Seeds of Change

It is obvious that we need a new cultural model that better reflects reality—who we are, where we are in time, and what is happening – World 5.0.

It is no diversion to mention this here, because we can’t just fix our political system without addressing a far wider core of issues. The whole military/industrial/media/government complex is on trial. This Juggernaut has contrived to define “reality” and to tell us what we want. It sold us the stories of fear, the stories that said we should not trust. It sold us the stories that said we should not love our brethren if they look or act differently. They said they knew best. Just give them the money.

Enough! Politics may or may not be local, but survival is. It’s not just the financial markets, it’s the pattern. Food and energy costs, continued war and violence on our streets, dysfunctionality at every turn. Corruption, lies, malfeasance. Disaster capitalism. We clearly require something different. We require a new operating system.

As we establish the priority of the Totality of Now and the failure of the old systems to support us, we recognize that our three most basic requirements [beyond air and water]: food, energy and shelter, are best met on a local level.

We must literally rebuild this thing from the ground up. And that means a new-found cooperation, dedication and trust in growing our communities. We have little choice.

World 5.0 makes no claim of initiating the emerging movement toward compassion, sustainability and pluralism. As aptly described in Paul Hawken’s Blessed Unrest – How the Largest Movement in The World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming, we are in the midst of an epochal transformation of human culture, and one that has been in incubation since at least the 1960s. Hawken describes the incredible development of hundreds of thousands of non-profit groups and agencies that are creating connections through networks that support their missions and by adding their voices to similarly-minded groups.

What World 5.0 does lay claim to is being the simple term that describes this new interpretation of ourselves, appreciates our reality and understands the direction we must take to enhance our awareness, rebuild our lives and restore our global ecology. Home at last.

Now there are millions of examples of the new world emerging, just as there are of the old world crumbling. It is a transmigration of energy. The long darkness of earlier world views is being expelled, and in its place a new world of peace, love, friendship and sustainability is emerging. It is long in coming, and we do not see it if we’re watching news provided by a conglomerate.

This new pattern can also be considered from the vast scope of how climate change requires a planetary response, a first in our history. It can be considered in a small American farmer who chooses to go organic, or the school teacher who embeds herself into her community, or the former drug dealer that starts a halfway house to help their neighbors and vitalize their neighborhood. It’s happening at both the macro and micro levels.

It can be seen in the energy revolution taking place, where fossil fuels and nuclear power are now seen as poor options, and renewables are creating a new pecking order. The whole idea of sustainability thinking wasn’t even on our cultural map until recently, though wiser folk throughout time have understood this on some level.

Most importantly, we’re seeing it in ourselves. We interpret the world differently than we used to. Old belief systems are breaking down. And while many of us have yet to appreciate just what this new world is, we know in our hearts we’re in the midst of something completely different from anything we have known before. It’s not difficult to see in this World4 culture, with elitism, fascism and fundamentalism running amuck, that we’re becoming kinder and more understanding of each other. The InterWeb is an external reflection of some internal coming together that we’re experiencing now.

The point is, we as a species have been waiting for this time since we climbed out of the trees, or at least since we gained higher consciousness from earlier hominoids. If that time, some 200,000 years ago, describes our human birth, these times are calling us to human adulthood. This comes on the heels of our very dangerous adolescence.
As astronomer Carl Sagan pointed out, we engendered a very dangerous time in the 20th Century with our wars and bombs and ever-more sophisticated technologies of death. At least 100 million human beings were killed in the 20th century at the hands of other humans—a trait we dare not let continue. The machinations among the ruling elite that typify the last age will clearly doom us to a nasty and brutish existence in the coming years if they are not stopped.

– from the book Home At Last by Jim Prues

When Is Reality?

What is reality is a trick question, because it is so dependent upon place. Yes, both your interior state of being, and your particular place on this Earth. So many questions about reality, especially in this broken culture which misunderstands everything. Reality for each of us is dependent on where we are in space, yet what is absolutely clear is when reality exists.

Reality exists only Here in time only Now, where everything everywhere is happening all at once. According to chatgbt…

“This present moment—the “tiny point in time” we’re all sharing—seems like it should be a common reality for everyone, but it’s actually deeply subjective because of the way each person perceives it.

