+F

Our Twilight Zone & What Comes Next *

“You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.”

Years ago, Rod Serling created the mind-bending TV series, “The Twilight Zone.” Akin to today’s “Black Mirror” series, the show presented contemporary issues in a suspenseful, often science fiction context that ended with a moral to the story. It also made the “twilight zone” an idiom — a strange, temporary space and time en route to an unexpected destination.

Humanity has entered a twilight zone. Everywhere you look we’re in an alien space and time unmoored from evolution, history and objective reality.

Surrounding us is a Dailiesque desert with a veneer of surreal mirages and dotted with Gordian Knots, each one a conundrum. Oddly, as we move across the landscape, no one confronts the challenges they pose.

Instead, care is taken to subjectively reframe the knots to better ignore them as irrelevant. No longer is there an evolved past to be built upon nor any preferred future. All sense of space and time is presumed relative.

So, as with Dickens’ Scrooge, we deny our agency both as to culpability and capability — past, future and present. It’s as if the cosmic processes in the universe no longer exist to inexorably move us forward — yet they do.

Nonetheless, there’s a signpost up ahead. A shadowy outline of two opposing directions but unclear destinations.

Regardless, every passing second brings you ever closer to the crossroad — and the moral of our story.

Ghost of Christmas past

As is the norm in evolution, success of our species was partly timing, partly luck. Especially lucky was our unique ability to share scenarios, which led to intentionally storing knowledge in tools. To wit, as our scale increased — from tribes to civilization — we created institutional tools and the rate of change accelerated in all domains.

Our earliest institutions were founded on a primal biological principle — “might makes right.” A principle that has steadfastly remained central to every institutional arrangement in history (e.g., authoritarian, despotic, aristocratic, and republican). A principle operationalizing by some, albeit arbitrary, definition of a social ecological “order.”

What’s curious is how, paralleling human evolution, our tools also evolved, becoming ever more central to our existence. How they enabled us to go from survivalist hunter-gatherers in a savanna to pastoral farmers, urban Dickensian manufacturers, and finally interchangeable service workers.

Societies progress mainly by creating, assimilating, or adapting [technologies]….Because technological innovation in society is on a whole irreversible, the arrow of time in history is consistent with the arrow of time in physical and biological realms of evolution…[It’s an] evolutionary progression toward more dynamic and autonomous systems…through correspondingly more complex social structures. (Laszlo)

Big bang of cosmic inflation

In this respect, capitalism was never about supply and demand, buyers and sellers or bourgeois and proletariat. It was always about wealth creation.

Interestingly, in the end, wealth creation only occurs through technological innovation. What increases operational productivity to meet some demand or need.

Consequently, wealth creation is a straightforward, albeit insatiable, evolving dialectical process with only four key variables:

• Capital — greater abundance invariably leads investors to chase better returns (i.e., yield).
• Resources (i.e., food and commodities) — growing populations consume ever more, invariably leading to price increases and technological innovation to stabilize costs and slow margin compression.
• Labor — rising resource costs and investor pursuit of better yields invariably leads to greater use of cheaper labor and technological augmentation.
• Technology — technological augmentation shows investors the most reliable path to better yields, invariably leading to an acceleration of technological substitution for ever more labor.

So, regardless of the economic activity, result of this wealth creating process is always the same — technological innovation increases productivity with fewer jobs and or lower wages. In U.S., for example, the results are readily visible:

• Agriculture — As of 2008 less than 2% of the population was directly employed in agriculture with a median wage of $9.12 per hour or $18,970 per year, yet producing more crops than ever.
• Manufacturing — As of 2013, 12 million people or about 8.8% of employment was in manufacturing, the lowest since 1950, with an average net salary of $36,963, yet with the percentage of the world’s output unchanged over the last 40 years.
• Service — These workers have a median wage of $12 per hour or a gross annual salary of $24,960, yet by 2018 will employ 78.8% of total workforce or 131.1 million people.
• Unions — Membership has declined since 1954 to 11.3% of the workforce in 2013, with private sector (both manufacturing and service) at 6.7% and the rest in government.

Note that, for these trends to continue — which they will — requires ever more automation and autonomous systems and ever less human labor. Thus, civilization has reached peak employment.

Centrifugal forces

Like Darwinian natural selection, Adam Smith’s invisible hand for wealth creation is an agnostic evolutionary force of nature. However, wealth creation and wealth accumulation are NOT synonymous.

