CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Way Ahead:
Reflections on the Coming Years
The dreams of magic may one day be the waking realities of science.
Sir James Frazer
No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars or sailed to an uncharted land or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.
Helen Keller
We are living through an extraordinary passage of change, whereby what we do for the next two decades, from now to 2030, will create the template for the future. And what happens between now and 2050 will be a crucial period for establishing these patterns of change and getting them in place to serve for the long run. Right now, as a collective family, we are juggling the various elements of our planetary future. I am firmly in the camp that says the future is assured – we are going to survive as a species on this planet. That means also that our dear planet – our Mother Earth – is also 100 per cent guaranteed her future. The only uncertainties that remain are the type, frequency and consequences of the obstacles that must be overcome.
The quantity and quality of the change ahead will depend very much upon the degree to which human consciousness is able to change. Humans have always had a ‘consciousness-relation’ with the planet, since the resonance of the planet is very much aligned with the quality of consciousness on the planet, and both energy frequencies are integrated. To this end we have to wonder to what degree human consciousness can influence the direction of events and processes here on Earth, and whether it can have a meaningful role in adapting (and adapting to) the coming physical changes. In this way we can take on a responsibility to form a way forwards that is beneficial to all, and in harmony with all systems, instead of humanity racing egoistically, and often blindly, ahead upon its selfish destructive path. It is imperative that we now need to be a part of the change – to work, understand it, and to move with it. Consciousness is a state that can be developed daily, as well as over generations. We should thus start thinking and observing in groups of generations and not simply year to year. Many of us now realize that human culture and consciousness co-evolve and although it is difficult to step outside the perceptual paradigms of our respective cultures, and to develop awareness of our social conditioning, it is nonetheless time for a more objective consciousness and human society to evolve together.
As previously pointed out, some of these stirrings have recently been witnessed in Arab revolutions (known as the ‘Arab Spring’) – the dissatisfaction of three generations against outmoded authoritarian regimes. These ‘new revolutions’ emerged as a rising wave of shared, communal consciousness that was opposed to the old energy consciousness and was more conceptual than linear. Such ‘new revolutions’ that have occurred in the early decades of the 21st century will not automatically replace one kind of dictator/regime with another. The authoritarian regimes are falling, and will continue to fall piece by piece, because the new energies spreading across the planet and through human consciousness can no longer support their way. The ‘old mind’, as I have previously referred to it, is no longer in resonance with the changing energetic social arrangements. In addition to the Arab lands, some of this shift has already occurred in South America where the once-hotbed for dictatorial regimes has now formed a region of developing nations that are putting in place moderate, effective leadership that is making a mark upon the global stage. This region is expected to be an important and strategic player in the coming decades. I anticipate that there will be a significant shift from now until 2030, with the next two decades marking the route that many nations will take, and the changes that will emerge as leading indicators. This chapter will take a brief look at some of these ‘change indicators’ that may serve to be major factors in the 21st century, and to offer some reflections on these coming years.
A key factor during the next couple of decades is that three generations of people will be sharing an activated awareness of the emerging perceptual shift. The teenagers and young people who were around during the Harmonic Convergence of 1987, who heard of it and maybe even followed its happening, were some of the first wave to tune into the shift of the new energies. Their parents, who were the war generation, have largely been unable to recalibrate for the energetic change. The ‘Harmonic Convergence’ generation, who were perhaps 15–30 at the time, will now be in the 40–55 age bracket. Many of these will have already begun families and thus seeded a new generation, who may be somewhere in the 15–30 age bracket (if we take 25 as the average age for beginning a family). At present this 2nd generation is the most ‘consciously aware’ of the perceptual and energetic change now occurring since they were already born into a planet with a different energetic signature. Thus, they arrived already ‘hard-wired’ for the change. It is this generation that I referred to in Chapter Nine as the ‘new children’ (sometimes referred to as the ‘Indigos’). Over the next couple of decades this aware generation will seed the third generation who will become even greater agents of change as they will all arrive with a completely different range of consciousness, entirely suited to the new energies of the 21st century.
Therefore, by 2030, a time I see as an important crux in humanity’s evolving transition, the three generations of the new energy will look something like this:
1st Generation: 58–73
2nd Generation: 33–48
3rd Generation: 8–23
Three generations of ‘change agents’ will have the presence and soul-force required to bring in and implement the necessary change for the future of planet Earth and of humanity’s next phase. Such ‘change agents’ will foster a shift in how societies perceive the current situation and its implications for the future. That is, a change will organically occur in how we see the world.
