The Underlying Cause
The World is beset with endless problems. Some appear more imminent than others. What escapes most is that all are inextricably linked. This makes determining priority a source of migraines. Does one throw their efforts behind stabilizing the World’s economic system, containing weapons of war, influencing population growth, restricting the genetic manipulation of nature, halting global warming, stemming regional conflicts, or bringing an end to the suffering of the disenfranchised? Perhaps you have another problem you consider even more pressing. Whatever the case, all are extraordinarily complex, so it’s no wonder why confusion and apathy prevail. In the past, mankind employed “stopgap” measures to address these issues with varying degrees of success. Intimidation by force often served to determine outcome. With the spread of weapons of mutual destruction, utilizing force became a liability. Now, only the weaker need fear it.
Coalition building has been around, due to its ability to influence outcome. In the past, only more capable partners were sought. Over time, that came to include everyone of like mind. That’s because strength in numbers provide greater leverage across more options. Although coalition building remains in vogue, its ability to leverage difference is rapidly diminishing. The reason is because growing self sufficiency successfully minimizes outside influence. When progressed to the extreme, overt polarization is the result. It constitutes the final form of global progression. Once in place, there’ll be no escape from “irreconcilable impasse.” If things don’t change soon, it’s evident that a “cold war” of global proportion will result — one without a resolve.
To complicate things, we’re approaching this eventuality as an ever growing field of “complexity” erodes our remaining sensibility. How bad is it? Lexicographers seeking to build the world's most complete dictionary have now identified 4 billion words. Hypotheses, constructed from them, run the whole gamut of both scope and intent. As a result, endless conjecture now successfully blocks basic functionality. New information, collectively amassed, further confuses the issue by surpassing individual comprehension. Hence, “Incomprehensible complexity” and the instability it promotes is on the rise.
To try and manage this confusion, computer technology has been driven to the fore. Currently, super computers utilizing algorithms (a set of “assumptions” that appear to be relative to an objective being sought) are driven against a compilation of data (increments of assumed relevance) at speeds approaching 35 petaflops. The term petaflop is used to characterize a computer's ability to perform one quadrillion floating point calculations per second. That's a thousand trillion operations or 1 followed by 15 zeros. Now multiply that by 34. If you find it difficult to wrap your head around this number you’re not alone. The same obviously goes for the answers they generate.
At the same time that complexity is on the increase, advances in technology continue to up the ante. Currently, our reality consists of “weapons of human annihilation” in league with a growing field of “incomprehensible complexity” that continues to erode our ability to control them. One area which is fatefully dangerous involves nuclear weapons. Today, due to the progression of technology, just 4 minutes separates mankind from its own extinction. Although this is a remarkable indicator of efficiency, it constitutes a stark absence of sensibility. Due to the reduced time interval involved, an act that takes only a fool to begin can set into motion the most complex technology on earth to complete. Once begun it cannot be reversed, because the ‘time' necessary to achieve reversal no longer exists in the cycle. Mind simply can’t function quickly enough to intervene. This is the quandary that our preoccupation with efficiency has placed us in. In the name of progress, it would seem that we have unwittingly become participatory in a process that is bent upon our destruction. And, in despite of the many warning signs in evidence, we continue to embrace it — due to the incremental advantages with which it charms our sense of ego. So what’s really going
on?
For far too long the well intentioned have remained divided around different and often conflicting objectives — nearly all steeped in emotion. As a result, we have failed to change the fabric of consciousness necessary to ensure our own continuance. The consequence of this failure is fast approaching. To prevent it, we must unite around a workable prescription for “survival.” As history indicates, it does not possess the answer. Instead, it lies with a mutual understanding of the CAUSE that has brought us to the brink of self destruction. Contrary to educated opinion, it is not mankind's affection for specificity that is at fault. Rather, it is the mechanics of the process that makes thought itself possible. Without an understanding of these mechanics, and their predisposition to harm us, it is now evident that we won’t survive ourselves.
Given the scope and immediacy of this problem, it’s essential that we find a way to buy more time in which to qualify a long term solution. I believe that this can be done by way of a proposal that is now circulating within the international community. To its credit, it is both universal in scope and immediate in effect. With time running out, and no other options in sight, it is imperative that we seize this opportunity. If we don't do so, there may never be another. An introduction to this seminal problem, along with a proposed solution for temporally constraining it, can be found at http://www.edenorg.com/abc-10c.htm. To its credit, this effort is not preclusive but rather all inclusive. Hence, everyone’s help is needed in realizing its potential. To understand the full import of what is being offered, all links supplied on the above page need to be considered, After doing so, please share your thinking with me. I only ask that you be respectful of my time as well as your own. Contact information appears on this site. Utilize the “Site Map” to locate it.
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