Wealth accumulation is, ultimately, the product of political decisions. Consequently, unlike wealth creation, rising concentration of wealth is not inherently self-correcting.

Indeed, as Piketty and others who’ve examined the accumulation of wealth over the past 250 years (i.e., since dawn of the industrial revolution) have found, the rate of capital return is persistently greater than the rate of economic growth.

So, as of 2000, the richest 1% owned 40% of global assets and richest 10% accounted for 85%. Since then the richest 1% has seen its wealth increase to 44% in 2009 and to 48% in 2014, and by 2016 will be more than 50%. Meanwhile, the bottom 50% of the world population owns only 1% of global wealth.

Consequently, part of the suspense as we approach the crossroad, is how we’ll respond to the Gordian Knot encompassing the nexus of

• An extraordinarily inexpensive and ubiquitous autonomous productivity system
• A massively under- and un- employed population that’s highly mobile and tightly interconnected.
• Increasing economic dislocation, inequality and resulting social unrest

Ghost of Christmas yet to come

Your dream, and that of every human since beginning of conscious awareness, has been to be totally free of all basic needs — and self-actualize.

So you, and everyone else, are on a quest to climb Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs — from survival, to safety, to belonging, to self-esteem and finally self-actualization — permanently manifesting the dream.

While taken for granted in pursuit of our dreams, technological innovation is like cosmic manna.

Steadily, each major innovation enables us to better detach from basic economic tasks toward ever more complex — higher-level — tasks. Similarly, the inherently deflationary nature of each major innovation steadily enables us to better detach from basic “needs” toward ever more complex — higher-level — self-actualizing ambitions.

Historically, the benefits of this manna so amplified both wealth creation and accumulation that it now fuels a technological arms-race. Moreover, though politicians, wealthy elite and workers alike remain incredulous, it’s clear this arms-race is accelerating us all toward a post-capitalist, post-scarcity world.

The fact is numerous luminaries — from Marx to Bookchin, Peter Drucker to Milton Friedman, to Drexler, Kelly, Diamandis and Kotler, among others — long ago foresaw a post-capitalist, post-scarcity world as a natural and inevitable evolutionary outcome of capitalism.

Indeed, if you examine the underlying nature of today’s leading-edge technologies, there’s evidence of how this alien world is being manifest everywhere.

Quantum figure-ground reversal

For starters, inasmuch as everything — atoms and genes — is now translatable into digital code — infinitely interchangeable and recyclable bits — it’s clear we’re on the cusp of a post-scarcity world. Thus, you only need look at the extent and magnitude of this as an engineering capability being manifested in every domain of economic activity to see the possibilities(e.g., robotics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence).

But, what’s most central to the emerging post-capitalist and post-scarcity world is AI. Akin to fire, the wheel, writing and electricity in earlier epochs, AI is a “meta-technology.” A technology that inevitably impacts every other technology and facet of our existence to penetrate every pore.

Compared to other meta-technologies the difference with AI will be how the scale, scope, and velocity of the impact will be universally perceptible. So, it’ll influence everything that constitutes what we call reality.

Regardless of the destination we pursue, the technological manna we’re about to receive will open up a new stage of civilization.

An epoch dominated by an autonomous technological system that will forever transform what it means to be human and the essence of culture.

The arrow of time

As Ray Kurzweil, Google’s renowned director of engineering, has repeatedly stated, the law of accelerating returns suggests computers reach artificial general intelligence (AGI) — human-level intelligence — by 2029. Furthermore, computers should reach artificial super intelligence (ASI) — a level of intelligence smarter than all humanity combined — by 2045.

While the dates are mere placeholders, fact remains that these developments are Gordian Knots directly ahead.

At a minimum, AGI will leap ahead of anyone’s capabilities. In most domains it/they will outthink and outperform anyone, making the kind of intellectual leaps you associate with human genius.

It also seems clear that the day AGI can comprehend anything on the Internet is probably the point of no return. What’s unclear is whether a nonlinear “intelligence explosion” occurs. If, as expected, it does, the transition from AGI to ASI could happen in a matter of minutes, hours or days.

This event — the ‘intelligence explosion’ — will be the most important event in our history….[A]n ultra-intelligent machine could design even better machines…and the intelligence of man would be left far behind…. Thus the first ultra-intelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make. (Muehlhauser)

Gravity warps space-time

Despite the surreal mirages you see in this twilight zone, it’s clear AGI accelerates our trek to the crossroad. AGI also helps clarify the destinations on the signpost.