Our perception of reality depends upon our ‘habits of perception’, which we develop throughout our lives. These perceptual habits – or markers – are often constructed and/or validated throughout the socio-cultural institutions of a given era. To move on, to break with these perceptual habits and push for an emerging new paradigm of thought, requires from us that we are open to questioning our frameworks of belief and knowledge. By not questioning the existing structures we are forfeiting our right to consciously evolve our patterns of understanding. And it needs to be recognized that a consciousness shift is now underway as the world has come to a point where it cannot continue without a shift in perceptual reality. The world that humanity inhabits is, as never before in our recorded history, globally and integrally connected; as such it is at a ‘phase change’ between a fragmented planetary culture and a unified planetary culture (from a Type 0 to a Type 1 civilization). One of the phases of this transition to a planetary culture is the step-by-step process of unification.
Humanity’s historical past worked with and utilized an older, ‘heavier’ energy. It was an energy that defined separateness, ego and identity. This energy of division allowed humanity to form, create and to evolve to the stage where we now find ourselves. Yet it was also an energy that cut humanity off from the integral wholeness of all systems, cosmic and natural. The new energy that is now manifesting, and spreading across the planet, is a ‘lighter’ energy that unifies, not divides. It is likely that we will see more and more examples of a unifying energy manifesting in our social, cultural and financial arrangements. Some elements of this unifying force have already surfaced in the convergence of nations and currencies, such as the European Union and the euro. The United States was also a model along these lines, to show that a unity of states could exist together. The European Union model, in particular, shows that nations which are dependent on one another economically don’t make war on each other. Although currently there are financial problems arising within the EU (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, for example), these issues belong to the older dysfunctional global economic system. As such, before the euro can fully develop into a strong global currency for the long term, a worldwide financial reorganization is required. However, as in all worthy endeavours, the seeds have to be planted at an earlier stage. The next step may be for South America to issue its own shared currency, with perhaps Africa following by the middle of the century. An outrageous idea?
It is feasible, and also very likely, that South America will consider its next move along the model of the European Union. That is, dissolved borders for fluid travel through all territories; and a single currency. If this happens, the world will witness a new great power emerging onto the global playing field: a region of immense natural resources, a population of millions wanting to share in the zeitgeist of change and new world values, and a fresh energy coming in to balance the now stale energy of the older empire-building nations. The countries of South America are already beginning to form various well-intentioned collaborations, and are showing a great deal of social stability in comparison with past (and often brutal) regimes. Such great change can take place within one or two generations. This will be further accelerated when we reach the moment where the world has three generations of ‘change agents’ active in the world – around 2030 – at which point there will be dramatic and radical adjustment within a single generation.
If we take a look back, only 70 years ago we were at a time when great nations were at war with one another; and now these same nations are trusted trading partners. Within 60–70 years our most formidable enemies have become our closest trading allies, making many of the items we buy and rely on daily. This is just one example of how we have collectively been moving from a divisive to a unifying energy. Humanity has been going to war over division (God, beliefs, ideology, territory, power) for as long as we have had historical data. It is a record repeating itself – the needle stuck in the groove. Yet this phase of human history is set to end; the parameters are being shifted. And the younger generations instinctively know this – they ‘get it’ – and are already working to see the shift manifest on this planet within our lifetimes. Even the young generation in the Middle East whose conditioning is teaching them to hate; many of them are instead opting for connection, collaboration and positive change through meaningful dialogue and actions. They no longer listen to their governments, to the speeches of anger and violence – they opt for solutions through the new, lighter energies. There is already a worldshift happening.
Each entity attempting to strengthen its power within the old energies of the status quo will have to compete, and brace itself, against the rising tide of free thinkers and innovators who will usher in rapid and often unexpected change. Those institutions (including nations) that don’t re-evaluate themselves within this new light will find themselves unable to maintain stability within a world, and its peoples, forging ahead with a renewed spirit. Human consciousness is set to usher in great change, and the potential lies ahead for each one of us. The future will no longer be dictated to us through our past; it will be created anew along a totally different paradigm, forming unity through purpose and shared empathy. The old energy may at first seem to be leaving slowly, yet within the next few decades we will witness this inevitable transition and the birth of a new planetary phase – the mythical hero’s journey home.
The upcoming decades will more likely be based around potentials rather than linear trends, forecasts and certainties. Nothing is certain; yet we can project upon particular paths based upon the most promising, or emerging, potentials that are either beginning to manifest, or lie within our capacities. One de-limiting aspect of our current situation is the lack of vocabulary we have to describe these ‘potentials’, since our human vocabulary is mostly geared towards describing what is, rather than that which can be beyond our current frames of reference. Much of human language has been developed around the concept of duality since we have had to live within this reality of duality for so long. The increasing shift towards unity, towards a new paradigm of connectedness – a quantum state – is lacking in accurate terms of reference. As mentioned in Chapter Seven, the rise of empathy – of shared compassion – is one of the features that mark the transition from duality to unity (from ‘old mind’ to ‘new mind’). This period of change will force many people to confront the need to develop some new terms of reference. This can be illustrated by the following allegory of the many-coloured room:
There is a large room known only as the many-coloured room; and in this room all the colours of the rainbow present themselves one at a time, changing colour every few thousand years. The many-coloured room has always existed and will continue to exist as long as there is a need for it. For thousands of years the room is yellow; then it turns to blue; then to red; then the purples; then the greens: slowly, the room goes through all the colours of the rainbow.
