Apocalypse: Revelation 2021
The end of Humanity or the beginning of a New Era?
“And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever” – Revelation 22:1-5[1]
Apocalypse
2020 was a year of disasters and a culmination of rapidly worsening global conditions for Humanity. It was a year that unleashed a global pandemic which nations continue to struggle to contain, despite all the advances in modern medicine[2]; a year with record breaking natural disasters, with the largest number and most severe hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the Pacific Oceans since at least 1893[3]; a year of unprecedented earthquakes, volcano eruptions, wildfires, flooding and heat, the latter a direct result of the worsening effects of Climate Change[4]; a year of food crises and famine, refugees and swarms of locusts[5]; a year of continuing armed conflict in the middle east, Asia and Africa and rising tensions in Iran and North Korea.
2021 has barely started and already during the first two weeks, the global pandemic is worsening as early vaccinations have started to roll out at a slower than projected pace and the virus itself is mutating; meanwhile the world’s longest enduring democracy, the United States of America, is reeling from disturbing signs of a deep-rooted and systemic social instability and anger. The world appears headed toward a tipping point and if all these disasters combined seem familiarly foreboding, it is because they echo the doomsday scenarios described in almost every major View and are etched deeply into the human psyche for millennia[6]. Are these the signs of the end of times, a reckoning described in the Bible’s Book of Revelation? Has Humanity reached a point where the damage it has caused to its habitat and to its own species is already irreversible and the only redemption is to submit to the power and glory of an unknowable deity or supernatural force?
Or perhaps it is time for a new Revelation, a new ‘Apocalypse.’ The word apocalypse after all is derived from the ancient Greek ‘apokalypsis’, literally ‘uncovering’ or ‘revealing.’ Perhaps the time has come for Humanity to enter a New Era of heightened awareness of its own ‘divine’ capacity and responsibility and for a New Revelation to guide our next chapter of growth.
Fear and Hope
The Human species, as historian Dr. Yuval Noah Harari has aptly noted in his provocative book, ‘Sapiens’[9], is in fact entirely unremarkable and even weak or disadvantaged from a physical standpoint. Given our physical shortcomings, other species could have outcompeted us for the world’s resources. Our cousins from the same species, Homo Neanderthalensis in fact were bigger and stronger than us, Homo Sapiens. Somehow, they did not stand a chance and like all of our other cousins disappeared leaving us as the last Humans standing. In what can only be described as an astonishingly short amount of time, our species has risen to be the most dominant on planet Earth to the detriment and often extinction of many other species.
As Dr. Hariri teaches, our rise is rooted in our unique capacity using language and cognitive functions to form narratives and shared beliefs, and thus mobilize large groups of otherwise unrelated individuals and even strangers towards a common objective. Through storytelling, we have the unique ability to form large groups of like-minded people to achieve things that we are unable to do alone. From a positive perspective, this allows us to rally and overcome dangers such as stronger predators, build bridges to cross natural borders, collaborate to recover from disasters and form communities, cities and nations. On the other hand, from a negative perspective, this also allows us to rather arbitrarily exclude individuals from the groups that we define and treat those that are outside the group as lower in value even if such outsiders may in reality be no different from those inside the group, giving rise to prejudice, racism and justification to commit violence, atrocities and even genocide.
History shows that these shared beliefs based on stories can be factual or entirely mythical. The distinction between recognized and mainstream View and superstition or myth is razor thin. The success or failure of each to pervade and guide Humanity’s beliefs and actions merely depends on their adoption or repudiation by a sufficient number of individuals. In other words, if enough people believe a particular story, it can readily be accepted as their shared reality and ‘Truth.’ Recently, the segregation of world population into distinct information silos, supported by mainstream media and amplified by social media, shows that different parts of the same population within one common location can still believe, act, and live their lives in entirely different realities. For example, in current political affairs, the America of members of the US Republican party is vastly different from the America of members of the US Democratic party. Almost half of the population in the world’s largest and most influential economy and with the most powerful armed forces have an entirely different perception of reality than the other half with potentially frightening consequences.
Likewise, it is clear that the view of the world according to Christians is vastly different than the view of the world according to Muslims, Hinduists or Buddhists. These major Views represent some of the most compelling and enduring forms of Humanity’s capacity for storytelling and have guided our conscious and subconscious thoughts and actions throughout our history.
Despite the strength in numbers that these shared beliefs provide to groups of humans, the realization of our individual insignificance and weakness is still inherent and pervasive in each member of the Human species. One of the most powerful perception-defining characteristics in Humanity is that of fear. Most of the world’s belief systems, regardless of whether they are Views, political doctrines or other constructs, tap into this inherent fear and draw a boundary around shared beliefs and distinguish between those that are considered part of the group and the others that are not. This fear of the ‘Other’, however other may be defined remains unfortunately an ingrained part of Humanity and places severe limits on what we can collectively achieve.
