A dissident in exile

"Prisoners and political exiles write books. Would you write a book if you were alone on a desert island? Would you scratch in the sand?"

--Joanna Russ, We Who are About to...

Sombody or other famous once said that writing a book is like falling in love. Not for me it's not; its more like going insane. One must take a trip into dangerous and unstable territory to return with goods you hope are worthwhile.

If -- when -- my book on consciousness is published, and if it isn't ignored, I'm going to annoy a lot of people. Not deliberately; I don't really enjoy a lot of the ritualized aggression of academe, but because my thoughts have strayed some way from the mainstream. Maybe this is another form of madness; I don't know.

One thing I do know is that I'm not alone; others share my madness. They, too, think that conventional theories of mind are not enough. But perhaps this is folie a deux. Certainly my former colleagues in the mainstream would think so. For we really are 'nothing but' a pack of neurons, lumbering robots, zombies without souls....

Maybe. I do not know. But then, scientific solitude has driven me mad. I continue to scratch in the sand, whilst the great, corporate machine rumbles somewhere over the ocean; a rumour, to me.

But there comes a time when the exile returns; this is what I'm preparing to do. And madness isn't so bad -- it feels, at times, like a kind of healing. Arthur Koestler(another lunatic) thought that. He believed that creativity was a kind of extension of the organism's ability to self-repair, to regenerate. So maybe what feels like madness is a kind of cure.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

Two Futurist Books

The first book is James Martin's The Meaning of the 21st Century. This examines the crises that we are facing, which include food and water famines, environmental degradation, overpopulation and climate change. Martin then outlines his scenario for overcoming these problems, and creating a better civilization. He sees the use of new technologies such as AI, nanotechnology and germ-line human engineering as part of the solution. He emphasises that there are solutions to most of the discussed problems.

While I think he's overly optimistic about the technology in places and slags off space travel as a 'delusion', the basic message is I think, sound: we can get through the various crises that threaten our world. He too, thinks that we can have a civilization that lives lightly on the Earth. See also the film preview here.

Charles Cockell's Space on Earth makes the case that space exploration and environmental management should go hand in hand. For example, one challenge of deep space human exploration is to create an environment where everything is recycled. Such techniques could be applied to terrestrial civilization, too. For this and other arguments, read the book!

Jill Tarter on SETI

One hundred percent renewables?

Yes, one hundred percent. Not a measly 20, 50 or 60% but one hundred percent. I believe the best course for our civilization is to end our dependence on fossil fuels. And it appears I'm not alone. See this report here. Our civilization needs to become as self contained as possible, and not suck the Earth of its life-blood.

I want a cleaner, more laid-back civilization. Yes, I'm still for space exploration, but I also think we need to prioritize making a better civilization here, one that rests more lightly on the Earth. I want a world where the population is more or less stable, where large tracts -- ideally 50% (that's right, 50% -- See Edward O.Wilson's Future of Life, chapter seven) is left for other species -- our fellow Earthians -- that we currently treat so badly.

I want a world where no-one, young or old, starves to death. Where everyone has the chance to meet their maximum potential. Where compassion and kindness outweigh cruelty, self-interest and stupidity. A world where slavery -- actual or wage-slavery -- is extinct.

I want a culture that generates more well-being and happiness than misery, anxiety and empty dreams. One that breeds excellent mental health and happiness, and where no-one is considered diposable. One that fosters personal growth rather than forcing people into limiting boxes. That would be a first. And no, I don't think that any ideology on the left or right has come even close to allowing us to achieve any of this (and maybe picking an ideology and sticking to it no matter what is part of the problem....)

We need to go back to basics, and ask what our civilization is for. What are we currently burning so much fossil fuel to achieve? Ah, yes, the economy. That monster each of us must tap a vein to serve. But what is the economy for, exactly -- to allow a small elite to become monstrously rich, whilst the rest of us are anesthetized by vague dreams of wealth and fame? I'm with Trent Reznor on this one; bow down beneath the one you serve, you're going to get what you deserve....