1.  Perception and Interpretation: While we might all be sitting here at this exact second, each of us is experiencing it differently. Sensory processing speeds vary, as do interpretations of what we’re seeing, hearing, and feeling. Imagine a sunset: one person might see beauty, another feels nostalgic, and yet another is focused on the science of light scattering. These individual interpretations mean the “reality” of that sunset differs for each person.
2.  Individual Attention: Our focus directs our reality in each moment. Someone might be absorbed in their phone, while another person is watching the trees sway in the wind. What we choose to focus on in each moment filters our experience, shaping a different subjective version of reality even if we’re in the same room.
3.  Memory and Context: Each moment exists in the context of our past experiences and expectations. A sound or a sight may trigger a flood of memories or emotions in one person, while for someone else, it’s just a neutral experience. This layer of personal history infuses the present moment with meaning that is unique to each individual.
4.  Time Perception: Our sense of time is subjective; for some, a minute may seem to stretch forever, while for others it flies by. This subjective experience of time adds another dimension to how each of us feels the present moment.

So, even in this shared point in time, we’re all experiencing it through unique filters—our memories, focus, feelings, and perceptions. This subjectivity is what makes every “now” deeply personal, even though we’re all in it together.”

Typical craptastic response from AI.

Life, and hence we, exist only in this moment because it is only this moment where eternity and time co-mingle. We are being in eternity and doing in time, both at once. It’s the central truth of our existence. Life Is, and it is nowhere else. So simple, and yet so foreign to us for the reasons chatgpt gives us above.

And yet it is only when we ground ourselves Here, ever mindful of this present, this presence, that we can learn to master our intent and learn joy. Knowing our eternity releases us from fear. And what is left when the fear is gone is something we can all enjoy.

Of course, me as a younger man and for most folks the idea of being with fear seems impossible. So it was for me when I would grind my teeth at night and worry over so much. It was a book called ‘A Course in Miracles’ that opened the door to my questioning just about everything I learned growing up.

And then 20 years ago I was struck with the idea of our new operating system, World 5.0, whose central tenant is ‘the totalilty of now’. It never leaves, only we so often leave THIS with our overactive brains. You can know this moment even as I do, and knowing it never ends, there is nothing to fear.

Much more on the site World5.org if you haven’t been there, including a free PDF download of my book, World 5.0 – We Move From Here.

The Declaration of World 5.0

[This declaration is the short form of the mission this book invokes. It is
available as a video on the World 5.0 site, http://world5.org.]

We, the people of Earth, in light of The Three Truths, do ordain and engender
World 5.0. These truths are first: We live in Eternal Awareness and
this constant flux of energy. We are one. Second: Here, of prime
concern is our intent: fear or Love. And third, only Love makes us
happy.

We ascribe to the principles of integrity, justice and balance in our transactions
and relationships, as the only way to ensure transparency and hence
fairness. We promote localism as the best method for augmenting
health and ecology. And we connect human rights and environmental
health, knowing that failure to protect one inevitably leads to failures
of the other.

We utterly denounce war and violence. There is no greater scourge on our
planet today than hostility, furthered by nation-states and the
military/industrial/media complex. There is no viable excuse to kill
or to invoke suffering on another. We withdraw our support from
any institutions that continue to condone war and violence.

We encourage pluralism and autonomy, where each of us is valued and
respected. The meager distinctions of gender, color, class, looks,
religion, sexual preference or wealth are of no consequence in light of
our true nature. We allow no ideology or morality to come between
us, as we are far better served by ethics. We support and revel in
our families, friends and communities, as these are the lifeblood to
happiness.

We require a transparent, global financial system for any and all currencies
based on a universal, InterWeb-based standard, bringing light to
fraudulent trading schemes. This model decentralizes power and
fosters honest trade, allowing for far greater freedom in how we
design and live our lives.

We engage in the exchange of goodwill, of ideas and of goods and services.
We create, design and build our systems and infrastructure based
on sustainability, ecology and a resource-based economy. Clean air
and water, access to food, healthcare, energy and information are all
inalienable human rights.

Already we embark on the redesign of our culture, just as already we embark
on finding our true selves. The signs of healing and remaking are
everywhere, and the unholy din of the old culture draws thin. Within
World5, we leverage our connection to All and each other to remake
our world

Of prime concern is restoring ecology to our Earth. Sustainable, organic
food production is required, as is renewable energy production.
Ancient forests must be preserved. Cradle to cradle is the only viable
model for the production of goods, and localism provides the key to
minimizing our consumption, while maximizing our health.