Humanity has the capacity to adopt almost any new belief as long as sufficient people believe in it. In recent events in the USA, President Trump has proven again that such belief does not have to be based on facts. The riot at the US Capitol on 6th January 2021, included not only right-wing extremists, but also moderate white evangelicals, fully believing that their act of sedition was in keeping with their fundamental Christian beliefs, even if their interpretation of reality would be the complete opposite of those for example held by members of the black Christian community[10]. They acted convinced of their unsubstantiated ‘truth’ and ‘reality’ that the recent presidential election was fraudulent. Their reality was formed solely by a shared story, repeated loudly and often enough by Trump and his loyalists. Yet, Trump is only the latest example of influential individuals tapping into the Humanity’s fear of the Other. The tragic event in Washington D.C. is only the latest demonstration that for Humanity to truly come together as a species to adopt a universal belief system and overcome global challenges, it would require for Humanity to consider all of its members without exception to be included within the boundaries and definition of one single group and move together towards one single common cause. Is Humanity ready and capable of such unification to work towards a universal cause?
Before trying to answer that, we should note another key and more hopeful characteristic of Humanity, and that is its ability to create ‘Art’. As Brian Greene noted in “Until the End of Time”[11], the “development of Art aids in the strengthening of emotional bonds.” Creativity also enhances the human mind and broadens awareness and Consciousness. Art throughout human history has helped to mitigate human fear, including the fear of death. Art and View combine to give meaning to the finality of human life and the possibilities and hope of what may come after. They also help fill the gaps in human knowledge. Even as scientific knowledge has exploded during the past century at ever increasing rate, we must realize with humility that it may still only represent a tiny fraction of what the Universe has to offer. Both Art and View in different ways provide comfort that the unknown may be glimpsed as in the case of Art, or that true salvation of Humanity may be possible but may remain out of our control and subject to a higher force as in the case of View. But what if our knowledge can rise to a point where we can achieve greater Consciousness and indeed gain a measure of control over or at least knowledge of how to achieve human Salvation?
The End or a Beginning?
Our realization that Humanity may be moving towards a tipping point is hardly unique. Almost every generation before us has believed the end of days were imminent, which ultimately did not come to pass. Most recently, the hysteria surrounding Y2K and the supposed cataclysmic prediction of the end of days by the Mayan calendar in 2012 come to mind. That a world-wide calamity has not happened thus far even as we for the past seventy-five years have lived in a nuclear age, may be attributed to a combination of incomplete knowledge and also a substantial measure of luck.
However, what feels different this time, is that more forces and events than ever appear to converge to a point of radical change and yet, perhaps for the first time offer an opportunity for Humanity to have a substantial role in this change. Part of it is our realization that we may already have crossed the irreversible boundary for the net loss in biodiversity through our own actions while getting closer to the precipice of irreversible climate change boundaries, thus mobilizing those with political and financial means to take this change seriously. At the same time, we perhaps now also realize that the doomsday prophecies may have gotten it only partially right and that the end of the world may not mean a wholesale destruction but rather the end of an era with the potential opportunity for Humanity to embrace a heightened level of understanding and Consciousness leading to a new Era of Salvation, which in fact was also foretold by the same doomsday prophecies such as the Book of Revelation. How then do we transition from the gate of a doomsday Apocalypse to a New Era?
Despite all the disasters and the challenges that Humanity faces today, the statistics from the past fifty years bear out that Humanity has experienced unprecedented peace and prosperity. The technological developments and the pace of innovation has been almost unimaginable. While today one billion people still endure extreme poverty and experience hunger, living on less than $1 per day[12], this number as a percentage of total population has in fact been dramatically reduced, after both China and India have raised more than two billion people out of poverty and famine during this time. In 1692 France, famine killed 15% of its then population. In 2010 by comparison, around one million people worldwide died of famine or roughly 0.015%. In that same year three million people worldwide died of obesity[13]. In other words, given the current state of global food supply, more people are at risk from dying from an overabundance rather than from scarcity of food. Similarly, while armed conflict persists in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, the number of fatalities annually have also dramatically fallen during the past two decades.
