I been thinking about this lately. I was wondering if everyone can contribute to a new humanity designed from the ground up for ultimate management. I was thinking to solve our ecological crisis we could look at how we create civilizations and what we consider stable growth. I think there should be no city the world should be one city. This city however isnt jam packed together its integrated into nature and we strengthen the nature around us by planting large varieties of trees and preserving ecology and helping it to strengthen. In the city you don't need everything so close to you. I keep in my local radius of 3 miles to do everything. I also think a vast amount of the government spending would be on environmental preservation. I think before the world gets too ahead of them-self we should make sure our presence here is stable and is not in jeopardy. We are rebelling against nature but we forgot we are nature and we disowned our brothers and sisters (species) and now murder them.
I invision it something like this but more spread out. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Arcosanti is an urban laboratory focused on pursuing lean alternatives to urban sprawl through innovative design with environmental accountability. Cosanti in Paradise Valley, Arizona is the residence and sculpture studio of Paolo Soleri and his staff. Soleri (later joined by his students) began work on the experimental buildings in the mid 1950’s. Designated as an Arizona Historic Site, Cosanti presents a unique bio-climatic architectural environment. Its structures feature many imaginative design elements, reflecting innovative construction techniques. Visiting Cosanti Cosanti is open from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. on Sunday, and closed only on major holidays. Self-guided tours are always available. Guided group tours are by reservations only. The Indoor-outdoor Gift Gallery offers wide range of Soleri crafts and printed materials. http://www.arcosanti.org/project/main.html
I was just about to start a thread on airing ideas about what would help progress society much better. The importance of individualism must be upheld, along with strong ethics. I would not like things to go the way of the fictional Borg, a collective that is somewhat like an ant colony, if I understand that enough. However, on the other hand, greed has to be taboo. Science and technology are truly essential, too, along with humaneness.
The best model is small scale. Small scale better allows the individual to retain their unique autonomy. If you look at the family unit, everyone gets to be themselves. As we scale up, there is a need to conform since there is less attachment which can allow cooperation and autonomy. Government tries to force conformity based on what it thinks is the good for their special interests. Since there is no one size fits all, this conformity will not fit well for all. I understand there are economies of scale for building things. A large drone colony of humans can generate enough resources to build a wonderful city. But what is lost is the autonomy of the individual who may not benefit by the fluff considering the lost of individuality. As we scale down, the drones get to move more freely and can use their own abilities to do things more directly connected to their individuality. A good analogy is school. What is better one on one, or one teacher for a thousand students? Which builds humans and which build robots?
Population control through education, women's rights and contraception. Sustainable energy production on the local level. The grid system is insanely complicated, breakdown-prone, expensive and wasteful. Every town needs its own wind turbine or hydro plant - not these giant wind-farms and dams connected with miles and miles of wire. Every home needs its own solar array. Nobody, anywhere, needs a Chernobyl or Fukushima. The cities need to plant fruit trees, solar panels and water cisterns on the roofs of tall buildings. A lot of those high-rise office buildings now occupied by unproductive or counterproductive enterprises, like pushing money around, can be converted to co-op hydroponic gardens; so can a large part of the shopping malls. This way, cities won't need much of their food imported at great cost in fuel and effort - and it will be fresh and wholesome. And, fcs, turn off all those lights in empty offices at night; they're horribly wasteful, warming and dangerous to air traffic (migratory birds). Get rid of most highway and city traffic by producing basic needs - food, clothing and shelter - locally, with local (as far as possible, recycled) materials, labour and energy. That way, only the little electric, pedal-powered or horse-drawn private vehicles need be on the roads, which means a lot less highway maintenance. Before all else, dismantle the damn armies. They waste more in material, fuel, energy, effort and humanity than all our other bad ideas combined.
I forgot to mention overcoming the innate drive to reproduce. It is so "Genesis". Most of the worsening ecological problems that cause economic problems are already tied to global overpopulation, yet better late than never, I guess in addressing that problem. I call for near 100% contraception and something like one child per ten adults per lifetime to stop the growth. The days of be fruitful and multiply can't continue without some serious fantastic technological breakthroughs first to enable people here already to have decent lives. Who reproduces might be determined by random selection or maybe by choosing eggs and sperm from a random supply. Greed will need to be overcome as well because it works in concert with limited resources to promote social friction. Hate of others as indicated by competition against other people (wanting to take something away from others or deprive them of it), needs to be done away with.
It could be good if the identity of the donors could be kept unknown by all. A computer could identify the parents using future technology, though, which could be bad. Eugenics has a bad connotation, yet it may be what we need because we need some really smart folks to solve our dire problems. However, if the selection of reproduction donors were set up as totally random, then it wouldn't be eugenics. I also think people should be raised by the state where each person has the same start in life. That addresses the inherited class system.
What do you think of my idea of making the world one city but the city coexist with nature and nourish nature?
I like the idea of one world without borders, one city that is possible because advances in technology permit quick travel still, communication stays at least as good as it is now with the Internet, with one universal language, and the population dropping off to sustainable levels so that it will coexist with nature and its beauty like you wish. I also would like to eliminate the sexes with children gestated in incubators. Lifespans should increase healthily to centuries or longer, and that makes a low reproduction rate even more important.
I think the venus project is a bad starting point. They are too big on unrealistic artistic designs for buildings. It would need to use existing architecture and reformat how cities are laid out and perhaps with research of alternate methods to create houses without using lumber. Perhaps the creation of high breaking point but lightweight material for support and bricks? What kind of material could be used in replacement for lumber support that would be sustainable and fit that description?
Oh OK, I was thinking just about the philosophy and general civil operation of advanced civilization. Buildings will be very important too. Lumber is often thought of as renewable because trees grow back, yet wood contains some soil elements like minerals that can get depleted over time. The Haiti earthquake shows the importance of reinforcing brick, concrete, or stone work when those are used. I have always thought of things in terms of living in small individual dwellings, largely because I personally like a lot solitude. Really small buildings can be simpler as well. I'm not very knowledgeable about construction, however, so I'll see what other people might want to offer on that.