Here in the United States, we look to The Declaration of Independence and
Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution to initiate a new constitutional
assembly. The three-headed monster of corporatism, militarism and
elitism has no place within World5. With the help of The InterWeb,
we intend a document that simplifies the law, restores justice and
balance, and honors Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Further, we intend a Constitution of the Earth in an effort to mitigate climate
change and to restore stability and health to our planet. Research,
advisory and governing councils, working together, can provide the
wisdom and will for this effort. The Earth is a living breathing body
and our only home.

Finally, we Now initiate the Federation for Peace. This Federation belongs to
those of us who take the Oath of Peace. We renounce the ideologies
of hate and terror, and align ourselves with the Peace of Eternal
Awareness, to create Peace on Earth. As the InterWeb is the mind of
World5, The Federation for Peace is the heart.

This we declare: We Love; We Live in Peace; We Move from Here; Welcome
to World 5.0.

The Enemy Is Always Fear

In our utterly corrupt and confused and abusive culture, it’s no surprise that our strategies for finding happiness in our personal lives are lacking. How could it be otherwise? Money is supposed to be the great strategy for happiness, yet the obscene wealth of the Bezos, Musks and others has not led to unheard of levels of joy. Indeed, they seem no happier than anyone else, broadly speaking.

As we inherently know, more money does not mean more happiness. Assuming we’re getting by financially, we can X that one out.

The tv, internet voices or whatever has all sorts of remedies to remove the obstacles to happiness. Only problem is they’re all bogus. A pill, a fresh relationship, a new car – not going to help. The road to happiness is within, and the obstacle to your happiness is your fear. Let’s confirm why this is true.

We first have to back up a bit to understand the nature of reality and what is happening with this thingie we call Life. Life happens, is happening, only Now. This moment in time is where we, and everything exists, and nowhere else. Whaaaa? That’s not what we learned growing up! We’ve learned so much that is false from the old broken culture, we’re ready for a reset that encompasses a truer foundation.

So, how could Now be the only time that exists? It’s quite simple really, and obvious if we know how to look. You see, there is some truth in religion, speaking of the Eternity of God (for Christians), and describing us as God’s children. Which requires that we must be eternal as well. Like begets like. The whole damn universe, or universes, exist only in this infinitesimally small point in time where the future becomes the past. Kind of mind-boggling from the old world’s perspective. Yet that doesn’t make it untrue.

Think about your own life. Do you not feel like your fundamentally the same person you were ever since you became aware of your sense of self as a small child? Of course you do, because of course you are. All the years since you found yourself in a human body, you’ve been the same. Events never stop, the world ever turns, and yet we are always Here. Your body and behaviors have changed, you’ve learned, yet you’re still you.

The other side of our Eternity is the infinite sea of Energy we’re ever a part of. We don’t doubt this side, as each moment we’re living attests to this infinite energy. One of the reasons sports has such great appeal is because of the totality of Now. No going back once the ball is in the air. The suspense we feel, the quieting of our minds as we wait for the ball to do something good or bad (from our perspective and that of our team). It gives us a little tiny bit of a sense of our Eternity. We are experiencing Life right Now, and there is no other place in time where we can be.

Now back to fear. Having narrowed reality down to this moment we are all sharing, we have a much clearer vantage point for addressing our thoughts and emotions. The question becomes ‘How do we feel Now’. And how are we reacting to the ever flowing events in our lives?

This is a question of our intent. Our intent is the core of our being, our ‘soul’ in the Christian tradition. And what are our options? Ha! We know something of our options from all the ugly we experience in this corrupt culture we live within. What we learn as part of the truth of our existence is the requirement of integrity. There is no way to find the peace and love inherent in this Eternal Moment if we don’t take care of our responsibilities or if we act like a ‘hater’, taking advantage of others or acting poorly towards them. Look at most any CEO or politician.

As we come to understand the tremendous value of integrity in finding happiness, we also begin to see that fear always presents itself when we’re out of integrity. Hard to feel great about oneself when we’re ripping someone off or ruining someone’s life. I can’t understand how our ‘world leaders’ can act with such ignorance. As noted, money is a false god.