The largest challenges to the stability of Humanity are today less dramatically evident but existentially perhaps even more threatening. Our existential challenges include Climate Change driven by energy generation that is still largely dependent on fossil fuels, inefficient energy distribution, and Inequality in wealth distribution and inequalities in access to essential resources, such as education, healthcare, food & water, and information. All of these not only threaten our habitat’s suitability for Humanity but the erosion of our shared beliefs and ability to cooperate and achieve greater knowledge and higher Consciousness. When we have difficulty sharing beliefs and realities, the social fabric of Humanity itself is at risk. The global Covid-19 pandemic has shown that when confronted with a universal challenge today, Humanity’s fear and first impulse still tends to push us to retreat within our borders rather than reaching out to coordinate with others. It has highlighted that large portions of the population rather rely on easy and lazy rhetoric than on science, that public information is not deemed reliable, and that individual preferences and perceived liberties trump empathy for others who may be less fortunate or weaker. Will it be possible to overcome some of these worst impulses of Humanity?
Scarcity
Throughout our development, Humanity has faced the real and limiting environmental conditions of ‘Scarcity.’ It is engrained in our nature to view the world in terms of scarce resources for which our species has continually had to compete against other species and even amongst ourselves.
This view of Scarcity and limited resources is universally held amongst the entire human species, regardless of ethnicity or religious beliefs. Our global concept of ‘Economy’ for the distribution of resources in fact depends on it and each nation is challenged and remains still relatively unsuccessful to achieve a balance in the distribution of resources in equitable ways.
Our unprecedented pace of innovation and economic growth has come at significant costs. Fueling the growth has been a global increase in the demand for energy. Markets have expanded exponentially since 1971, when with the decoupling of the US Dollar from the gold standard with other currencies following suit, capital was able to grow unchecked by any limited resource. Consumption, manufacturing, and also innovation during this time has exploded, straining the supply of energy. Fossil fuel remains today the most efficient source of this energy. But even though the ‘Peak Oil’ theory has not yet resulted in fossil fuel running out[14] and discourse such as those by Prof. Vaclav Smil has extended the justifications for our dependence on it, the costs as a result of Climate Change are real and their negative effects risk to become irreversible if the world does not immediately implement a transition plan from fossil fuel reliance to renewable energy sources. As long as the world is dependent on energy resources that are finite, Humanity will continue to face Scarcity, and not only compete for these finite resources but rely on the existing imperfect Economy for the unequal distribution of the wealth that such energy is capable of generating. One of the main challenges is that Human society, culture and politics is used to Scarcity. With all the problems throughout history that Scarcity has created, we know how to deal with it, even though we have never found an ideal or equitable solution.
But what if it were possible that through new technologies and scientific innovations, Scarcity could be eliminated? What if Humanity could enter an era of Abundance?
Limitless Sustainable Energy
Technologically, we are in fact almost there. Most of the key technologies and solutions to support a world of Abundance already exist today. In terms of energy, there is not one single renewable energy source that today could replace fossil fuels. However, recent advancements in solar panel technology and efficiency, combined with advances in wind energy, biofuels in particular using engineered algae, hydro-power generation all put together can offer practical solutions for renewable energy generation to replace fossil fuels. Nuclear energy is categorized separately because even though it does not negatively impact Climate Change in the way fossil fuel does, it obviously comes with other negative environmental impacts that make it less than desirable for long-term application. Lastly, the potential of dark energy is intriguing but research into this is at its infancy and currently even the mere study of dark energy through the critical and necessary work performed at the Large Hadron Collider requires itself massive energy from existing sources. While the path towards limitless sustainable energy is emerging, the practical challenges and obstacles to achieve it are still immense.
Two of the main challenges are the distribution and storage of renewable energy. The advantage of fossil fuel is that its energy is portable and can be applied in any location. Renewable energy sources on the other hand, such as hydro power, solar and wind and even biofuel are location dependent. The energy generated by these resources needs to be stored and transported to where they are needed the most. To transport such energy currently would require the construction of an Ultra High Voltage (UHV) power lines infrastructure. Today, only China has massively invested in an UHV infrastructure domestically to transport the renewable energy generated at solar farms in the desert, wind farms in the mountains, and biofuel from the oceans to the major metropolitan areas where the majority of the energy demand is located. China made such investment out of necessity to mitigate as quickly as possible its critical pollution problems. This system has already started to pay dividends as the dependence on fossil fuels in the past five years has slowly decreased and for the first time in decades, China’s major cities are dropping in the world’s pollution rankings. The moderate yet promising success of this approach has led to an ambitious $50 trillion plan spearheaded by China’s State Grid, a state-owned enterprise to build a global network of solar and wind farms connected by a world-wide UHV grid to deliver renewable, clean energy around the world. While this plan was publicly revealed in 2019[15], the response from the rest of the world was lukewarm at best, despite its potential as a practical, technologically ready solution for sustainable and renewable energy. Some of the challenges to overcome skepticism and even resistance in the world, are mirrored within China itself. Regional governments within China have resisted giving up control of their own local, mostly fossil fuel driven energy generation. Central government needed to step in to provide mandated long-term support for the initiative and continues to do so today. This may be feasible within China due to its centralized political power structure but is difficult to implement in the rest of the world. The biggest obstacles in the world to adoption of such renewable energy initiatives include the significant resistance from existing industries, corporations and even entire nations whose economies still depend on fossil fuel. Unfortunately, this includes some of the largest and politically most powerful nations in the world. However, it is clear that the obstacles are primarily of socio-political nature, not technological.
