Regular readers will recognize that I usually follow a theme for a while before switching gears and writing on something else. If anyone wants me to write on anything specifically, just let me know by email to richardjurin@outlook.com (email found at bottom of my blog page one).
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” Arthur C Clarke.
A continuation of a fictional reflection by a hundred-year-old Espe from 2112 about the start and on-going movement of transformation to Sustainable Living. I add clarification links and quotes as needed.
The global economic structure was being rebuilt from the tatters of the old system, but it was going to take time. What we did was take many localized systems and expand on them instead of wasting time and effort to remove the old systems quickly. The big difference for times after 2010 was the internet that allowed connectivity for people everywhere. We really could live locally and think globally to share ideas. The early internet had its problems with too much ability for people to post anything they wanted, the algorithms that made it too easy to undergo confirmation bias (accepting only information that confirms a pre-existing belief over information that does not support a preexisting belief), and the effects of consumer advertising that preyed on users desires and fears. To change the technology we needed both new kinds of energy and a very different way of looking at the world and our place within it (see, Changing the Paradigm: Part 2 – Recognizing the Addiction – the Wave of New Technology {August 2020).
The really momentous change about energy started in 2032 but took a few years to finally get established. In 2032, the Trans-National Corporations (TNCs) started releasing information about new energy systems known about since the time of Tesla (e.g., the Wardenclyffe Tower, 1902), as well as many others that had been generated between 1902 and 2025. He was credited with development of AC current, which was used in power grids all over the world. During his time he patented over 300 ideas. He was working on wireless transmission ideas before his research and development funding was withdrawn by J.P. Morgan in 1917. Many believed that was because Morgan was heavily invested in construction of the power grid system in the U.S. Tesla found himself destitute but he kept his technological files secret. Immediately after his death in 1943, witnesses state that government-like men came to his apartment and removed all his files – they were never seen again – that is until 2032. We learned that whenever a new patent came out, the TNCs and other groups never identified, either bought up the inventions forcing the inventors to abide by non-disclosure agreements, or the inventors met with strange accidents and their inventions disappeared. After the collapsing of the TNCs, came the release of hundreds of high energy generation patents and other ‘futuristic’ inventions that had been kept out of the public domain for many decades.
After thousands of years of humanity being restricted by energy technology, the flood gates were opened to provide effective and cheap and almost completely ecologically clean energy for everyone on the planet – a boom for developing a new technological global sustainable society. However, it just got really chaotic as every region started engineering these inventions. It was a bit like inventing a wheel: everyone had their own vision of what the wheel was and how it would be attached to a vehicle or machine and then utilized for travel and other uses. Imagine that you drove from one region to another and broke down, needing mechanical help. Engineers in the other region would understand your problem but differences in all design specifications meant they could do nothing to help you resolve your breakdown – there was no standardization at all.
We knew about Resonance Frequency Technology (RFT) and Magnetic Resonance Technology (MRT) before 2030 but they had limited applications, and any further advances seemed more in the realm of science fiction set in some distant future. RFT and MRT energy technology especially was the big boom in removing global poverty. My mother, the social-Anthropologist, and my father, the sustainabilitist were savvy enough to realize that you could not drag people out of poverty simply by throwing money at their plight to get them to consume more. There were plenty of global resources for everyone if we managed them with a worldview that used wisdom and was fair and equitable to everyone. Before 2032 there simply was not enough energy to allow everyone to consume. You could have equitably recycled all you want but energy was the stumbling block for global human progress, and the privileged nations were not about to let go of their control of energy. Fossil fuels dominated, and renewables although slightly better were still ecologically a far cry from the zero emissions that people back then kept aspiring to reach.
Quantum theorists had long suspected that energy could be gained from the very quantum nature of anywhere in the universe, but tapping into such a source seemed more magical than possible. Inducing changes in the quantum mechanical vacuum was feasible once we fully understood the Casimir affect, Cymatics and electromagnetic interactions more clearly from the many inventions over the decades, we could discard the fossil fuels for energy generation. We took another few years to find ecologically friendly plastic and other alloy technologies where we could finally stop drilling for oil.
Localization was a great success in all of us living sustainably at the local level, but for advanced technological design it helps to have regional manufacturing. By 2040, we realized this and with large internet conferencing began the process of standardizing our technological systems so that we could effectively trade with each other and more importantly reduce the impact of mineral extraction needed to built these systems as ecologically efficient and effective as possible. The new energy technologies provided energy that was cheap and efficient, and especially in the developing world, the standard of living rose quickly. This brought up another problem. Everyone wanted technology and a frenzy of new mineral mining occurred. We had just gotten past the Industrial Blight Era (IBE) mentality and here we were faced with it again. Plentiful energy meant mining became easier, so we had to rush to standardization as quickly as possible to reduce our ecological mining footprint on the planet.
Since the consumer mindset was fast becoming a thing of the IBE, we could agree on principles of manufacturing that fit a new sustainability worldview that was fair and equitable for everyone. The business mindset had also changed and social benefit was the new metric of success instead of maximizing profit only for the investors. Standardization allowed us to be more efficient in resource use that was as close to ‘Cradle to Cradle’ manufacturing as it could be at that time. This mindset mirrors the natural world’s circular design system of full mineral recycle and reuse (nothing is waste since everything serves as ‘food’ for something else within the system).
As my father drilled into me from an early age in the early part of the twenty first century, it’s all about energy. Throughout human history from muscle power to wood, coal, then methane, oil, and atomic generation, to the renewables, technological progress was always about energy. Getting enough useful energy with these methods was always polluting, limiting, and expensive. My mother always said that the gross inequities on the planet could all be traced back to control of energy. Odd to think that we needed the dirty energy options to finally get the clean energy ones we use in 2112. Meanwhile, as the TNCs lost their control, technologies for health went to more holistic treatments, with technology used to diagnose disease with a whole body integrative medicine. Agriculture went back to being fully organic with technology used to help the soil thrive and provide abundant and healthy food.
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