Yet if we comprehend the Totality of Now, we better understand our intent and its power. And we begin to see how fear is attendant to bad behaviors.

Easy to argue that there are a thousand reasons to fear that don’t involve bad behaviors. Agreed. Yet those fears disappear when the threat is removed. The fear I speak of doesn’t leave. It becomes stress or some other form of fear -hate, anxiety, neurosis or ‘just’ stress. It’s because we’re out of alignment with Life itself. (God if you prefer.) Bound to make us fearful.

So. what’s the alternative? Glad you asked. The counter to fear is Love. Love is what’s left once our integrity is restored and we let go all the negativity of the old culture. Love emerges within us on a grand scale once we get rid of the obstacles to Love. In truth there is only one obstacle. The only real enemy – fear.

The trauma the old culture has caused makes all this that I say much more difficult to understand. Our daily (right Now) lives are too much and too often a struggle. We cannot put our fears in boxes. We must get to their core, their falseness. We are living in eternity. There literally is no fear in God.

Love is indeed letting go of fear. This game/battle/learning is all happening Now. There is no other point in time that exists. Your body knows. It’s your ground for this experience. Use your intent to focus on breathing and being in your body. Let go when others attack or the world gets you down. Letting go right now is always your wisest choice. Happy to be with you…

Welcome to Eternity

Our lives have not been easy. Life on Planet Earth has not been easy for a long time, maybe ever. Being biological, as we are, and at least self aware enough to recognize this truth, we are humans.

A great reason Life on Planet Earth has not been easy for us is the rise of nation-states and the Corporation, both generated by unholy humans in their quest for power and control. Our borders are considered sacred by most tribes, even though most were generated by the British Empire before it was usurped by the United States Empire.

And yet there is one simple truth that has held since the beginning of time. And this truth is that we are eternal, living in eternity. It can be no other way.

Of course our biology will fail, it’s how biology works. Birth, growth, adulthood, aging and death. We know the pattern. What we do not recognize is that even Now, as always, we are living in eternity.

My sense is that our spirits choose this earthly existence because of the inevitable challenges of biological life. And the corresponding opportunities for vast growth. Angels and other non-physical types know eternity. They live it without the distractions of survival.

Those we know who have passed on are still with us. Many of us sense their presence even with their lack of physical form. Those yet to be born are with us as well, waiting for their turn on this earthly turning.

Here’s the simple truth. We are always living in eternity. It is our home. And yet we are even still ever moving through time, another inevitability. How can this be?

It is so because Now, this tiny point in time where the future becomes the past, is where we can find and recognize our eternal nature. And indeed, this Now we are ever sharing is always shuttling us through time. Eternal Awareness and Infinite Energy, co-mingling only Here in this place in time. We are Life, two elementals with opposite characteristics. Quite bizarre, and yet clearly true.

It is a great failure of the current state of science that ‘The Totality of Now’ is not the central declared truth of science. From the simplest two-slit experiments to hadron colliders, the Nowness of the experiment/experience is clear.

This is the truth of sport as well. It is this movement through time, we can never go back, that makes sports so captivating. So too are live performances captivating. The play, the live music, the acrobat, all capture our attention because of the fleeting nature of time. Failures and triumphs. And yet we are always Here, living in Eternity.

Of course, the recognition of this simple truth does not serve those few who control our corrupt and broken culture. We have been abused, traumatized and confused to the point where even this most simple of ideas seems foreign. It is not. This Life we are sharing is all there is. Life, and we, exist only Now.

So, as it is. We are all together for a very long time. Best we not forget this, the struggles of biological lie within a broken culture not withstanding. It may well be that these dangerous and auspicious times are designed to bring the truth of our Eternal Home Here in Life to the culture at large. One can hope.

This Transformation We Require

So we’ve been taught, and grown up, in a culture that values money and its attendant power above all else. Why is this case instead of say, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness being our top priority? It’s actually quite simple. It’s because 600 years ago the British Crown made ‘The Corporation’ a viable business entity. Horrible idea.

Which makes on wonder about nation-states as well. There’s been the natural evolution over the ages, from small villages to cities, city-states and more recently nation-states. Not as horrible an idea as ‘The Corporation’, but one that has seemingly outgrown its usefulness. Some might argue that it’s usefulness was pretty seriously challenged by European colonialism, which so much reshaped the world to support Empire’s ruthless agenda.