• Benevolence — If AI and AGI are designed and applied to remedy humanity’s problems — e.g., health, food, goods, services, education and science —this destination easily advances us to a post-scarcity, post-capitalist world of self-actualizing abundance and, perhaps, harmony.
• Malevolence — If AI and AGI are designed and applied to aggressive military or competitive “might makes right” goals and objectives, this destination easily advances us to a dark, dangerous world. Indeed, since AGI would need to fully comprehend the strategic and tactical meaning and implications of lies, misdirection, subterfuge, and the consequences of failure it’s hard to imagine the world otherwise.

So, the destination pursued ultimately hinges on how we respond to the Gordian Knot encompassing the nexus of

• our relationship between politics, culture and technology generally
• the design, application and evolution of AGI systems in particular
• ever increasing economic dislocation, inequality and unrest

Entropic forces

Historically, economic downturns and major job losses are cyclical and temporary. The usual political response is to offer training and or civic busy work — temporary infrastructure projects. But, as with 2008 “Great Recession,” sometimes dysfunctional governments do little or nothing to benefit the general populace.

However, the coming of ubiquitous autonomous systems will foster a radically different economic downturn because

• we’re involved in a paradigm shift to a post-capitalist, post-scarcity world
• job losses and economic dislocation will continue as long as we’re in this twilight zone
• legacy ideas about careers, jobs, work and capitalism still dominate people psyche and view of the future

Illustrative of the nature of economic downturn ahead and magnitude of the problem is the 20th century collapse of the Soviet Union and China’s move away from Maoist communism.

In Russia, the new government attempted to change both their political and economic systems simultaneously. What it failed to realize was that these were two separate, historically monumental, tasks and sequence was critical.

Consequently, in their heady rush to a new paradigm, the political elite failed to recognize tangible basic survival and safety “needs” were critical to success. That securing these individual “needs” was a more immediate, pressing and important priority than the aspirational collective “need” for a self–actualizing political system. As a result, public sense of belonging to the new system was lost, creating a longing for the past.

As with Tiananmen square events, when China’s political elite sought to change its paradigm, it focused almost exclusively on economic survival and safety “needs.” By ensuring these “needs” weren’t at risk they maintained a sense of national belonging and self-esteem sufficient to defer the “need” for political self-actualization.

Black-hole’s event horizon

Of course, given China’s size, the economic dislocation and unrest from the coming global paradigm shift is likely to be more profoundly felt than elsewhere. However, inasmuch as its government never abandoned authoritarian political control, it’ll quell unrest by any means necessary.

In countries with representational systems and welfare of the non-rich neglected for decades, individuals already fear for their survival and safety “needs.” When surveillance and environmental concerns and endless conspiracy theories are added to the mix, these fears are seriously exacerbated.

So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that national belonging and self-esteem are rapidly devolving into tribalism. Thus, yet another Gordian Knot. One encompassing the nexus of

• greater socioeconomic unrest
• an environment conducive to political demagogues
• an increased tendency to undermine civil liberties and advance surveillance techniques

Entering a black-hole

Since the coming economic dislocation won’t be temporary, there’s really only two options:

• Acceptance — Politically coming to grips with the inevitable and desirable post-capitalist, post-scarcity world with a concerted, systemic effort aimed at quickly developing an appropriate economic infrastructure to (a) ensure individual survival and safety “needs,” and (b) provide business incentives to accelerate the transition.
• Denial– Expand various forms of repression and undermine the ability of civil society organizations to effectively oppose repressive acts.

Inasmuch as political elites, and the populace generally, are incredulous and offhandedly dismissive of a post-capitalist, post-scarcity world emerging, the acceptance option will be a non-starter for the foreseeable future. That makes denial the default option.

But, as with past civil unrest in the U.S., South Africa and elsewhere, at some point, when the magnitude of the unrest becomes acute, political elites fear a control crisis. Then law enforcement, the military and surveillance agencies will be pushed to use all the resources at their disposal to try and stabilize the situation.

The unusual nature of coming economic downturn means these actions will exacerbate the situation and may fuel a self-righteous form of “techno-anarchy.” A development akin to the behavior of contemporary Middle-East malcontents — but far more dangerous.