Within this large many-coloured room reside a group of smart, intelligent beings, all of whom were born during a time when the colour in the room was red. Their parents were also born during the red cycle, and even their grandparents. In fact, as far back as their recorded history goes the room has always been red. It is the only room colour they’ve ever known. You could say then that they have a red consciousness and they expect red. Everywhere they go, they work with red. They are, quite simply, the red people.
Over time, the many-coloured room starts to do what it always has done and slowly begins to move into its next colour – the colour purple. What happens to those beings who have always known red? The first thing they experience is fear. The red beings say, ‘Here comes something odd and unusual, and it has never happened before! It’s dark and somehow scary. We must have done it. We must be responsible. There is no other explanation! Therefore, we must find ways to stop the purple. It’s supposed to be red. Purple is bad.’
But even among the red beings there are those few who say, ‘We welcome the purple. We don’t know why it is here, but we recognize that it is appropriate. Although we’ve always been red and we don’t understand the purple, we’re not afraid of it. Even some of our ancient wise elders spoke of a time when a shift in the red colour would come. Let us work with the purple!’1
This allegory of the many-coloured room expresses how cycles of change may occur naturally, yet still be beyond the scope of our known recorded history. We may in fact relate such cycles within the many-coloured room to the Yuga cycles discussed in Chapter Six. Human consciousness, we might say, is changing colours. Whilst the future cannot be known precisely, we can perhaps at least have an inclination that the potentials are there within, for example, the colour purple. It is these potentials that can be worked with to better understand the way ahead.
Past historians have attempted to make a map of known trends, which has resulted in some insightful indications. In this regard I make reference to British historian Arnold Toynbee who, from his extensive meta-historical study on the rise and fall of civilizations, came up with his ‘Law of Progressive Simplification’. By this, Toynbee indicated that civilizational growth was not so much measured by material resources but rather by its ability to transfer increasing amounts of energy and attention towards non-material growth, such as culture, education, artistic pursuits, wellbeing, etc. Toynbee also coined the term ‘etherialization’ to describe the historical process whereby a society learns to accomplish the same, or more, using less time and energy.
The noted visionary architect Buckminster Fuller expressed a similar notion when he wrote of ‘ephemeralization’ which noted how there is a technological trend that moves ever closer towards the ethereal/ephemeral; such as the shift from heavy cables and towers/masts to fibre optics, then to space satellites and wi-fi transmission. This transforms a civilization from heavier materiality towards lighter, more subtle, forms of connectivity and functionality. The material side of life becomes increasingly associated, or converges, with subtle energies and channels of transmission. Furthermore, new and emerging forms of collaboration and reciprocity arise that utilize these new forms.
This line of thinking reinforces what has been said in previous chapters of this book about how revolutions in communications and energy (forms of technology) go together with shifting forms of human consciousness. There is thus a relationship, I argue, between dramatic and revolutionary advances in science and technology and increasing capacities of human consciousness. With this in mind, however, it should also be noted that the parallel state of human consciousness has not always been at a level whereby it could have made best use of the advances in science and technology. One wonders, then, how this will play out in the coming decades.
Reflections on the Coming Years
Each time that a new form of technology gives humanity a changed perspective upon the universe, its worldview is irreversibly altered, or rather it expands. Humanity’s worldview was catalysed when Galileo used optical telescopes to map the stars and planets. Much later, when radio telescopes came into operation, our minds were introduced to a much vaster, more active universe, with black holes and supernovas. Now that we are in the 21st century with a new generation of the latest telescopes that can detect gravitational waves, humanity’s perspective may be further expanded into vistas of multiverses and multidimensions. Our socio-cultural evolution as a sentient species relies heavily upon the notion of perspective; our sense of what ‘reality’ is relies upon how we formulate our perspectives and perceptions. In general there has been a diffusion pattern of how mass technologies have evolved through society; this is a pattern that moves from scarcity and privilege to mass distribution and eventually to being available everywhere. We can see this pattern working through the technological medium of paper. Initially paper was used in the form of sacred scrolls that were guarded under heavy secrecy by priests; this later changed as the public printing press was introduced and people became literate; subsequently there was a great leap to almost any book being now available in our supermarkets; and finally, paper being thrown away mindlessly as waste. Likewise with computers we can see how the first computers belonged to high-ranking organizations, guarded in rooms and shared with only a handful of selected scientists/engineers. Later this developed into the first large, stand-alone desktop computers that began to adorn our homes. Recently the Internet has linked, or rather networked, our computers into a distributed virtual environment. Now we have our computer networks in our pockets, on our phones, and with us everywhere we go. Soon this technology will be ubiquitous and embedded into our environments and everyday objects.