Since WWII the U.S. has taken over the mantle of Empire, trying to bend the world so that U.S. hegemony can continue forever. Ain’t going to happen. The trends that supported corporate and nation-state growth are no longer trends. And the supposed virtues of corporations have been seen for what they are. Bullshit, lies, corruption and falseness at every turn. We need a new way forward.

Even the ground rules of the old culture are busted. We assume, and Einstein even postulated, that there are an infinite number of points in time, just as there are an infinite number of points in space. He was wrong. There is only one point it time where Life, and hence we, exist. The point of Life is Now. Less punny, the totality of Now just aught to be the central tenant of any culture. In this one it’s a wildly foreign idea. Yet that makes it no less true.

Once we narrow the playing field of time to Now, we begin to see more clearly the power of our intent. Our collective lives are a mess, pollution is everywhere, if the nuclear war doesn’t kill us, the climate chaos will. Ugly times. And yet, locked into the reality of Now, we understand that we still have options on how we think, feel and act. A tremendous freedom awaits those of us who hold this truth tightly.

Oh yes, and learning Life is relegated to this tiny point in time where the future becomes the past offers another requirement. We are all Here together. Always. We are all always moving from here. Together. A pretty refreshing notion as well.

So we need to find our common ground first. Perhaps then we can begin moving together to solve our horrendous problems.

Our problems, from generations of abuse and corporate overreach all over our planet, are legion.

This Consumer Culture

I imagine that in ancient cultures the goal was water, food and getting basic needs met. Beyond that explore, play, learn, even as other animals do. Getting along was a given. The tribe shared the vibe.

From there we’ve found ourselves gobbling up plastic crap to no end, from our grocery bags to gadgets. We were taught that money is the road to happiness, and more is always better. He who dies with the most toys wins. It’s not only ruining our planet, it’s not making us happier. It was all a lie.

New phone. New car. New shit. We adore it. We’ve been well trained.

The tribe in that ancient culture had a greater sense of abundance than we do. No monthlies, credit cards and the fears of lack so many of us hold. It’s worth noting that they met their needs locally, water, food and wood for energy. We have the same needs now. We just have a corporate greed/corrupt government model today. It is this that must be transformed.

This War Machine

Living in nation-states that disagree sure seems like a great system if you’re in the war business. Recall that a whole slew of nation-states were drawn up by the British Empire. Fuck. And there are amalgamations like China, one political system reigning over a huge number of tribes. And places like the U.S., where we wiped out the indigenous people and brought a bunch of slaves along. Land of the free my ass.

It’s generally been like this since Medieval times, the greatest change being the equipment of war. Catapults hardly compare to the many death machines this war machine has come up with. And now AI and the robots are coming. And of course the frequency. In the Middle Ages we had breaks between our wars.

As many of us recognize, the war in Ukraine goes much deeper than Putin, no angel, wanting to claim Ukraine to remake the old USSR. It’s all part of the demented maniacs willing to destroy we humans out of their greed. The many unknown forces determined to keep us abused and confused, we cannot let them continue. It is this that must be transformed.

This Corrupt Political System

The corrupt political culture, here in the U.S. and on display across the globe, is so evident it needs no discussion. There are a few relative beacons, like the very northern European nations (Norway, Sweden, Finland) but there aren’t a lot of great examples.

At the same time we have a ton of dictators, authoritarians and fascists. This makes for terrible lives for millions and even billions of us as these ‘leaders’ care nothing for you and me. And it doesn’t look like it will fix itself. While it is my sense that most of us humans are pretty decent folk, our politicians and leaders clearly are not. It is this that must be transformed.

The Way Forward Is a New O/S

While healing and restoring are much needed ingredients, we start with a new yet ancient paradigm. We recognize that we exist within Life, and that Life happens only now. Ergo, we only happen Now. This necessitates that we are All Here Together as well. There is quite literally nowhere else in time we can be. All else is speculation or memory.

Once we grasp this great truth, we can focus our attention, our intent, on how we are playing this living moment. Our fears and pains are seen more truly, where they can be more easily released. And we must begin by healing ourselves. Otherwise whatever new system emerges will end up corrupt as well. Integrity is requisite, and is only found where we humans are able to heal and grow.