The second problem with renewable energy is storage and delivery of smaller units of energy through batteries. Current battery technology innovation cycles are incredibly fast, but they are developed without common standards. The prevalent battery technology at the moment, incorporates the use of lithium. The efficiency of lithium-based batteries improves by more than twenty-five percent every three months. In only a few years, the capacity and efficiency of lithium batteries has resulted in lower prices and enabled a significant increase in the adoption of electric vehicles (‘EV’). Yet we are still only in the first generation of EV adoption. The batteries of these first generation EV will within the next year or two have deteriorated to the point where they are no longer efficient in EV but can still be used for other energy storage purposes. At the moment, the world lacks a common standard for EV batteries and moreover lacks a strategy and the logistics for battery recycling and re-use. Each battery in fact can be considered as a small energy bank, capable of holding valuable energy. Also, until new batteries are developed that are not based on lithium, the recycling of lithium from used batteries to be re-purposed in new ones, has not sufficiently been tapped as a commercial opportunity. Besides the use of lithium, the development of new battery technologies using different core materials such as graphene may change the equation. However, we are still at the very beginning of such developments. Regardless, energy storage in modular form such as batteries is critical to a new era of sustainable energy distribution and a coordinated initiative to standardize battery technology s is long overdue.
Inequality
Besides energy, the problem of Inequality around the world represents one of the main existential challenges to Humanity. For early human development, inequality within any given group was almost a requirement for growth and development. Once humans transformed from hunter-gatherers to primarily farmers, building settlements and developing larger societies, access to resources was simply not possible to be equal. To manage order and stability within these early and rapidly growing societies, rules of acceptable behavior were required to establish sufficient stability so that the society could focus on increasing production rather than internal competition and strife for scarce resources.
View which provides for what would be deemed acceptable and moral behavior within a society combined with laws for conduct and policies governing the distribution of limited resources as well as writing systems for recording each individual’s contributions and assets were developed. Naturally those with the greatest access to this information or who had the power to create and control such information wielded the most power and would become the ruling class. The hierarchy of classes was a result of vastly different levels of access to and control over information.
If we fast forward to today, access to information and knowledge is unprecedented in the history of Humanity. However, this access is still mired in inequality. The world’s education systems do not disseminate information and knowledge equally. Furthermore, with the advent of the Internet, the sheer volume of information is growing at an ever-increasing pace. For such information to be valuable it also needs to be reliable and at least the source of the information should be clear and indisputable. In this aspect, it also feels as if Humanity has reached a tipping point. We have so much information now, but how do we categorize it and make sense of it all? How can the information sources become more transparent so that the information itself can become more reliable and how can we disseminate this information in a more equitable manner?
The promise of the Internet was to make information ubiquitous and readily accessible. Presumably, if everyone has equal access to the same information, each individual would be better able to make informed decisions and participate in a democratic process of shaping government and the distribution of wealth and resources, in other words contribute to the shared narrative and collective Consciousness and knowledge of Humanity. To an extent, this has happened. Today, any individual with a smartphone has access to more information than the most powerful leader in the world from twenty years ago. However, both mainstream media and social networks have tended to create distinct information silos. Due to the fact that both are driven by advertising, marketing and capital, the world’s information and knowledge are now formed ever tightly around each individual, in such a way that the information each individual has most ready access to, tends to conform to their pre-existing preferences and biases. Rather than the Internet and its vast information acting to expand knowledge and awareness, the trend is towards information silos becoming more restrictive and narrower. Furthermore, in a world still dominated by Scarcity, the time that each individual spends on accessing information is limited and each member of society today tends to spend time only on information that amplifies the preferences and biases they already have, potentially leading to extremism, rather than expanding their awareness and enrichening their Consciousness. How do we break these information silos and the cycle of self-perpetuating but narrowing realities?
Health and Longevity
The on-going global pandemic on one hand has highlighted the limitations of the various healthcare systems that exist in the world. It has demonstrated that nations with strict boundaries struggle to cope with any threat that does not care about such boundaries. The pandemic has highlighted the challenges that Humanity faces to deal with issues that are of a global scale. From a positive perspective, modern medicine has been able to realize an unprecedented achievement, with vaccines having been developed and rolled out in record time. It is obvious that today we collectively possess more knowledge about the human body than ever before. Without such knowledge these vaccines would have taken much longer. However, these same vaccines also highlight how much modern medicine is still dominated by allopathic or Western medicine.
