Civilization and Beyond
A Metaconscious Mosaic Outline
Let us imagine that the collapse of civilization does not destroy the life-sustaining capacity of the planet; that a viably diverse representation of plants and animals survives; that significant (although significantly reduced) human populations emerge; and that enough of the existing global infrastructure remains to support communication and commerce among widely dispersed surviving enclaves.
Of course I have little idea how much or how little violence and destruction realistically to anticipate in the process of a complete civilization-collapse. I presume that Taker culture "will not go gentle into that good night," and so those who emerge relatively unscathed will count themselves – that is ourselves: it is essential that we include ourselves in such imaginative scenarios – extraordinarily fortunate. We may nevertheless be pleasantly surprised at how much useful technology can be salvaged from the wreckage. Surely it is not too extravagant to hope that there may be machine tools here and there, and even entire factories that can be salvaged and put to "post-crash" productive use? And individuals with the skills, or the ability to acquire them, necessary to operate such tools and technologies? All this rests ultimately "in the hands of the gods," yet it seems to me not an unrealistic hope.
I also harbor a "pet myth" that there exist at this time (i.e. right now) a number of viable energy technologies which have been kept carefully out of general circulation by the pharoahs, yet are understood by a few individuals who may be more likely than "the average" to survive the collapse of civilization.1 If so, and particularly if the Internet survives the collapse, which I find quite plausible,2 some of these technologies for harvesting energy "out of the vacuum" may emerge and, no longer suppressed, may spread with surprising swiftness, making possible a rapid recovery from the late "catastrophe."
There may be readers who are skeptical that any such free energy technologies exist, or are even theoretically possible. While I cannot prove that such skepticism is misplaced, I can explain why I give credence to what we may call the free energy myth. The reverse side of the same coin, of course, will be the peak oil myth. One or the other or both of these two myths seem likely to be relevant to the circumstances under which the survivors of collapsed civilization, if any, undertake the rebuilding of the Leaver world.
Now imagine a "post-crash world" in which the surviving humans really do understand the folly of our Taker past, and are determined never to go down that path again; in which the technological infrastructure is not entirely destroyed, and enough individuals with the appropriate know-how to resurrect it remain – including some with knowledge of the heretofore suppressed energy technologies that make abundant and entirely non-polluting energy freely available. We may thereby have the means to rebuild swiftly; yet because of what we have meanwhile become, former Takers who have morphed into Leavers, what we rebuild is almost but not quite entirely unlike what was destroyed by our folly of ten thousand years' standing.
A wrecked or abandoned automobile factory, for instance, could possibly be retooled for production of vehicles powered by reproductions of Edwin Gray's EMA Motor discussed by Peter Lindemann; or by Tom Bearden's Motionless Electromagnetic Generator; or by any number of other (alleged) "over unity" devices currently understood, but suppressed by the "dinosaurs."3 Of course there are many problems with the manufacturing techniques we shall be inheriting from the Takers, and these we will endeavor to remedy as swiftly as possible.4 Replacing fossil fuel and nuclear energy technologies with non-polluting "over unity" energy technologies will expedite a giant stride in this direction, from the moment these technologies cease being suppressed.
The proliferation of free energy technologies, coupled with the proliferation of metaconsciousness among an emergent humanity with the universally shared fundamental "rule base,"
will make possible a human culture upon the Earth the like of which has never been seen, or even imagined – as far beyond civilization as Taker civilization claimed to have been beyond Stone Age culture (but wasn't). The details of such a culture are infinitely variable, and consequently impossible to predict. Yet, if we keep our wits about us, it seems to me safe to assume that all of us who see that dawn will be mighty glad to have arrived in the finally resurrected Leaver World.
- Do whatever you like;
- Allow all others the same liberty.
For me, this is a world devoutly to be wished, because it is a world which retains all the challenge and interest of life in a physical environment in which every action bears consequences, and the dynamic dance of Life proceeds with unfettered liberty. Yet it is a world "washed clean" of pre-emptive agents laying fraudulent claim to the "godlike authority" to decide "who should live and who should die." It is a world in which by universal consensus the Law of Life is returned with reverence and gratitude to "the hands of the gods," to the metaconsciousness of "All That Is." I believe I should very much enjoy living in such a "clean" world, and that future humanity would at last be at full liberty here, to soar to endless and unimagined heights. I cannot think of a "happier ending" to this phase of the human adventure in Cosmos; or a "happier beginning" to its sequel.
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* Source: The Metaconsciousness Myth.
1. See the Energy page for links to information along this axis of inquiry, including in particular Dr. Peter Lindemann's excellent essay, "The World of Free Energy," 3/1/01; and "Do we have any marketable OU Energy Systems Available Right Now?" by Dr. Tom Bearden and Leslie R. Pastor, 8/18/04, among many others.
2. See "The Internet as a New Paradigm Manifestation," 1/4/98, and "The World Wide Web," 1/26/00, for explanations of, among other related matters, why I believe the Net to be particularly robust and survivable.
3. See Dr. Peter Lindemann's Free Energy Website, and The Tom Bearden Website, and many others on the FDL Energy page.
4. See §4.6., Industry, of the FDL Draft Vision Statement for some specific suggestions.
Civilization and Beyond copyright 2004, 2005 by J. Harmon Grahn. Copying and redistribution, in whole or in part, are permitted in any medium provided this notice is included.