More dangerous because the new malcontents will increasingly have access to lethal new technological capabilities. Capabilities that make the today’s malcontents look like unsophisticated, rank amateurs.

Suffice it to say, domestically sorting out the coming economic dislocation and unrest will be distressingly complex. But the real suspense in this twilight zone lays in the complexity of the global geopolitical situation.

The fact is instantaneous and ubiquitous surveillance and communication, and the growing arsenals of autonomous- and cyber- weapons, means all past space and time barriers between countries are gone. This creates a Gordian Knot that encompasses the nexus between how the

• sheer number of potential points of friction grows dramatically
• likelihood of friction occurring increases ominously
• reaction time to any friction is reduced to virtually zero
• margin for error in responding to any friction is likewise reduced to virtually zero

What really exacerbates the complexity of a volatile geopolitical situation is artificial intelligence. That’s because, by at least 2025, every nation must assume a nonlinear AGI or ASI event is imminent.

Moreover, that the first to develop AGI or ASI could militarily, technologically and or economically leap ahead of everyone else. Strategically, this prospect is fear inducing, raising the specter of absolute, unilateral domination.

Thus, in addition to increased number of run-of-the-mill points of friction, and other nefarious ways to wreak havoc in the world, the AGI — ASI arms-race raises the stakes significantly. It places the entire world on a knife’s edge.

Escape velocity

The irony is, of course, that successfully weaponizing AGI or ASI could result in it/they seizing the reins of human evolution virtually at will. Akin to encountering an extraterrestrial, alien civilization able to reach earth — an unexpected and unparalleled existential threat — AGI or ASI could quash human autonomy in a heartbeat.

So, short of a global epiphany that this age-old “might makes right” arms-race — this game of chicken — is a bad idea, the direction we’re headed increases existential risks dramatically. Thus, the ultimate, and probably final, Gordian Knot faced before exiting this twilight zone encompasses the nexus of

• our preoccupation with fighting each other domestically
• a globally more precarious adversarial geopolitical drama
• an accelerated evolution of military technologies, especially AGI and ASI, that becomes ever more lethal, stealthy, inexpensive, and less controllable

Absent an unraveling of this Gordian Knot prior to the crossroad, our destination is likely to be selected by default — not choice.

Ghost of Christmas present

Today, all generational memories include some career or job history. Psychologically, a protestant work ethic, work as source of purpose and identity, upward mobility, and consumerism and capitalism are deeply ingrained in most people and presumed eternal cultural norms.

Historically speaking, however, “careers” and “jobs” are recent lifestyle innovations. In fact, prior to the industrial revolution 250 years ago, most people had no real idea of what a career or job was. Instead, most just did whatever tasks and “chores” that had to be done to meet survival and safety “needs.”

Soon, however, as various autonomous technologies — e.g., driver-less cars and trucks, cashier-less stores, waiter-less restaurants, virtual medical, financial and legal assistants — become more visible, most people’s idea of a career, job and work expectations will forever be altered. This should be an exceptionally good thing on many levels.

But decades of wage stagnation, followed by declining income opportunities, already scares the bejesus out of people about their survival and safety “needs.” Said differently, most people are conditioned to equate their sense of belonging, self-esteem and self-actualizing opportunities with money.

So, rising economic dislocation first strikes at the heart of individual survival and safety “needs,” which evolves from a smoldering fear to a burning priority. Second, comes a sense of national abandonment, which easily devolves to a revanchist and atavistic tribal belonging.

In this 21 century twilight zone, the primal assumption some tribe can fulfill lost survival and safety “needs” is wrong, counterproductive and exceedingly dangerous.

Core meltdown

Inasmuch as taxes are the single largest expense for most, any sense of national abandonment is unacceptable. Adding insult to injury is the growing visibility of

• economic dislocation and inequality
• a double standard in the legal system
• a political system protecting elite excesses and abuses
• ill-conceived wars wasting blood, treasure and exacerbating our situation
• no believable vision or plan for a better tomorrow
• overall public discontent

While common in authoritarian systems, there’s growing consensus representative systems are dysfunctional, corrupt and completely out of touch with reality. So, beyond partisan sycophants, ideologues, lobbyists and the naïve, trust in virtually all economic, legal and political institutions is essentially gone

Obviously, this is an unsustainable situation. Yet, universally, political leaders and elites in this twilight zone are utterly confused as to how to respond to this Gordian Knot. Whether to

• optimize economic redistribution programs
• optimize various forms of surveillance and repression
• do nothing

Again, absent from consideration is the only real option — accelerate the transition to a post-capitalist, post-scarcity world. Even it if wasn’t absent, from the perspective of politicians, all options put cherished careers at risk.