Western medicine has traditionally been based on the study and knowledge of the physiology of the human body and the biochemical processes that take place within it. Conventional treatment happens through chemical drugs aimed at resolving specific and isolated ailments, but whereby the treatment of one biochemical problem often leads to unintended side effects. With the development and incorporation of diagnostic technologies including X-ray, electromagnetic imaging and nuclear medicine, quantum-physics processes have become more and more integrated into modern medicine. An unexpected effect of this is that through such imaging, there is now scientific support for treatments long advocated by Eastern medicine, which was developed through experiential and experimental treatment of energy fields within and around the human body. More and more scientists, such as Dr. Christina L. Ross, are advocating for the further study and integration of quantum-physics based ‘Energy Medicine’[16], which could potentially hold the key to holistic therapies aimed at achieving optimal balance between the physiology of the human body and the energy fields affecting our mind and mental state. In addition, advances in genetic treatment, biotechnology and medical nanotechnologies hold promise for a level of treatment at the cellular and fundamental levels within the human body that before were unimaginable. Together, these new solutions offer the potential for increased human longevity, in a way that not only extends life but extends healthier life.
Advances in the study of longevity have accelerated since Dr. Cynthia Kenyon in 1993 was able to double the healthy lifespan of roundworms. Funded by some of the world’s largest technology companies, such as the Ellison Medical Foundation, Human Longevity Inc and Google’s Calico[17] where Dr. Kenyon serves as VP in Aging Research, and supported by pharmaceutical conglomerates including Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline, the push towards extending life and health is no longer viewed as a fantastical pursuit of some magical fountain of youth, but a serious scientific and perhaps even commercial endeavor towards increasing the length of time that humans can defy aging and live a healthy and productive life. Based on the current progress in research, the projection is that we can achieve significantly extended longevity during our current lifetime.
Critics may argue that longevity for all humans would mean overpopulation and an unsustainable strain on the Earth’s resources, further exacerbating environmental problems including Climate Change. However, what history teaches us is that population growth is driven primarily by fear. Early humans had much lower child survival rates. Remember again that a species, we are not particularly strong or sturdy. A larger number of offspring represented humans hedging their bets for survival using sheer numbers. As the quality of healthcare has improved, such concerns have diminished. Furthermore, as human life expectancy has increased the concern and appreciation for quality of life has changed the equation. All statistics demonstrate that the more developed a country is, with more advanced the healthcare system and higher the quality of life, the lower the birthrate is, even dropping to the point where certain wealthy nations such as Norway and Singapore face a such a dramatic decline in population that procreation is encouraged or even subsidized by government. But if humans will start to live longer, what will we do with that time and how may we evolve?
Consciousness
We still understand little about human consciousness and Consciousness as a whole. Science teaches that while it appears that humans exhibit a special level of intelligence as a result of conscious thought and free will, in reality the human brain functions the way it does primarily as a result of biochemical processes and programmed responses and are in fact not much different from other species. Physicist Brian Greene even postulates that there is no such thing as Free Will[18]. Similarly, if there is such a thing as human consciousness, how is it different from other forms of consciousness as manifested for example in chimpanzees or dogs or even trees and rocks? Annaka Harris in “Conscious” describes the theory of ‘panpsychism’, “where consciousness is an intrinsic element of all matter.”[19] There is more supporting evidence that all matter indeed can be deemed to possess consciousness than not.
Dr. Robert Lanza goes even further in “Biocentrism”[20], and theorizes that the Universe, life and Consciousness itself are intertwined. Just as quantum-physics teaches us that there is no reality without an observer, Biocentrism suggests that the Big Bang came to be as a result of Consciousness and that life within the universe is not due to an accidental mixture of atoms but rather that the Universe’s reason for being is the cultivation of Consciousness. While controversial, this view aligns with panpsychism, quantum-physics and with Eastern philosophies, as described by physicist Fritjof Capra[21]. In short, the pursuit of higher level of Consciousness may in fact be the natural evolution of any species including Humanity, and that such pursuit may well be the core reason for the existence of our Universe. How may this be accomplished and how may we reach heightened Consciousness?
Homo Deus
The Bible’s Book of Revelation ultimately promises a world where there is no more evil, no more suffering and no more death. Islam holds similar promise for believers and Hindu while technically does not prophesize an end, since in Hinduism all ages are cyclical, it comes closest with the end of the Kali age after which a new age of harmony rises[22]. All three major Views of the world share a common belief in a singular ‘Creator.’