I do not idolize the past; I do not believe the solution is to retreat backwards into an ideal past that never existed. We need to be more creative than that; and combine the best of the past and present with something utterly without precedent. The future lies this way.

Essential Shifts

To follow up the previous posts, I've been scouring the web for some positive visions. One interesting trend I've noticed is that a number of the more optimistic thinkers (but not all) seem to be women, whereas many (but not all) of the more pessimistic ones tend to be (high-status) males. I think this might be worth further research.

Here are some interesting quotes;

QUOTE: [Marilyn Schlitz Interview] 'And there is this sense of urgency in the times that I think is disruptive to our ability to actually manifest what we are seeking. We are just racing from one solution to another solution. It’s often a like a band-aid operation, whereas what I think really needs to happen is a pausing long enough to ponder. Are we asking the right questions? Have we made the right assumptions here?'

QUOTE: [Elisabet Sahtouris Interview] 'Capitalism isn't democratic. Its money system funnels money from the many to the few. It's a concentrating, some-get-rich-at-the-expense-of-others kind of economics and that's exactly why it has to be changed. Because if we are ever to have something like democracy politically, then we have to have a win-win economic system, rather than a win-lose one. So that's my view of globalization.'

Sahtouris also has a website, and a whole book online that's worth reading.

Whilst some might be skeptical about some of the content of these talks, I think it's important to put whatever reservations one aside and look for ideas that resonate personally as worthwhile. I'm a great believer in using one's nose to sniff out wisdom.

Barbara Marx Hubbard's ideas are worth looking at for this reason. I find Barbara's story interesting because she was able to transform herself profoundly and do something positive;

QUOTE: HUBBARD: 'Just that -- my daughter Woodley said to me, "Mom, you transformed from a cave-age lady to a space-age lady in six months." Because that's when I wrote the letter to the thousand people. I called up Abraham Maslow, and I took him to lunch. I kept taking people to lunch; that was my way. I found you could really call anybody....One point here for everybody to know is that if you get what I call vocational arousal, if you get turned on to a life purpose, and you start following that compass of joy, it will lead you to certain actions, and even if it seems beyond you, if you take them step by step, like writing letters, or making telephone calls, or going to a conference, or meeting somebody, then it opens up, and the result is you become a self-actualizing person. I must say, for all the challenges that are involved with that, it has been a great life for the last thirty years. '

This is surely a positive example to us all.

Optimism: an annotated Primer

The following is a list of books about personal change and futurology that have helped me immensely. It’s not supposed to be definitive, and betrays my own biases, but I hope it helps!

Cornish, E. (2004) Futuring: the Exploration of the Future. World Future Society: Bethseda, Maryland. Chapter 15, Improving Our Futures, pp. 203—216.
Terrific chapter challenging fatalism about the future on both a personal and societal level by the editor of the Futurist magazine of the World Future Society.

QUOTE: "We as individuals have little power to shape the future of the world, much less the Universe. BUT we do have extraordinary power to improve our own futures, as countless people have demonstrated. We also have appreciable power to improve certain other people's future (p. 205)"

Covey, S.R. (2004 ed.) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful lessons in personal change. Simon & Schuster: London.
Does what it says on the tin. One of the best self-help books that I have read. Emphasises long term, incremental change over quick fixes. Emphasises that any change starts from within.

Frankl, V. (1992) Man’s Search for Meaning. Rider: London.
How human beings can endure just about anything so long as they have a purpose that truly, deeply motivates them. Also critiques fatalism/determinism.

Fuller, R.B. (1970). Utopia or Oblivion. Allen Lane: London.
Fuller, R.B. (1981). Critical Path. St. Martin’s Press: New York.
One of the best examples of a self-fulfilling positive prophecy. Bucky Fuller, inventor, architect, geometer, poet. At 32, after a string of business failures, decided to live his life as an experiment to see what one man could do to benefit all Earthians. An example to us all.

Heller, S. & Steele, T. (1987). Monsters and Magical Sticks: There’s No such thing as Hypnosis? Falcon Press: Phoenix, Arizona.
Why the incessant negativity of much of our media-saturated culture is dangerous for both individuals and society. In short, everything ‘is’ hypnosis, and what I say three times is true.