So, the safest response is a bunker mentality. Strive to maintain the status quo by optimizing surveillance and repression to ride out the storm. Historically, it’s a predictable behavioral pattern and could easily persist until we reach the crossroad.

The implosion

As a practical matter, this behavior requires the culling out ever more perceived malcontents. As we’re now seeing, overtly repressive systems (e.g., Russia, Turkey, Middle Eastern, astern European, Philippines, and China) are proactively and indiscriminately moving against all perceived malcontents.

Of course, in the end, overt repression only succeeds in creating a more dysfunctional society and system. It also leads to more alienation, malcontents, unrest, and ultimately more violence (e.g., Iraq, Syria).

Meanwhile, representative systems tend to be reactive, assuming covert repression — surveillance and happy talk — suffices. So, as we’re now seeing, there’s a concerted effort to dismiss the growing fear and anxiety about further economic dislocation.

In the U.S., for example, claims are being made there’ll be plenty of good paying jobs ahead and no cause for concern because of:

• Politics — Claim is we can adjust the tax code and trade agreements to retain and create sufficient jobs to redress all workforce economic problems (e.g., “Make America Great, Again”).

Problem is these adjustments are inconsequential. That’s because globally, the way markets, competition and capitalist economics actually operate is completely indifferent to national political actions. Capitalism and technological innovation are agnostic forces of nature that ultimately make politics irrelevant.

• Economics — Claim is our current digital-computational era transition is similar to the transition from an agrarian to an industrial economy where sufficient new jobs were created to offset those lost.

Problem is the industrial economy was exceedingly labor intensive and transition time extremely protracted. This new economy isn’t labor intensive, and the transition so swift it can’t possibly create sufficient new jobs.

• Creativity — Claim is more people will engage in entrepreneurial and creative activities.

Problem is there’s no justification as to why entrepreneurial success rates improve (e.g., 1% over 10 years). No justification as to why arts patrons will suddenly buy a massive amount of new art work lacking known prestige asset value, or why a general public experiencing a decline in disposable income will suddenly start buying more art for art’s sake.

In the end, all these claims oscillate somewhere between wishful thinking, propaganda, self-serving rhetoric and naïveté. At best, the job and income situation ahead is more akin to the current so-called sharing economy and tech industry in general — only worse and accelerated. In the U.S., for example:

• Sharing — From 2005 to 2015 the number of workers in these service jobs increased from 10 to 15 percent of the workforce in 2015, or nearly 10 million people, which accounted for all the net new job growth during those 10 years.
• Tech — In 2014 the three biggest companies in Detroit and the three biggest in Silicon Valley had the same revenues, but the Valley companies had 10 times fewer employees

So, while we’re moving toward a post-capitalist, post-scarcity world, the interim has massive economic dislocation and far worst inequality. Moreover, contrary to politicians and the “don’t worry, be happy” crowd, these socioeconomic problems aren’t temporary.

Imminent supernova

To many, this twilight zone already feels like purgatory. Unfortunately, it’s just the beginning of extraordinarily painful and protracted period.

As we’re now witnessing, a more densely populated world that’s tightly interconnected by a 24/7 media unites and reinvigorates old fundamentalist and ideological tribal incantations. Moreover, given the sheer number of disgruntled soul-mates a mere click, tweet or a post away, it’s also likely we’re just at the beginning of hostile and violent acts by malcontents.

Sadly, what you now regularly cringe at is likely a mere prelude to turmoil and chaos ahead. So, the suspense in our story will grow more palpable by the day.

Despite what most believe, the ability of law enforcement, military and intelligence agencies to monitor and thwart the increased number of malcontent acts is already challenging — everywhere. But, as the number and frequency of malcontent actions grows — and newer, cheaper, stealthier, more portable and lethal weapons become available — the angst these agencies are experiencing also grows.

Thus, it’s seems propitiously convenient we’re now in the process surveilling and quantifying the entirety of civilization for analysis by AI systems. Yet, inevitably, when used to monitor and regulate everyone’s actions, these AI systems will be misused and abused.

So, short of the impossible — absolute repression — this, too, will succeed in generating alienation and a more dysfunctional and complex social and political environment.

