How the future can be good (from September, 2014)

It's not absurd to compare the Ancient Greek culture of always striving to compete in all things to the competitive free enterprise system. Constant contests of all kinds helped to make the Greeks great. America needs to revive the freedom of competition, not only in business but in all of our culture.

And the high value of merit needs to be revived, which means that crony capitalism and monopolies need to be broken up so that real competition can resume.

The West had a head start in this, the idea of the separation of powers and small states was the original idea of America, with cooperative competition between states, protected internally and externally by a light federalism---perhaps more Jeffersonian than Hamiltonian, but keeping some form of economic nationalism to protect us. Ethnopluralistic states, the virtual ethnostate idea, which is often mentioned here, can help to even better bond the states. Given our increasing unassimilating diversity, better things can come with the variety and competition of small distinct states, especially when the more sacred mission of the upward evolution of man, all men, is valued.

The prospect for regionalism and small states looks good. Regional government is now seen by rational people as better able to take care of the environment, climate change, and just about every thing else. Communities can and will become increasingly self-sufficient, with such things as permaculture, where people can grow their own food, and with smart homes that convert waste to gas, etc. The need to commute from suburbs etc. can fade as wireless is everywhere, with such things as video conferencing.

We do not need to become cyborgs or robots, and we don't need to embrace transhuman neurochips as the answer to all our problems, these things can aid in our evolution without us becoming computers. We need to insist on natural evolution, authenticity will become important, the question will be, is it real or is it artificial? But genetic engineering may eventually be useful. The boundaries between man and man-made need to be maintained.

The present contains the seeds of the future as the cliche goes but the choice of our future scenarios depends on our purposes. The central purpose here is to continue to evolve toward Godhood, and local, national and global choices relate to that purpose. Nature is the driver, with man working within nature, but nature and human nature need to be defined realistically. Human nature remains deeply kin-centered and group-centered, and this needs to be affirmed in our future cultures.