ECONOMY: Extremely Difficult Decisions

my inner geek (geek@ifeden.com)
Sat, 12 Sep 1998 20:00:57 +0800

Lately I have been thinking about how difficult it must be to be a head of state. The whole question of satisfying the majority of the people while maintaining the delicate balance of ecological and social values.

For example, imagine the Moses-type charismatic leader, screaming "let my people go!", to the current landlords.

What would that mean?

I imagine some kind of G7 or United Nations takeover of all broadcast channels, doing an emergency broadcast in the form of some kind of global announcement that the ownership of the earth is undergoing change, and that all previous private property agreements have been voided.

It might be something like, "People: we need to have talk. We are experiencing a reorganization of unprecedented scale. Our old economic ways have been ruled illegal by authorities beyond the reach of human beings. You are no longer required to go to work. You are no longer required to pay any bills. We are in a state of managed transition to a new paradigm of authority and law. If you are in a home, your mortgage is hereby declared paid in full. If you are renting a home, that home in now declared your own private property, free and clear. If you are renting an apartment, you are now a coowner of the building you are in, sharing that ownership with the others who share the same walls. The water, gas, electric, and telephone services are now free for your use. Internal combustion engines are hereby declared for emergency use only. Food distribution will remain uninterrupted, with the exception of cost. If you need something, go to the store, take it off the shelf, go through the cash register as you normally would. Imaginary money will be accepted, and the shelves will be restocked. The entire transportation system is in the process of being replaced. Further details will be forthcoming."

When I think about this scenario, from my perspective as a worker in a treadmill, it at first sounds cathartic. Go home, rest, sleep, relax, surf the web, call my family and friends, teleconference with my social peers, enjoy the silence of the traffic noise falling to nearly nothing, enjoy music, make love, eat, ride my bike on nature trails.

Of course, this greatly oversimplifies a transition state.

What would happen in the long run?

When I think about it, it occurs to me that work itself was some form of population control. "Keeping the people busy, in order to prevent them from mating."

The level of lovemaking would be unprecedented. Ecstatic liberated human animals would be enjoying food, wine, smoke, powder, and contact with each other as had never before been experienced. For the first few weeks it would be like a psychedelic utopia. However, soon thereafter, there would be a wave of insanity. Excessive self-stimulation would lead to uncontrollable dimentia and psychological separation. Some people would be completely catatonic in hypnotic drug states. Others would be hyperagited from excessive use of nervous stimulants. There would be the smell of rotting bodies, from self-induced overdosages. Soon there would be an explosion of pregnancies. The utopia would become a living hell.

Take Stock: LIQUID NITROGEN

Euthanasia coupled with cryonic suspension on an industrial scale would become a sanitary solution for temporary stasis. Since from an evolutionary perspective, the egg and uterus are orders of magnitude more essential than sperm, male sterilization via vasectomy would become a form of mass birth control. Sperm banks would be created on an industrial scale. Procreation would become exclusively a conscious decision requiring the consent of the woman, using artifical insemination or cloning.

Transportation systems would become exclusively electrical, and three dimensional. (MEMS focused pulse laser computer guided shuttle systems, or something like that?)

Positive identification would be inevitable, due not to security requirements, but to ubiquitious advanced remote surveillance and tracking.

Direct modification of the brain would likely occur regardless of consent. Physical agression would likely be detected and corrected by automated systems in a manner completely or nearly unnoticed by the individual. High resolution virtual reality systems would be as close as a relaxed medidative state and indistinguishable from lucid dreams. Verbal communication would likely be replaced with visual and tactile communication. Facial expressions, gestures, and touches. Imaginary social interactions would become indistinguishable from physical social interactions. People would likely converse with each other silently, and would likely not corrupt the validy of their interactions with verbal expressions which would likely only serve to detract from the pleasure of knowing glances and mutual affection.

geek@ifeden.com



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