All this suspense should — but apparently doesn’t — give us pause to consider how our current socioeconomic situation influences our choice of destinations when we exit this twilight zone.

Moral of our story

Generally speaking, the day we die starts like any other day. As with extinct species and societies, that’s as it’s always been. Whether a sudden, unexpected (i.e., nonlinear) event or slow, protracted (i.e., linear) decline, it’s the same.

The fact is natural evolution only got us so far. Moreover, it’s agnostic about our survival.

Increasingly, our situation in this twilight zone feels like we’re out of control. That we’re in a raging river with the current growing ever stronger as it pulls us through a treacherous stretch of rapids toward the edge of merciless waterfall.

Either we find safe harbor before the crossroad or we may plunge into the abyss and rocks below. Either we start to act now or an undesirable destination will be forced upon us.

This makes the extent of denial there’s an abyss ahead that can kill us, all the more stunning and disturbing.

It behooves us all to insure our default destination is the best possible. That requires us to be emotionally steeled about the seriousness of our existential danger and uniquely rational in exploring alternative systems.

Emotional strength

There’s an ancient truth Daniel Kahneman and others scholars have confirmed. That as much as our post-Enlightenment brains believe we’re rational individuals, we’re all still ruled by base emotions.

As a result, we unwittingly designed our political systems in such a way that they, too, are ruled by base emotions. Thus, this twilight zone situation reflects what evolutionary biologist, E.O. Wilson, has described as having:

Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology.

Said differently, our biology, civilization and technological capabilities are now completely out of sync. We’re far too consumed by the incredible rather than the incontrovertible. Yet, it’s incontrovertible that our situation can easily get worse.

As a species we’ve never been smarter. Yet, our political systems, and by extension civilization, has never felt more reckless and foolhardy. That

• the Gordian Knots dotting the landscape are ignored completely is frightening
• despite the carnage and expense, protecting the status quo has become a mindless end in itself
• might making right animating pursuit of this mindless end is a criminal death spiral.

Nonetheless, touch the ground in this twilight zone and you can feel the pulse of change accelerating. Close your eyes and the darkness of civilizational technology emerging is claustrophobic.

Yet, stand erect, eyes wide open, and everywhere you look our political systems seem incapable or unwilling to see

• us as a species
• our real existential threats
• how small navigational errors are both inevitable and certain to have huge consequences
• surviving emergence of AGI will be far more challenging than imagined, if not impossible

So, it should be obvious — you can ill afford to lose control of your emotions. That it’s imperative you obsessively channel them toward the exploration of the best possible destination at the crossroad.

Rational grit

Historically, every effort to have might make right alienated people. Often this led to civil unrest, armed conflict and war. In this respect, no amount of surveillance or repression will ever suffice.

Rationally, the sheer number and frequency of past and present episodes of civil unrest, armed conflict and war should suffice to indicate that continued pursuit of might making right defaults to a bad destination.

In the 20th century our existential risks were limited to crude and expensive nuclear and biological weapons. Rationally, we now need to recognize in this 21st century twilight zone new capabilities are so far beyond those risks that virtually any conflict leaves us all existentially vulnerable.

We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto

As Bob Dylan eloquently phrased this twilight zone situation—

Things have changed.
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there.

We will exit this twilight zone. Emotionally and rationally we must systematically explore new alternative political systems

We need new systems capable of accommodating the extraordinary economic and technological changes ahead. Capable of offering real solutions to preempt or mitigate the Gordian Knots we see.

What’s imperative is that when we exit this twilight zone the default destination is sufficiently well-articulated to implement a new social contract. One that places a premium on human creativity and well-being.

So, the moral of our story —

We’re already inside our future and orchestrating it. Love it or it will leave you.

* This article is dedicated to a life-long friend, Gary Mallaber. A funny, common sense guy fed up with the absurdity of our politics. A famous rock and roll drummer accustomed to the hard driving, adrenalin pounding beat of rock and roll, yet finds the political media chatter deafening. A regular guy who wants those running this show to stop screwing with us. To do what needs to be done so we can all enjoy the show. Here’s to you, buddy!

If you enjoyed this post, and want to share it, please hit “Recommend” below. Thanks! It helps spread these ideas!

You can find more of my ideas at my Medium publication, A Passion to Evolve or my website dochuston1. com

May you live long and prosper!
Doc Huston