Once we have our own selves together, we can begin to remake this crazy world we find ourselves living in. We reject the legal status of ‘The Corporation’ and its effect of globalism, which is a terrible system for getting our needs met, but a great system if your own goal is making gobs of money.

Our priorities could be peace, good governance, localism, organic food and learning, without which we are at the mercy of corporate control. Of these objectives, localism most directly strikes at the heart of the corporate controllers. There are innumerable cases where sourcing needed materials comes from the other side of the world because it makes corporate financial sense, though it makes no sense at all for a healthy culture to be doing such things.

We Must Rise Up

As the great historian and intellectual Noam Chomsky has noted, there’s hardly a time in human history where substantive change occurred without the citizenry rising up. Politicians and demagogues are not inclined to give up power unless confronted by citizens that will no longer tolerate their corruption. We see that quite clearly here in the United States.

For Progressives, locked into the two party system, the lesser evil typically means voting for Democrats, in spite of their lust to appease their corporate owners. The Republicans are off the charts now, going to any lengths to make this country ‘white and christian’, which it has never been. Whether we consider the maybe 10 million indigenous people or the maybe three million slaves, non-whites have played a huge role in our country’s history. Sadly, it’s a very ugly history.

Yet we find ourselves now facing a great precipice. If we do not change our children and grandchildren face much more cruel lives. Our climate chaos continues to wreak havoc, and the permanent war paradigm destroys entire populations in the name of greed. We must rise up.

Now is the time we change or perish. Welcome to World 5.0…

Insane Ukraine

We have to unfuck our culture. Rephrase – We must get past corporations and nation states. Both are archaic and we and our planet are dying.

It is in our nature to go about our business and live our lives as best we can. And we all know that the decked is stacked against us. If we look clearly into history, we see the culprits. Nation states and corporations.

Many of our nation states today are but the result of the British Empire designating them because they had guns and ships and the interest. Much of Africa and South America in particular are composed of countries that The British Empire drew the lines for. What a shitty way to determine national boundaries.

The corporations stood right there with them, the East India Trading Company and The Hudson Bay Company are history book examples. A trio of government officials, missionaries and corporate toadies combined to spread a thick layer of bullshit over whomever they intended to colonize. Praise Jesus.

Today many of us understand that many of these nation-state boundaries are but the result of empire, and that regionalism and tribal ancestry make for much better governments.

Oh, I almost forgot I was writing about this fucked up piece of shit war in Ukraine. I watch, I rage, I weep and repeat the cycle. Insanity indeed.

All the governmental players have a role and responsibility in this ugly disaster. The US has poked the bear as they say, with numerous bases and an aggressive stance toward Russia. You throw in crazy-ass Putin, who cares for nothing but retaining and growing his power, and Zelenskyy, whose hero status is suspect and is friends with Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky. Some argue he’s running a government no less corrupt than his predecessors.

Damn. There it is again. Not good vs evil, as our corporate media would have you believe, but bunch of bad actors that includes the Unites States.

Putin’s actions starting this conflict were reprehensible, as are his continuing decisions to keep bombing innocent people. So it’s an easy sell to make him the bad guy. Zelenskyy hasn’t shown that disgusting level of murder, but he’s no saint. The real kicker here is the United States, who has shown little interest in negotiations and great interest in blowing up stuff making millions and billions for the Lockheed Martins (42 billion last year) and Boeings (23 billion last year) and other members of their club. Our government serves up military grade weapons and these war corporations make the financial killing.

So the Permanent War Paradigm, which we were first warned about by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960, is on full display and shows no sign of being diminished. Our corporate-controlled culture continues to make sure corporations always win. Not good for us citizens. Not good for this dear Earth.

Let’s start with priorities. The first is always ourselves, and the first response must be to hold peace in our hearts, despite this and other war tragedies. We do not help the citizens of Ukraine by offering them thoughts of fear or an anguished heart. We help by holding peace in our hearts and recognizing that they are in our hearts just as we are in theirs. It’s how Life works.

Healing requires letting go of our own fears. Fear is the mind-killer. Always the enemy of peace, and therefore never our friend. Whatever answers fear seems to offer are false. Love is the answer, Here in this Life we share. It is the first truth.

There are thousands of peace organizations and groups, but they seem to have little impact on our situation. We are no more peaceful as a planet than we’ve been since World War II, with the constant beat of war drums ever since by The War Machine.

