Towards a Golden Age? A Wisdom based Global Economy

London, UK - 23rd May 2008, 17:37 GMT

Dear ATCA Open & Philanthropia Friends

[Please note that the views presented by individual contributors are not necessarily representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral. ATCA conducts collective Socratic dialogue on global opportunities and threats.]

The response to the ATCA briefing "The Super Inflation Freeze -- Abrupt Financial Climate Change?" from amongst the distinguished members, luminaries and friends of ATCA and The Philanthropia has been overwhelmingly positive and extremely impressive. The executive summary of the points made, with intra- and extra-polation by the ATCA Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) as well as the mi2g Intelligence Unit, is as follows:

1. The synchronised combination of the Fuel, Food and Finance crises -- 3Fs -- is accelerating disruptive change across the world. This disruptive change is amplified by anytime, anywhere communications and is bringing about a metamorphosis in humanity's approach towards each other and the efficient management of key resources including human talent, skill-sets, energy, raw materials and waste.

2. The age of ignorance is coming to an end as humanity realises that every action has a reaction and all production, distribution and consumption has an externalised and internalised cost associated with it. Not all costs can be represented in profit and loss terms immediately but become evident in quality-of-life and financial terms over decades. The consequences are asymmetrically reversible. It may take a few years to cut down a forest to grow food for fuel and decades to grow it back.

3. The 3Fs and their consequence, super inflation, is the result of the mismanagement of expectations. The present socio-economic trajectory, which is ultimately incapable of sustaining six to seven billion people on the planet at median living standards of the West, is going to be drastically modified as false expectations are confronted and replaced with entirely new and holistic ones.

4. Asymmetric threats are multiplying and so are asymmetric solutions given the ingenuity of humanity for re-invention and innovation when pushed into a corner. From linear processes, which are essentially about fragmented production, consumption and waste, we are evolving towards non-linear and circular processes that have pervasive energy efficiency and holistic recycling as well as recyclability at their design core. Expect non-linear asymmetric solutions -- highly imaginative, inventive and innovative 'killer' applications -- in the area of group thinking, incentivisation models, continuous education and training paradigms, new science, radical management philosophies, focus on ultra energy efficiency, alternative sources of energy, drastic waste minimisation, total waste processing and pervasive recycling. Much of the new production and consumption methodologies are going to focus on utilising recycled and recyclable materials with extremely high energy efficiency as opposed to virgin raw materials and large quantities of energy and natural resources -- water, air and land -- generating excessive waste. There will be increased reliance on local sourcing as the 3Fs bite.

5. The number of asymmetric solutions deployed collectively in dealing with the 3Fs will become the 'gold measure' of resilience for that individual, family, community, organisation, corporation, region and nation state. Expect taxation to evolve dynamically to act as a penalty on laggards, who do not adopt the 'gold measures' swiftly.

6. The boundaries of the sovereign nation state are being superseded by trans-national entities -- corporations, NGOs, movements and ideologies -- and the sovereign individual in many asymmetric ways as they exploit arbitrage opportunities. The boundary-less environment is creating a globally inter-dependent matrix. The 3Fs are propelling humanity towards longevity and sustainability based on holistic thinking and collective good. This disruptive change will have extremely beneficial long term consequences for humanity and despite the short term pain, it may usher in a Golden Age of individual and global transformation. This Golden Age will be characterised by a Wisdom based Global Economy.

7. The characteristics of the Golden Age will be accelerated enlightenment, renaissance and reinvention of the individual's thinking, societal group think and the redesign of linear industrial age systems and support mechanisms towards non-linear and circular ones by corporations, organisations and governments. In the recent past, the West -- Europe and North America -- have had a huge lead and capacity to reinvent. Faced with the 3Fs, which are affecting poorer nations the most, Asia, South America and Africa are also going to be sources of asymmetric solutions over the coming years. Given their large-scale demographics, China and India, are going to be emerging leaders in finding global asymmetric solutions for the 3Fs. Japan's fantastic lead in energy efficiency will be copied, matched and eventually surpassed across many parts of the world, lowering global energy demand substantially.

8. Traditional and knee jerk responses from established governance organisations and regulatory institutions are not going to necessarily work and may indeed exacerbate the effects of the 3Fs. The modern solidarity society, ie, the nation state dependent society, which evolved in Europe and North America especially after the second world war is going to be severely tested by the 3Fs. On the present trajectory, the support mechanisms are capable of bankrupting many nation states. In the last two decades or so, those arcane systems have survived on the back of Chinese and Indian export of deflation and a relatively low cost of energy. As the 3Fs and super inflation remove the crutches, there will have to be socially and politically acceptable reformation. The model which will evolve will have non-linear asymmetric characteristics and point towards sustainability as measured against the 3Fs.

9. The step-by-step revolution has just begun and it has a long way to go as humanity realises its full potential by integrating the physical, intellectual and spiritual dimensions to build a non-linear and circular economic model that produces near zero waste and consumes responsibly whilst being conscious of the consequences to the environment and upon itself. The concept that the environment, ie, the habitat and humanity are not separate from each other and are essentially one is going to gain ground as we seek to find asymmetric solutions for the 3Fs. What we do to others we do unto ourselves. With the elimination of duality, and confrontation of one-ness, how easy will it be to wage war with mutual assured damage and destruction? There is also the wisdom of another great spiritual poet -- Saadi -- to be considered:

"The human family is one body with many parts
Creations arising from one unseen essence
Any harm to any part summons an awakening
a dis-ease and a healing response from all parts
Those who fail to feel the pain of others cannot be called truly human."

10. The Golden Age's triumph will be the delivery of individual, societal and world harmony albeit with massive hurdles along the way, initiated as an extreme metamorphosis by the 3Fs.