Huber, C. (2001). There is Nothing Wrong With You: Going Beyond Self-Hate. Keep it Simple Books.
A good book on self-compassion by a Zen Buddhist monk. Most hatred is really self-hatred, and the battering must stop.

Wilson, R.A. (1980). Ten good reasons to get out of bed in the morning in. The Illuminati Papers. And/Or Press: Berkeley, CA., pp.50—57.
Funny, optimistic, wise and very heretical; one of the great futurists/humourists of the age. An antidote to every kind of negativity. Previewed in google books here.

QUOTE: "Stalin's paranoia as a self-fulfilling prophecy: so was Bucky fuller's optimism (p. 51)."

An optimist by Choice

One of the things I've noticed repeatedly in my research for my book on consciousness is a persistent thread of pessimism in Western Secular 'scientific thought.' More specifically, it's the idea that adopting an entirely 'scientific' view of the world inevitably leads to a view of the Universe as pointless, alien, sterile, etc.

I came across two of the most blatant examples of this in a book named Will Storr versus the Supernatural. In between some fairly colourful experiences with Ghost hunters, Storr consulted a mainstream philosopher and a psychologist to get the scientific take on the soul. The psychologist informed him that ‘we are zombies leading meaningless lives’ and that ‘emotions and free will are just an illusion we have to stop us blowing our brains out.* ’ The philosopher informed him that ‘a human being is just a momentary flicker, or wisp of organisation in the universe, not part of a pattern. If you look at other human lives, like babies writhing in chemotherapy, you see something that isn’t designed at all. ’ If this really is the proper, 'scientific' way of looking at things, then small wonder people turn their backs on science!

But actually, I do not believe that this sort of view is an inevitable one, even for those who have rejected religion or even spirituality as a source of inspiration for their lives. It's important to realise that a conclusion like 'the Universe is Pointless' is not a scientific fact but an inference drawn from an (often limited and biased) set of observations about the Universe. (It begs a lot of questions as well. Would a Universe with a point be a worthy thing? What is a 'point' anyway? Also, some Universes with 'points' might be worse than Universes without them e.g. if we decided or discovered that God was akin to a sadistic dictator who loved torturing his creations. Actually, some bits of Dante do almost read like a visit to a concentration camp....)

Secondly, the above statements are hardly emotionally neutral, and are actually significantly negative. Do we really need someone or something outside ourselves to give us meaning and purpose? Are we really that lacking in our own confidence or imagination?

Listen, I am hardly a stranger to negative thought. I have suffered from depression for a long time; severe depression that has at times in the past reached suicidal levels. It is for this reason that I realise that such views are actually quite dangerous.

But the psychologist, I believe, is actually wrong about something; I do not believe that free will -- at least in the sense of being able to choose between attitudes and actions -- is an illusion. I believe that we do, in fact, have a choice about how we approach the world. And I also think that if we take the step and refocus our minds, then the Cosmos begins to appear differently. And I think that, in this time of great challenge for humanity, we are more likely to win through on both personal and global levels with a robust, realistic optimism than with such unremitting pessimism.

And I'm actually sick of pessimism. It's vomited from newspapers, the mainstream media and far too many places and people already. Bureaucracy breeds it; a slave-attitude broods it. Our noosphere is polluted with bloody pessimism. There's more than enough pessimism and defeat to go around so screw it; let's choose to be optimistic and see what happens!

So here's my challenge for this week, folks; try to react to the world in a more open, compassionate way. Drop your negativity and defeat and see what happens. Optimists have more fun, anyway. I leave you with a YouTube clip of the late 'guru' and 'crank,' Robert Anton Wilson.


* And I can't help point out the contradiction in this statement. If emotions and free will are just illusions to stop us blowing our brains out, this implies that we have the ability to recognize them as such, not be fooled and blow our brains out. But this implies some kind of choice aka free will. such blatant contradictions are very common amongst those who deny any kind of free will! All I can say is that I'm glad I never visited this psychologist when I was depressed; he might have tipped me over the edge....