WE ARE HERE, IN THE PRESENT MOMENT. We look behind us and see the industrialization that’s dominated Western societies for the past few centuries. It made possible the wealth of technological advances we enjoy now. We can only guess how technology will shape the future. But in between, right here and right now, our present world is chaotic and confusing.
The industrial era still wraps around us, resisting its end. It created the complex world we live in, but its linear thinking misdirects us when we grapple with our interconnected world. It’s like the mother who lives her entire life in one place. She gives birth to a son and raises him there, but when he’s fully grown, he travels the world, learning new languages and gaining new knowledge, leaving her behind. She keeps trying to pull him back, but he’s outgrown her. The child of the industrial paradigm sees it’s driven by a compulsive urge to acquire and compete. It has no room for concerns about people and the environment. And when that child discovers the new sciences of chaos and complexity, he understands that if his mother’s world continues, it will destroy the planet.
So here we are, in the midst of a paradigm shift, where some people are still immersed in the old worldview while others eagerly embrace the emerging relationship paradigm. They’ve learned that, to thrive in a complex world and solve its problems, we have to support the well-being of people and the planet and pay close attention to the way things are connected.
Of course it’s confusing in this present moment: each age requires its own thought model, which becomes the base from which we communicate. Every paradigm is built on its own set of assumptions about the nature of reality, how to navigate through it, and its rules and regulations, so people are talking past one another.
Some see technology, the apogee of the industrial era, as a new age, but it isn’t. It’s a volcanic explosion of the old; it spews out in all directions, an amplification of the industrial values of money and power. It’s a rat race to be the first to develop a version of super AI, a form of technology able to outthink humans. Super AI may well decide that humans are AI’s old paradigm and are no longer needed.
Think about our world today, about how much is artificial and distant. Artificiality seeps into our food and cosmetics and even distorts the information we consume. And everywhere we turn, we see things at a distance—on phones and TVs, in movies and video games. We are prisoners, held at a distance from reality, looking at and interacting with representations of it rather than engaging with it in person.
Sometimes kids text each other even when they’re standing together. And now, if you’re lonely, you can buy an AI companion; if you’re troubled, you can do therapy with a bot. All this works against our humanity and causes alienation. No wonder people aren’t happy; no wonder distractions like alcohol, drugs, food, and sex can be appealing. And no wonder people in families, workplaces, and communities can’t get along. We’re so distanced from everything in our lives, we don’t know how to build and maintain healthy relationships.
What does our species need at this moment? We need real relationships and real conversations; the best are face-to-face. These conversations help us gauge the other person’s authenticity and read their body language, which you can’t do well from a distance. We need to be involved in our local communities—in sports, local government, and organizations of all sorts, including those that are faith-based. And we need support for our families and communities.
That’s the goal, but getting there will be hard. Paying attention to people and the environment is against the rules, so the system will try to prevent us from doing that. We must continue to break the rules of the old paradigm until the aggregation of our efforts breaks down the whole system.
As long as power at the top dictates to the rest of us, the system won’t be able to change. That top-down dynamic is another form of distancing. What would happen if politicians instead created structures that encouraged people to gather in their communities and exchange ideas and perspectives? Ideas growing out of their lived experiences could then be funneled to the next levels, all the way to the top, where they could inform decision-making.
Imagine what it would be like to live in a country that valued its people and encouraged them to be actively involved in community life. Where wealth was more equitably distributed so people could make the time to participate in local organizations and government. Where businesses expected their employees to use a few of their work hours each week to volunteer with schools and organizations that helped people and sustained the environment. Where that participation was rewarded. Where the community came together to support local news media. Imagine the wealth of creative ideas that would be sparked by people regularly talking together about how to improve their local areas! This is actually germinating across the country as we speak.
When ideas arise out of local conversations and give shape to changes in the community, this community involvement across the country can also manifest in changes that people can own at the national and international levels. After all, everything is connected.