people morally prioritise law and order over universal human rights and the preservation of healthy social relationships and a resilient environment. Although most people think they mainly think and act out of free will, they do not. Most people’s natural tendency is to follow the group, but when the majority of the group is conditioned in a certain way, they will behave as they are conditioned in order not to be excluded from the group. A mechanism that is often confused with ‘social behaviour’, even though it is just the result of large-scale conditioning of people. However, if the majority of the human population in the world continues to behave this way, it will ultimately mean the end of humanity.

The mother of all crises

So, the mother of all crises is not one of the previously mentioned crises, but an overall existential crisis. Many people no longer know how to live healthily. Many people are no longer able to maintain healthy relationships because of the unnatural social structures they are forced to live in. For minority groups, peers needed to help children build a healthy self-image often live far away, while this is essential for being able to socialise with others. Most people not only no longer know how to live connected with their natural environment, but they also do not know how to take care of it in a sustainable way. As long as we do not address this human existential crisis we are in, all other crises will continue to exist. Then we just keep trading one problem for another, even more serious problems, because we are not solving the fundamental overall existential crisis from which all other crises stem.

Disconnected industrial system

Humanity has built an industrial system that does not prioritise human well-being, societal well-being, nor a resilient environment. For at least three hundred years, we have been increasingly alienated from ourselves, from each other, and from our natural environment, now nowadays we live almost completely disconnected from ourselves, from each other, and from our natural environment. On top of that, we put people with expertise in charge who, based on that same expertise, value industrialisation more than a healthy, connected society. Even with the best intentions, most of these people are therefore unable to bring about the change that is needed. Not because they lack good intentions, but because of the same principle of conditioning. They are conditioned to think and act like bankers, economists, lawyers and judges, insurance companies, and politicians for the sake of maintaining the current industrial status quo. These are the frameworks they work within. Generally, only a small part of humanity is capable of thinking outside their conditioned frameworks, and in modern society, the people who can think outside these frameworks are not necessarily given leadership over society. Why is that?

Unnatural human hierarchical system

Industrialisation of society has overruled prioritisation of natural (societal) behaviour. The most capable leaders are no longer appointed, but people who are part of the average majority. The democratisation of education has contributed to this. When we still lived as hunter-gatherers, we could not afford to skip the best people in every way for the key roles within the group, because that would have meant the death of the group. In modern society, the strongest among the average majority from an industrial point of view put forward those who resemble them the most but do not pose a threat to their own position. That way, you can stay in power yourself and keep your social status and top salary. This is not necessarily a conscious process.

Modern society chooses short-term goals for individuals and the majority over the long-term interest of the group and the genetic survival of humans. That is how we have ended up in the existential crisis we are in now, and we have not even hit the worst part of this storm yet, as long as the majority of people, including those in power, put themselves above the interests of the group and the survival of humanity.

A large part of those who are capable and have the talent to lead humanity out of this existential crisis are banished to the margins of society. When they try to talk to people to explain what is happening, and why change is needed, they run into egos, people saying it is not their job or responsibility, the wrong network, or a lack of financial resources to enforce a breakthrough so people at least will listen. Meanwhile, more and more people in the world are losing themselves in mistrust, polarisation, and/or conspiracy theories, while those in charge keep opting for short-term solutions and treating symptoms as causes instead of addressing the fundamental existential crisis caused by a design flaw at the heart of industrial society.

The time is now

However, the time has passed to continue down the current disconnected path. When humanity starts reforming the current system to first solve this existential crisis, then all the other crises will also gradually be resolved. Although the world we live in now, with all its associated crises, is not the fault of a few people, the future of humanity is our shared responsibility. We all need to let go of our individual pursuit of success for shared collective achievement, giving everyone the space to step into their own strength. At the same time, we cannot rush this transformation within a timespan of less than a hundred years if it has taken at least three hundred years to get here. Most of the world’s population is conditioned to live in today’s world. The only way to responsibly turn the tide is to do it together, step by step. By creating space and thus the possibility to make different choices. Choices that we can all make based on what best resonates to pursue a connected life. The most effective way for change is not by telling other people how they should change, but by creating the circumstances in which new more connected choices can be made without neglecting the circumstances in which each of us lives. This starts with trust.

By changing the world in this way, the current system does not have to be torn down first to be rebuilt. It can change along the way at the same pace as we transform ourselves into connected beings, connected with ourselves, each other, and our natural environment. Along that path, the leaders in today’s world, and the leaders better suited to the new world can work together to ensure a smooth transition as possible. What humanity will need to let go of is the conditioned need to be in control of other people’s lives and the need to want to see the results of the actions we once started ourselves. To put it in the spirit of Neil Armstrong’s words when he took the first step for humanity on the moon: “a small step for a man, is a giant leap for mankind!”

Vicki Van Lommel

founder Free People Media

©FPM

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