This evolution of technology from the scarce to the ubiquitous also reflects how energy moves from a concentrated form to a more dispersed, finer, and distributed medium. This shift in energy consumption is a significant marker in socio-cultural evolution as, in general, the rise and fall of human civilizations can be measured in terms of their energy production and consumption. For most of recorded human history, our societies were limited to 1/5th horsepower; or rather, the power of our bare hands. Early humans lived nomadic lives, as hunters and gatherers, living daily within hostile environments. Then, around 10,000 years ago, a great transition occurred when the end of the Ice Age arrived. This opened the way for the rise of agriculture, and for the domestication of horse and oxen, which increased human energy production to one horsepower. As larger areas of land were cultivated and harvested, they generated surplus food/energy stores which supported an expanding population. Soon after, relatively speaking, the domestication of animals led to the establishment of the first stable human settlements. Then, as recently as 300 years ago, the Industrial Revolution shifted energy production and use once again away from human hands and animal energy into the power of machinery and the birth of modern technology. This lifted energy production and usage to new levels.
At our current stage in this process, humanity has stepped into the era of the finer, more subtle energies of information and the quantum field. The Earth now has a digital membrane as well as a quantum connection to living beings. The next level will arise when humanity has better understood these finer, quantum energies, and how to use them correctly and in line with more balanced energy requirements.
It is telling that physicists rank civilizations by the amount of energy they consume. According to Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev civilizations throughout the cosmos are likely to be socially and culturally different from us, yet they would all have to consume energy, and therefore obey the universal laws of physics. With this in mind Kardashev proposed three theoretical types of civilization (known as the Kardashev scale):
• Type I: planetary – consuming the sunlight that falls on their planet (about 1017 watts)
• Type II: stellar – consuming all the energy that their sun emits (1027 watts)
• Type III: galactic – consuming the energy of billions of stars (about 1037 watts)
At present humanity is a Type 0 civilization as we get our energy mostly from dead plants (fossil fuels). Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku estimates that we will attain a Type I civilization in roughly 100 years, based on the average rate of our economic growth. The early signs of this transition, according to Kaku, are:
• The Internet: a planetary communication system. Also allowing for a distributed network of news and movements.
• Global language: several languages are manifesting as global – such as English, Chinese, Spanish – this is encouraged by our global communication systems.
• Global economy: financial trade agreements; economic blocs; economics beyond nation states.
• A planetary culture: cultural trends are dispersed globally – films, music, food, fashion, sports, etc.
• Environmental issues: threats and consequences are now global, with knock-on effects being felt worldwide, whether from disasters or campaigns.
• Travel: mobility and tourism and now allowing for planetary contact, exposure and experiences.
• Boundaries: a weakening of the nation state, and a blurring of boundaries; also, larger international political blocs (eg. the EU).2
Both our energy production and usage signify that we are a Type 0 civilization, and in order to progress to a Type 1 civilization it is likely, according to the Kardashev scale, that we need to organize ourselves as a planetary civilization. The signs are already there, as Kaku indicates, with our human systems, technologies, communications and consciousness all moving in a unitary planetary direction. What we are in need of is a new wave of innovators, bringing in ‘disruptive innovations’ that will drive/catalyse a new form of human mental-spiritual-perceptual energy for an evolutionary impulse towards a human planetary society. Kaku notes that ‘the transition between our current Type 0 civilization and a future Type I civilization is perhaps the greatest transition in history’.3
It is important, however, to point out here that the concept of a planetary society is one that may come about from:
1 A development in the type of energy source utilized and the form of its consumption. This is estimated to require the shift from finite to infinite energy sources, which are natural and can be fairly distributed to maintain a global civilization.
2 Ubiquitous global communications that allow fair and egalitarian access for all peoples to engage in free and open communication and connection worldwide.
3 The emergence of an increased empathic, compassionate collective consciousness that exhibits greater intuitive reasoning and ethical responsibility.
These points are critical when discussing notions of a potential planetary society, as without these in place (as well as other factors) we may witness the formation of a one-world government that is undemocratic, authoritarian, and more along the lines of what is talked about in conspiracy circles as the ‘New World Order’ (NWO). This is definitely not what is being discussed in these pages. The concept of unity that may be an increasing feature of the 21st century will come about in stages as part of increasing human awareness, consciousness, and the desire for human social evolution and betterment.
