Can the machine revolution change our understanding of the world?
There’s a great passage in James Redfield’s philosophical novel, The Celestine Prophecy. By chance, the main character meets a historian as they board a plane and take their seats. From there, it gets pretty deep. The historian goes on to explain how our consciousness has changed throughout history, what he terms “The Second Insight”. And it’s truly fascinating stuff.
He breaks down all of human history into three stages. The first stage describes how gods used to govern everything. A bountiful harvest. Crop failures. Losing a loved one. All was explained as the will of god with all rational thought being delegated to the ‘men of god’: the Church.
Next is the second stage, the scientific era. When people begin to doubt the role of gods, craving a new way to answer life’s questions. With science, humanity is able to test ideas about how the universe works. But what happens when not every question can be answered?
This takes us onto the third stage: the materialistic world. When humanity is left without the answers — the historian tells us — people focus instead on improving their lives through material possessions. This is where we are today. An era where people focus more on what they own than what really matters to them. We’ve started to go backwards towards stage one.
But there’s hope, the historian says. People are impatient and ready for the next paradigm shift. A shift in consciousness that will bring about a better world. This is where the historian ends.
His new age has not yet come but, here at MyBit, we’d like to suggest an addition to the prophecy. Could the fourth stage be the machine-driven world?
In a world where everything is automated and everyone can share in the revenues from the machine economy, people are free to focus on what matters to them. Free to find their purpose and follow their passions in life. Free to think about how to improve their lives and humanity as a whole. This is the world all of us at MyBit want to create.
And it’s why we’ve decided to name our alpha Celestine.
It’s not just a tribute to James Redfield’s great book. Celestine reminds us of the importance of the work we’re doing and where we want to go. It reminds us of the potential of all decentralised, autonomous organisations — and how they can kickstart massive changes across every part of society.
For us, the machine revolution isn’t just the next stage of human history, it’s a completely new way of thinking: a fourth stage, a paradigm shift. Just like each of the three stages the historian first described on that longhaul flight. And it’s only a matter of time before the next stage truly takes off.
We’d better strap in for the ride. Wanna join? Find us on Discord.