If the Big Bang represents the singular point of Creation of the Universe, what if the Universe and Consciousness itself as a Singularity equals what we understand to be the Creator? Buddhism teaches the attainment of Nirvana or highest level of Consciousness and enlightenment as the ultimate purpose. Perhaps Humanity’s New Era involves the attainment of ultimate longevity during which higher level of Consciousness, equality and Abundance can be attained. It is difficult to imagine that this is possible for humans in our current form and with our current limitations. But what if we were to evolve?
The age of Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) is here. Already, machine learning has revolutionized our understanding and definition of intelligence. Dr. Harari details how every day human actions are being replaced by algorithms, due to the need to complete tasks quickly, efficiently and reliably. Even creative tasks such as creating art are being completed by algorithms where the resulting artwork is indistinguishable from human made artwork. Logically, it is then merely a matter of time where AI can complete any human task faster and more efficiently than humans as we exist today[23]. What is then left for Humanity? Are we in the near future faced with a choice of surrendering to a more advanced intelligence or potentially evolve and merge with it and become in the words of Dr. Hariri, a “Techno-Human?” Or can AI help us attain a level of Consciousness until now unattainable except perhaps for those to have been deemed to be ‘Prophets’?
Abundance
If the nations of the world by some miracle were all to agree to work together starting tomorrow and build limitless, renewable energy resources, for example by constructing solar farms all around the equator and wind farms at both the north and south poles, and agree to build a global UHV grid capable of delivering low cost, limitless, renewable, clean and sustainable energy to every place in the world, what would such a hypothetical yet technologically possible New Human Era based on Abundance look like?
If we could deliver limitless, clean, low-cost energy anywhere in the world, it also means we could build energy-intensive desalination plants that produce fresh water from seawater anywhere in the world. We would solve the growing freshwater shortage and we would be able to irrigate areas in the world that thus far we have not been able to cultivate, at once increasing the global food supply even in regions where currently farming is not feasible, eliminate the remaining famine in the world while reducing the need to encroach on existing forests. We could allocate energy to the redevelopment of biodiverse habitats and gradually reverse the extinction of endangered species.
We would also be able to build energy-intensive waste treatment plants cleanly, using high temperature plasma to consolidate waste and turn it into re-usable slag and hydrogen without any harmful byproducts, while eliminating the need for landfill waste disposal.
We could gradually phase out all fossil fuel power plants altogether and start reversing human impact on Climate Change. We could gradually reduce the cost of manufacturing, even as we increase the application of automation.
We could deliver access to information and combine in-person and remote learning to every corner of the Earth, equalizing access to education, which in itself would need to be re-invented to be better aligned with how our brains actually work and learn, rather than relying on outdated methods of passing on knowledge.
We could develop low energy field treatment centers to holistically treat the human body through the emerging field of Energy Medicine at minimal cost.
With abundant energy, we would eliminate any limits on the application of blockchain technology into many industries where it is currently cost-prohibitive, for example applying decentralized verification of information to ensure greater reliability. With blockchain technology keeping track of transactions in verifiable records, we would over time eliminate the need for fiat currency and overreliance on capital.
With increased longevity, reduced time commitment to manufacturing and production of energy and resources, Humanity could focus its collective attention on exploration and discovery of the Universe and expanding our knowledge and Consciousness. We would be able to evolve towards a symbiotic balance between human and artificial intelligence and merge to grow towards heightened levels of Consciousness. Our species could enter into a new Era of Salvation and evolve to become “Homo Deus.”
A New Story, a New View, a New Era of Humanity
If all of this sound fantastical, far-fetched and even impossible, it is because Abundance after all goes against everything our inherent nature and impulses has taught us. Humanity has always had to deal with Scarcity. It has never had an opportunity to even contemplate Abundance except as an ultimate Salvation by submitting to the glory of an unknowable God.
Fear of the unknown, fear of the Other and fear of change is ingrained into our human species. The recent rise of populism and nationalism around the world is driven by this fear. When confronted by imminent change, it is more comforting to draw boundaries and exclude the unknown, to keep the Other outside of walls. It is more comforting to retreat into a post-rationalized memory of some more idealistic past, then face the uncertainties that the future may hold. Yet at the same time, not only Christianity but all major Views teach that there is hope for a different form of human existence in the “Kingdom of Heaven” and after embracing the Lord God.