However, the immediate transition may seem far from anything representing unity. In the short term, until we have sorted out our global energy sources, it may seem that we are heading towards increased localism in terms of community-based groupings and resources. In the long term, over the next century, if we are able to shift from consuming fossil fuels (finite) towards solar, wind, sea, geothermic sources (infinite), then we have a better chance of developing into a planetary society. In other words, the energy issue is key. Right now we are living amidst the most extraordinary of times – a pivotal epoch in our ongoing human journey.
We cannot, however, continue along a path of increasing returns as we inhabit a finite planet. As a Type 0 civilization we are beset with the problems confronting the beginnings of a planetary society: politics, trade, finance, culture, food, warfare – and more – are all being revolutionized by the emergence of our planetary civilization. These problematic events will spiral into further chaos unless we can raise ourselves, as a planetary species, to a new level of understanding and utilization of energy, technology and consciousness.
Recently the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan that occurred after the tsunami that hit on 11 March 2011 is likely to put a halt on developing nuclear power. It is recognized as being the largest nuclear accident to have occurred since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, and is considered to be a more complex disaster due to the multiple numbers of reactors and spent fuel pools involved. As they say, nuclear reactors are the world’s most expensive and dangerous steam engines. The international outcry from this monumental disaster is likely to put nuclear energy off the table for many, in terms of a viable future energy source. Instead, more research and emphasis in the upcoming decades will likely be placed upon solar power; wind- and water-generated energy; geothermal energy; magnetic energy; and possibly fusion power.
In recent years there has been a boost of investments in desert real estate, for building state-of-the-art solar farms. This includes the Chinese who are pouring millions into such alternative energy sources. For example, the Chinese government has invested in a huge 2-billion-watts solar park to be built in Inner Mongolia as part of their wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric energy growth. On a similar tack the Japanese Trade Ministry announced a plan to investigate the feasibility of Space Solar Power (SSP); that is, to place huge solar-radiating satellites in high earth orbit 22,000 miles in space. Likewise, a consortium of Japanese companies was in talks to join a $10 billion programme aimed at launching a solar power station into space to generate billions of watts of power that could be beamed back to Earth for human needs. The urgency of this is now more evident after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
There are also many projects underway to develop wind power. Generating energy from wind power grew globally from 17 billion watts in 2000 to 121 billion watts in 2008 as new wind turbine technology is now making it a more viable and profitable option.4 Many countries in both Europe and Asia are investing heavily in wind power as an alternative energy source (arriving full circle from the old wooden windmills of early Europe). One example of this is the Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC) that is planning to create a vast array of wind farms off the mid-Atlantic coast with hundreds of miles of these wind farms being connected and networked under the sea. Similarly, tidal and wave-generated power are being seen as viable alternatives, especially as some of the largest and most populated cities on Earth sit near the ocean, making this power source ideal. An extra incentive is that such a natural power source presents no danger to humans living close by.
Another natural energy source that is, quite literally, right beneath our feet, is geothermal energy. And if a disaster, such as an earthquake or explosion, occurs at a geothermal plant then the worst part will be the rebuilding of it and little else. Our natural world has given us a huge abundance of energy sources that ebb and flow, steam and blow, within the context of our everyday environments. Why not make use of them?
It is also my feeling that magnetic power will come more to the fore within the upcoming decades of the 21st century. The truth about most energy today is that a large percentage of it goes into overcoming friction, causing a great part of the power to be wasted rather than utilized. Magnetism, as a power source, would permanently reduce both energy use as well as energy waste and pollution. Examples of the use of this today are magnetic levitating trains (maglev) that hover above a set of rails containing magnets. Countries leading the way in this technology are Japan, Germany and China. Already maglev trains have set world records, such as the MLX01 maglev train in Japan that set a record speed of 361 mph in 2003. Magnetism as a future power source is likely to gain a huge boost once our scientists have developed room temperature superconductors; that is, superconductors that do not require any refrigeration so they can create permanent magnetic fields of enormous power, eliminating virtually all forms of friction. Magnetism could also be used for desalinating sea water and providing much needed water resources.
There is a large body of research, at various levels of scholarship and credibility, which suggests that forms of ‘free energy’ devices have been invented yet are suppressed by governments, corporations and elite bodies, in order to maintain a stranglehold over current energy sources. Such free-energy devices are thought to exploit perpetual motion, electromagnetic energy, and extracting/utilizing zero-point, or vacuum, energy. It has also been stated many times that legendary inventor Nikola Tesla invented free-energy devices that were suppressed, and thus never made commercially available. There is a large question mark over whether, at some point in our future, we will make discoveries into such free-energy as humanity learns more about the presence and properties of quantum energies. If such were to be the case, this would indeed herald an unprecedented energy revolution that would transform civilization as we know it. However, for the time being, this remains a question mark.
