The Coming Collision Between Cyber and “As Is”

“As is” is matter pure and simple. As is is cul de sacs and mountain dirt roads. As is is mom’s lifetime investment in a place she needs a car to get to. As is is China’s choking air and traffic jams. “As is” is the finitude of certain things. Like oil. Very much like oil.

I long ago reached conclusions about cyber like those pouring out of the keyboards of persons half the age of my kids. I know the drill. I love it. I’m with it.

But as a Taurean sort with a Niebuhrian streak, and a sense of humor that goes back past Beyond The Fringe, I ask: When are the entrepreneurs going to see that eventually this all has to impact “as is”?

Is “as is” the world which all these folk of the future think deeply about? To think deeply about “as is” is to wonder how in the world it can edge a bit toward some of the better premises Cyber has to offer. That would start with ending what I call benign genocide, the global triage which takes millions, no billions, of lives prematurely. What I hear from young movers and shakers is fast, metaphorical talk that is so openly self-referential that it takes my breath away.

Most of what I think about as is can be gleaned from the posts I have dropped here under the term The Visionary — the title of the book in which I try for the fiftieth time to say what I think. I won’t reiterate it here. But I will state the premise in “responsive” terms: Imagine a startup that decides to create a cyber-city where you mainly walk, which is like London was at the start, a square (or circular) mile. Imagine a society post-fossil fuel with humankind slightly more tolerant, helpful, and democratic and less-idolatrous than it is today. You would then be on my page. And maybe I would feel more encouraged about being on yours.

THE VISIONARY (FicMem Book 3) http://buff.ly/1xiYc4f