The world’s three largest Views have personified God. But what if we do not think of God in anthropomorphic terms but rather as the Creator or Creation itself. While we currently do not have scientific proof and cannot know for certain, theoretical physics supports the interlinking and possible equation of the Singularity, the Big Bang, with Consciousness. Humanity may be merely one of the more advanced forms of life in the pursuit of greater Consciousness at least on this planet. Modern science has often been blamed for a loss of View and loss of meaning. However, the opposite could also be true. That the scientific pursuit of knowledge and higher Consciousness may be the only pursuit in the Universe that has meaning, with our Universe itself coming into being through Consciousness.
Humanity is technologically close to being able to achieve a world of Abundance, an existence in which we can eliminate human suffering. It would require nations to break down barriers and include all of Humanity within one and the same group. This is obviously a tremendous challenge and what current events show us is that the world may be technologically close, but socially and politically we are certainly not. Some of us may have faith that a world of Abundance and Salvation may be possible, but how do we overcome the socio-political challenges and inherent human biases. How do we overcome our innate fear of the unknown?
It will take time to build shared beliefs. But this is exactly where Humanity excels. We can create a New Story. It will need to be told often. It will need to be told loudly and repeatedly to as many people as possible. This will be a long process, and while building a new narrative, a New Story, one that is inclusive of all people, all Views, all of Humanity, one where the end goal of our collective Salvation is attainable, we must resolve short term problems and deliver successes, so that as many people will choose to Believe. How can this be achieved?
Foundation
How do we build shared beliefs? How do we break down walls that divide us? How do we get sufficient people to accept a New Story of Abundance, Salvation and Consciousness, so that it may become the new Reality, the New Era for Humanity and let us evolve into a species with greater Grace in the image of the Creator, God or Consciousness itself? How do we consolidate a New Story into a New View that is inclusive of all existing belief systems, where View is defined in its broadest meaning as a “set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature and purpose of the universe…containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs?”[24]
It will require first a common vision and shared belief amongst a few of the most powerful, the most influential in the world. It will require capital to deliver and spread the New Story. It will require the collaboration and support of the current leaders of the world’s major Views, political organizations, business leaders and leaders of nations. It will require to build a Foundation for the New Era.
Some of the wealthiest individuals, including Warren Buffet, Bill and Melinda Gates and others have combined to establish the Giving Pledge. “The Giving Pledge is a commitment by the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to giving back.”[25] The recognition by this group that structured philanthropy is needed to address some of Humanity’s most critical challenges beyond the responsibilities of governments and public funds is a remarkable and critical step. More structure and especially private financing is needed so that some of this initial commitment can be focused on the New View of Consciousness towards the Salvation of Humanity.
Action Plan for the Foundation
$2 Trillion will be needed to establish the Foundation for the New Era. A comprehensive Action Plan will need to be built and implemented. This Action Plan will include at minimum the following:
· To build broad support, fear and anger need to be turned into a new Faith in the possibility of Abundance. The Foundation will need to establish a form of Wealth Funds, as described by Eric Lonergan and Mark Blyth in “Angrynomics”[26] in order to re-focus global economic change, build new infrastructure for renewable energy and fight inequality. Despite the world economy, as measured in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) having reached historic levels during the past fifty years, demonstrations around the world in 2020 reveal the deep-rooted anger in the general population. This is due to the imbalance in the distribution of wealth and resources. Combined with fear, this anger has resulted in tribalism, nationalism and a discontent of the general public with its leaders, resulting in social instability. However, this does not need to be the case. The Foundation’s Wealth Funds would be set up to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation but be available primarily to those regions and populations that are currently disadvantaged. The Wealth Funds’ aim will be to break down barriers to wealth and support political policies that inspire regional development. Funds would be available as a combination of grants and investments into new ventures.
· The Foundation will need to lobby and engage existing leaders in government and all major Views to start from there to disseminate the New View of Consciousness. To ensure the adoption of a New Story for Humanity, it will require alignment with existing narratives. The Foundation will participate in leading forums on Climate Change, Global Economy, Technology and View such as the G7, G20, and World Economic Forum, as well as organize new forums specific to the Action Plan of the Foundation. The Foundation will join the Giving Pledge and participate in the discourse of the role of structured philanthropy among the leaders in the global business community.
· The Foundation needs to establish, take over or reinvent media platforms to re-focus the delivery of reliable information and integrate blockchain technologies for permanent and decentralized verification. The aim is to merge and acquire leading media brands and integrate security and verification technologies. The Foundation aims to deliver reliable, diverse and verifiable information while breaking down the trend towards information bias and segregation. Much like Turner Media in the 1980’s transformed the delivery of 24/7 news driven by advertising capital, we believe the proliferation of mobile devices and the development of blockchain technology provides for new opportunities to monetize the delivery of unbiased information and news from diverse viewpoints using new and innovative business models with a different relationship to advertising and capital.