Another, somewhat controversial, form of future energy could come from fusion power. There are currently many grand expensive fusion projects underway (most of them under direct government/military control). The European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA), an agreement between European fusion research institutions and the European Commission, aims to demonstrate that nuclear fusion is a viable long-term, safe, and environmentally benign future energy option. The EFDA currently funds the Joint European Torus (JET) which is Europe’s largest fusion device. Fusion is a current reality, but currently it requires more energy input than it produces. Although unlikely to be commercially viable for many decades to come, many scientists apparently feel it is within our grasp. As physicist Michio Kaku states:
The critical period will be the next few decades. By mid-century, we should be in the hydrogen age, where a combination of fusion, solar power, and renewables should give us an economy that is much less dependent on fossil fuel consumption … The danger period is now, before a hydrogen economy is in place.5
These investigations into physical energy sources, however, neglect to foresee the advances in our human understanding of quantum energy. As previously discussed, the next stage in our understanding of finer energy could be the scientific verification of the quantum energy field that pervades our known universe. Further, that this underlying, ubiquitous energy field not only acts as a crucial element for evolution but is also a conscious energy force that could be utilized to play a part in our physical lives, energy needs and wellbeing. I have also speculated that this quantum field is in constant communication with human DNA. Moreover, the interaction between human quantum fields affects the planet’s energetic state, which reflects back and influences the coding of human DNA. Within this perspective it can be seen that humanity has an energetic relationship with the planet, and this is processed through the DNA. This relationship between man and the environment is, in principle, a form of information processing. Indeed, renowned astronomer Carl Sagan suggested that civilizations should not only be ranked by energy consumption but also by information processing. As civilizations evolve they are increasing their energy consumption as well as their information processing capacities. This brings us back to consider the future of technological computing, and whether there will be marked advancements in line with the trajectory of finer energy sources and consumption.
Already we are in an era of profound scientific upheaval, with the pace of discovery accelerating exponentially. We should be careful not to underestimate the pace of science and technology, as when Charles H Duell, the commissioner of the US Office of Patents, said in 1899 that ‘Everything that can be invented has been invented.’ Perhaps more (in) famous is Thomas Watson’s remark when, as chairman of IBM, he said in 1943 that ‘I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.’ We can appreciate this exponential change ourselves by realizing that those singing birthday cards we sometimes receive (that sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to us in an annoying tone) contain a chip that has more computer power than all the Allied Forces of 1945. And what do we do with it after a few obligatory listens? We just throw it away! It is said that our average mobile smart phone today has more computer power than all of NASA back in 1969 when it placed two astronauts on the Moon. Our technologies have been getting more powerful and at the same time they have become ever tinier. Can this relationship continue indefinitely? The answer, it seems, is no.
There may be a ceiling on the growth of physical computing power, so far continuing to operate according to Moore’s Law, which states that computing power doubles more or less every 2 years (or 18 months according to some accounts). This is due to a limit on how tiny the integrated circuits can become before they are too miniscule to be operable. Yet there are at present thousands of industries, as well as our global technology infrastructure, which are predicated on this continued growth. Ever so slowly the computing industry is waking up to these realities. This would be a significant reality as:
… the collapse of Moore’s law is a matter of international importance, with trillions of dollars at stake. But precisely how it will end, and what will replace it, depends on the law of physics. The answers to these physics questions will eventually rock the economic structure of capitalism.6
It may be that such old-paradigm growth will be replaced by new findings in physics. What may replace integrated-circuit technology is quantum computing, such as is strongly advocated by inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil. This may be a forerunner to a more extensive, immersive mind–matter interface between the power of human thought and the control of matter. It is within the remit of our current technological paradigm to extend the reach of the human mind so that it would have the potential to interact directly upon our material environments. For example, if the human mind were to have greater contact with external magnetic fields, we would have greater control over matter. If superconductors were, one day, to be embedded within objects, then they could create magnetic fields that could be controlled by human thought.
Yet the future may be more about the expansion of human consciousness than it is about the rise of ‘intelligent machines’. One of the most sophisticated super-computers in the world – the ‘Dawn’ computer based at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California – was able in 2006 to simulate 40 per cent of a mouse’s brain; and in 2009 broke all records when it allegedly simulated 1 per cent of the human cerebral cortex. To do so the Dawn computer consumes 1 million watts of power and generates so much heat it requires 6,675 tons of air-conditioning equipment in order to provide 2.7 million cubic feet of chilled air every minute – and only to model 1 per cent of the human brain! Using this as reference we can calculate that the energy needed, according to current trends, to model the human brain would thus be 1 billion watts. Not only is this equal to the energy produced from a nuclear power plant, but the super-computer itself would occupy the equivalent of many city blocks in size. By comparison the human brain uses just 20 watts, and no power source other than our daily food, water and the air we breathe.
