From: Ken Meyering (ken@define.com)
Date: Sat Sep 12 1998 - 06:00:57 MDT
Lately I have been thinking about how difficult it must be to be a
head of state. The whole question of satisfying the majority of the
people while maintaining the delicate balance of ecological and
social values.
For example, imagine the Moses-type charismatic leader, screaming
"let my people go!", to the current landlords.
What would that mean?
I imagine some kind of G7 or United Nations takeover of all broadcast
channels, doing an emergency broadcast in the form of some kind of
global announcement that the ownership of the earth is undergoing
change, and that all previous private property agreements have been
voided.
It might be something like, "People: we need to have talk. We are
experiencing a reorganization of unprecedented scale. Our old
economic ways have been ruled illegal by authorities beyond the reach
of human beings. You are no longer required to go to work. You are
no longer required to pay any bills. We are in a state of managed
transition to a new paradigm of authority and law. If you are in a
home, your mortgage is hereby declared paid in full. If you are
renting a home, that home in now declared your own private property,
free and clear. If you are renting an apartment, you are now a
coowner of the building you are in, sharing that ownership with the
others who share the same walls. The water, gas, electric, and
telephone services are now free for your use. Internal combustion
engines are hereby declared for emergency use only. Food
distribution will remain uninterrupted, with the exception of
cost. If you need something, go to the store, take it off the
shelf, go through the cash register as you normally would.
Imaginary money will be accepted, and the shelves will be restocked.
The entire transportation system is in the process of being replaced.
Further details will be forthcoming."
When I think about this scenario, from my perspective as a worker in
a treadmill, it at first sounds cathartic. Go home, rest, sleep,
relax, surf the web, call my family and friends, teleconference with
my social peers, enjoy the silence of the traffic noise falling to
nearly nothing, enjoy music, make love, eat, ride my bike on nature
trails.
Of course, this greatly oversimplifies a transition state.
What would happen in the long run?
When I think about it, it occurs to me that work itself was some form
of population control. "Keeping the people busy, in order to prevent
them from mating."
The level of lovemaking would be unprecedented. Ecstatic liberated
human animals would be enjoying food, wine, smoke, powder, and
contact with each other as had never before been experienced. For
the first few weeks it would be like a psychedelic utopia. However,
soon thereafter, there would be a wave of insanity. Excessive
self-stimulation would lead to uncontrollable dimentia and
psychological separation. Some people would be completely catatonic
in hypnotic drug states. Others would be hyperagited from excessive
use of nervous stimulants. There would be the smell of rotting
bodies, from self-induced overdosages. Soon there would be an
explosion of pregnancies. The utopia would become a living hell.
Take Stock: LIQUID NITROGEN
Euthanasia coupled with cryonic suspension on an industrial scale
would become a sanitary solution for temporary stasis.
Since from an evolutionary perspective, the egg and uterus are
orders of magnitude more essential than sperm, male sterilization
via vasectomy would become a form of mass birth control. Sperm banks
would be created on an industrial scale. Procreation would become
exclusively a conscious decision requiring the consent of the woman,
using artifical insemination or cloning.
Transportation systems would become exclusively electrical, and three
dimensional. (MEMS focused pulse laser computer guided shuttle
systems, or something like that?)
Positive identification would be inevitable, due not to security
requirements, but to ubiquitious advanced remote surveillance and
tracking.
Direct modification of the brain would likely occur regardless of
consent. Physical agression would likely be detected and corrected
by automated systems in a manner completely or nearly unnoticed by
the individual. High resolution virtual reality systems would be as
close as a relaxed medidative state and indistinguishable from lucid
dreams. Verbal communication would likely be replaced with visual
and tactile communication. Facial expressions, gestures, and
touches. Imaginary social interactions would become
indistinguishable from physical social interactions. People would
likely converse with each other silently, and would likely not
corrupt the validy of their interactions with verbal expressions
which would likely only serve to detract from the pleasure of knowing
glances and mutual affection.
ken@define.com
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