· The Foundation will invest in sports, movie and other popular entertainment organizations and media in order to reach the general population with messages of the New Story. People spend more than eleven hours per day interacting with screens and media. The most effective way to disseminate a New Story is to develop or tag onto media content. The reach and influence of popular entertainment media is far yet subtle. To adopt a New Story for Humanity, popular entertainment content can play a massive role. At the same time, as new streaming services have shown, with quality entertainment content, this initiative can be both meaningful and commercially profitable.
· The Foundation will invest in renewable energy initiatives, including energy generation, UHV distribution and energy storage projects. The Foundation will invest in EV technologies, and energyHomes that start to address a growing affordable housing crisis. For EV technologies, the Foundation will focus on developing nations, where existing vehicle infrastructure has lagged behind developed nations. The advantage is that in developing nations new EV technologies have the opportunity to help such nations leapfrog legacy technology. The reason why EV adoption in a country such as the United States is slow, is that it runs counter to deep-rooted fossil fuel vehicle culture and existing infrastructure. For affordable energyHomes on the other hand, the Foundation will initially focus on developed nations, where the growing crisis in affordable housing is most critical. EnergyHomes can not only address affordable housing in an economically sustainable manner but equally important help augment the aging electrical grid infrastructure without the need for a wholesale and costly overhaul.
· The Foundation will research and establish new educational platforms that combine in-person and remote learning to provide equal access to high quality and diversified education to as many children in the world. Existing education in almost every nation relies on outdated practices of conveying knowledge from one generation to another. We will implement more effective and innovative education methods while working with some of the most renowned academic institutions to harness the power of curiosity and creativity[27] and improve education that is better aligned with our growing knowledge of how human brains work and learn.
· The Foundation will support the Arts as an integral part of the New Era of Humanity, based on the belief that the Arts as defined in their broadest sense will become one the most thriving and rewarding aspects of the next level of Humanity’s evolution and can continue to provide us with a glimpse into the mysteries of the unknown and together with Faith help fill gaps in our scientific knowledge and increase the overall level of human Consciousness.
· The Foundation will invest in research into longevity, biotechnology, Energy Medicine, medical nanotechnologies and holistic approaches to improving human health. By combining our rapidly growing knowledge of genetics, where we have even achieved to create synthetic life for the first time[28], with advancements in quantum-physics based energy medicine and biotechnology, human health can be improved at the most elemental and fundamental level. The Foundation will work with existing biotechnology institutions and companies as well as fund new ventures to realize not only longer lifespans but healthier ones.
· The Foundation will support and invest in research and development of beneficial AI[29] and the interrelationship of AI with the growth of Human intelligence and Consciousness. We will participate in the discourse of what the future of AI and its relationship with Humanity could be. Many thinkers have speculated on both the potential negative and positive outcomes of rapidly growing AI[30]. We believe that AI can be beneficial to Humanity’s evolution through not only co-existence but rather integration, aiding Humanity’s quest towards greater Consciousness and meaning within the Universe.
· The Foundation will support and invest in continuing research at the Large Hadron Collider and the development of the Future Circular Collider to advance our knowledge of dark energy and the Universe. Expanding our knowledge of dark energy may well be one of the greatest and most meaningful scientific pursuits. It may help us answer why in a Universe that seems to favor a state of high-entropy, there is any order or low-entropy at all[31]. Humanity has attributed this dichotomy to the existence of a Creator. From recent discoveries, we suspect it has something to do with Consciousness, another enduring mystery of life and existence. The answer may well lie with dark energy, which after all comprises almost three quarters of all the Universe. Any knowledge we gain about dark energy may not only help Humanity reach a higher Consciousness but unlock some of the immense power of the Universe itself.
The Foundation’s Action Plan represents merely an initial step on a long path to transform the story of Humanity that was always centered on Scarcity and competition, to a New Era of Abundance, inclusiveness and cooperation. We believe that the existential threats we face should serve as a call to action for Humanity and particularly its leaders to perform introspection and through innovation and a commitment to exploration and discovery, expand our collective and individual awareness and Consciousness. World Lab Technologies is committed to this path and intends to apply the necessary capital while actively seeking leaders in all fields to join us in this quest.
About World Lab Technologies
World Lab Technologies, Inc. was founded by its CEO, Mr. Alexandr V. Jucov on the belief that what we do not know continues to outweigh what we do know and the pursuit of knowledge and heightened Consciousness itself is a noble and necessary endeavor.
World Lab Technologies is engaged in funding research and developing new technologies in the rapidly growing areas of Renewable Energy Generation, Energy Storage Solutions, Sustainable Mobility, Social Media Apps, Logistics and Infrastructure Projects, with positive social and regional development impact.
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