This illustrates one of the fundamental issues for our future decades: we lack the vocabulary and vision to comprehend beyond our current models. Thinking linearly we can see that a super-computer would need a nuclear power station to model the human brain. Yet this is old-paradigm thinking smacked onto the top of future forecasting. Not only will the future be about discovering and utilizing newer, finer forms of energy, I contend, but it will be a case of expanding upon the capacities inherent within the human mind and consciousness rather than attempting to simulate it through unconscious machinery.
One vision of the future provides us with a ubiquitous, embedded technological-based environment where humans interface with the ‘Net’ through contact lenses or glasses; interactive touch-screen walls and furniture; flexible electronic paper; and the buildings we walk through. The other vision is one where human consciousness evolves its capacities to connect with the quantum energies that enfold and inform our physical environment, forming an expanded awareness and interaction with energetic forces. How technology evolves is, in the end, anyone’s guess. The bottom line for technology is energy, for if we do not secure sustainable energy sources for our world then there will be no planetary civilization, and the plug on our computers will be pulled, literally.
It all goes back to the same equation: can energy, communication and consciousness evolve in balance with each other? Out of balance, we remain on insecure footing. The other question is: will we progress beyond a point where we have the vocabulary or the vision to comprehend just where we are? This situation, or event, has been dubbed the singularity. In truth, we must ask ourselves whether as a species we are consciously mature enough to begin playing around with the atoms of creation. Nanotechnology – the manipulation of individual atoms – is just such a science. Whilst the promise of molecular engineering heralds a new era of super-strong, super-light materials with incredible conducting, electrical and magnetic properties, it also opens the way for meddling at a level that humankind is spiritually, mentally and emotionally unprepared for.
The materialist’s view on the future is that by 2050 our world will be awash with the gains of nanotechnology, albeit hidden from view as we walk down the street and notice nothing unusual. Perhaps those of us still alive will never know to what degree nanotechnology has changed our world. Yet will we have managed to mark a change, a positive shift, in our inner world? As the later chapters in this book have discussed, our physical world is a sea of quantum forces that we do not perceive. Solidity is an illusion, created by the forces of repulsion that exist at a quantum level. The reality is that we do not in actual fact ‘touch’ anything; rather we only make an energetic contact between our own and another’s quantum forces. Will the 21st century be the epoch when humanity finally (or once again) comes into alignment with a living universe and comes to understand our energetic connections?
Our Human Future?
Humanity will find itself faced with decisions, turning points, and crucial ‘critical’ moments in the upcoming decades of the 21st century that will test our maturity as a species. We may find ourselves responding nobly to such events as we take a step closer to regaining our position within a living, conscious universe. As visionary thinker Duane Elgin writes: ‘a key test of our maturity as a species as we move into this next major phase in humanity’s evolution is how well we manage to integrate the many polarities that currently divide us.’7 Elgin continues on this theme by outlining six tasks that he considers vital for our human evolutionary journey, these being:
1 Co-creating our story of awakening
2 Cultivating reflection and reconciliation
3 Living simply and sustainably
4 Creating new kinds of community
5 Becoming media-conscious citizens of the earth
6 Bringing our true gifts into the world8
In common with Elgin, I feel that the focus for our collective human future lies in psychological stability, happiness, wellbeing and a sense of human belonging.
A note of caution is that we are perhaps overly concerned at present with the struggle of independence vs dependence – a rush for independence and autonomy that is driving our communities and societies closer to a hive of isolated individuals. Also, the increased reliance and dependence on material gains may lead people further into a form of self-indulgence; even a type of introspection through materiality. This draws people into a narrow perceptual field that may encourage them to withdraw into material distractions in times of uncertainty. Like an addict that escapes into the realm of drugs, more and more people in the developed world may find themselves retreating or indulging in the realm of ‘form’ for temporary satisfactions. This is why it is crucial that our technological innovation empowers us and adds to our humanity rather than taking away from it; it will, I feel, be a central issue of the 21st century. After all, technological growth will not provide satisfaction nor give us meaning if we have increased anxiety, stress and personal suffering.
A question to ask ourselves is whether technology can help us to learn how to live more fully, with less – perhaps a type of tech-enabled voluntary simplicity? In Chapter Two of this book I described how modernity had created a ‘technological state of mind’ that was overly rational, hierarchical, and focused on managing control. This ‘heavy’ technological presence is neither sustainable nor the model for the future. It is imperative that if we are to move into a sustainable global future, alongside technology, then we will need a completely different relationship to our technological environment. It will need to be a fluid, empowering relationship; not a disempowering, controlling one.
What is clear, at least to me, is that the years ahead need to involve a search for the self – an expression of our humanity. And yet this search for the self need not be purely an inner one – it may also involve reconnecting with lost skills, such as producing our own food, etc.; taking more care over our nutritional needs and diet; and striving to live a more harmonious and balanced, natural lifestyle. There are myriad ways each person could undergo their search for increased personal happiness and fulfilment.
A sense of personal balance, satisfaction and fulfilment may be a necessary endeavour for each individual as the 21st century is likely to see an increased deterioration in the influence and power of institutional religion. With the role and presence of religion in decline, this could lead some people to speculate on the loss of a spiritual authority – to lose sight of the need for inner development. This may itself be part of the transitional phase (the underworld journey). At the same time, however, there is a strong possibility that the coming years will witness a renewed connection between science and spirituality – the merging of the ‘two cultures’.9 What is necessary for the future is to foster an alliance between science and the great traditions of spiritual wisdom. Humanity is not only a collective of rational beings; inherent to us also is the element of gnosis, of the inner connection to a deep source of nourishment and, for many, guidance. If we can bring these two aspects together we can form a broader, more integral understanding of the world around us.
With a combination of science and spirituality we can move beyond a purely sense-driven perception of our environment into a more expansive perception of how we are connected to a world, a universe, at a deeper, more fundamental level. Through spirituality we are able to perceive connections that are otherwise unavailable through solely rational, scientific means. Similarly, through science we are able to learn how physical and energetic connections arise and are maintained. With the very latest findings in quantum physics we are seeing a closer convergence between what has been taught for generations in the wisdom traditions and what is arising under the most advanced scientific observations. We are discovering that every part of what is in existence is intrinsically connected within the fabric of the whole. If we can bring this knowledge together, and realize that science can verify this, we can begin to close the artificial gap that has existed for too long – the gap that categorizes people as either a follower of science or as a ‘spiritual dreamer’.
This dangerous gap is indeed being dissolved, as we move into the 21st century, by the new sciences that recognize the insights of spirituality have a real basis within the physical universe. Likewise, our modern understanding of spirituality is mature enough to recognize that we have tremendous faculties of reason and rational enquiry, and together both these aspects of human nature are able to form a more completed human being, more capable of taking charge of the responsibilities required to participate in our inner and outer evolution.
The gulf between science and spirituality is not only an historical, socio-political division; it is also a perceptual one. All we know of the world comes to us through experience, and human experience (the subjective perspective) has more facets than we presently acknowledge or give due credit to. To grasp a little more of these facets would go a long way towards a more holistic understanding. It is a time in our history where we are forced to reflect upon our value systems and modes of thought. Every one of us lives as part of an interconnected, whole-system world; yet many of us continue to act as if we were separate entities, out to please only ourselves, and ready to subordinate everything and everybody in the material quest for an instant accumulation of wealth and power. As a species, this means a loss of coherence, which translates as a loss of viability. However, it is my feeling that the 21st century will be the meeting point where the wisdom of ancient traditions can find a synthesis with modern science. If this is the case then humanity may come to recognize that whilst technology is a tool, and science a powerful authority, without an inner wisdom and maturity also guiding humanity there will remain an imbalance and many limitations.
The challenge is to benefit from a scientific, technological advancement and material comfort, whilst securing our wellbeing, happiness and inner growth. This will be the great challenge in the 21st century. We must ask of science and technology that it aids us in catalysing our compassion and inner security, as opposed to fuelling humanity’s greed and selfishness. The need to develop internal resources is just as important as the need to develop those external resources that are best suited to long-term human progress. The discovery, understanding, and ultimate utilization of finer energies for our physical survival and the growth of civilization are only a part of the equation. Just as important – perhaps more so – is the parallel discovery, understanding, and utilization of the finer energies within each of us; that is, the faculties of consciousness, perception and gnosis (inner wisdom). If we live our lives purely externally, without an inner dimension, we will be lacking in the full and complete development of qualities needed to bring a harmonious and sustainable long-term future into being.
The ultimate revolution needed for this small planet of ours is a spiritual revolution – or rather a re-evolution of consciousness; a revolution in our inner gnosis, understanding, and our inherent conscious selves. If this occurs parallel to revolutions in our understanding and application of energy and technology, as well as within the context of our grander celestial revolutions, then all together they belong to a design that sets the stage for the new revolutions that are to occur on our small planet.