So we must rise up. Getting into the streets is not an ideal answer, but it’s required if we intend to rebalance our lives and end this scourge. Of course voting is the minimal requirement, but that is a slow remedy, fraught with bullshit.

In rising up we force the issue, reminding legislators of our power and intent, reducing to some small degree the corporate influence.

Not a pretty or hopeful picture at this point, but we see great opportunities for change as the old system continues to crumble under the weight of its own corruption.

Let us do what we can and be who we are, and dream of brighter days, where Life is held in much higher regard, and our tolerance for war is zero.

The Story of World 5.0 – Jim Prues

So it was August 8th, 2004 when, while walking my wolf-dog, I stopped in my tracks. World 5.0 had just popped into my head. World 5.0, I said to myself again. Wow. World 5.0. I had no idea what it meant but I knew it was a powerful idea. After 20 seconds or so, I started walking again.

A couple of years later I understood this idea well enough to put a quirky little video together, “Transmission One” which is still a favorite. Around the same time I published the first iteration of the World5.org website, a glimpse of which shows up in Transmission One.

In 2007 I began researching and outlining for a book on the topic. I was amazed at so many things coming together. Four previous cultures – Hunter/Gatherer, Agrarian, Medieval and Industrial. And each connected to emerging technologies of the day. Our primate ancestry coming from bonobos, not chimpanzees. So many ills of our culture are the result of the establishment of ‘The Corporation’, a very bad idea instituted by the British Monarchy in the 10th century.

And so it was that in 2011 I published the first iteration of the book, World 5.0 – Healing Ourselves, Our Earth and Our Life Together. We held an event at Fountain Square in Cincinnati on the Autumnal Equinox to commemorate the release, 11 years ago from the time of this writing.

And along the way a few more videos, the most important being ‘The Declaration of World 5.0’. Indeed, the book is prefaced with the same copy as the video. Other vintage vids are listed at the bottom of the home page at World5.org.

In 2017, with Donald Trump as president, I deemed a new edition of the book would be useful, and so I went to work on a new chapter. This new chapter made clear that Life is not what we were taught growing up, and that the character flaws that allow a Donald Trump presidency (his and ours) need to be healed for a healthy culture to exist.

And so during the Fall Equinox of 2018 I published the second edition of the book, this time entitled “World 5.0 – We Move From Here”, intending to make the Totality of Now clear by the subtitle. Ok, so I’m not sure that worked for the average person. Might be more confusing than anything as we’re so caught up in a corrupt consumer culture. You can download the book via the link.

I remember reminding myself that I could now rest, knowing I’d done my best with this book and being quite aware that the emergence of World 5.0 into popular culture was far beyond anything I might do. Besides, if I tried to force things I’d probably do more harm than good. Knowing we’re all Here in Life together allows a tremendous amount of trust as each moment passes.

Finally, I got notice early this year that for technical reasons World5.org needed to be migrated. I chose this opportunity to rebuild the site completely, and I feel like for the first time World 5.0 has a home on this InterWeb we’re constantly connecting with. I note that this InterWeb is the enabling technology of World 5.0.

Along the way I have found this journey one from fear into Love. The learning of “A Course in Miracles” started in my thirties, was key. Fear is the mind killer. We live in eternity. Bodies come and go.. So much living.

The real decision, always, is how we want to spend our time, and how we deal with the inevitable drama of this human biological experience. How we throw off the chains of the old world, and live and love now.How we use our intent.

Now I’m again feeling like ‘my work here is finished’. With the book and this new website anyone with an interest can glean the essence of this incredible idea rather easily, and step forward into their journey of healing and into their true self. I plant seeds and nurture as I’m led/inclined, but I now see my work as primarily holding this space of Peace and Love, this Totality of NowLife that we all share. Not a bad place to be… 🙂

And so now we have the tools to guide us into Life and Love, into World 5.0. How World5 emerges into public space and impacts our cultural transformation I cannot say. Yet it is coming. The old, industrial, corrupt, broke-ass system we grew up in no longer holds. The New Age of Earth Citizens is upon us. We live NowLife.

For me, I’m locked into who and where we are, and through many journeys, well know this Totality of Now. ‘There is no fear, I need do nothing.’ Such is my mantra. Life is our home. We’re always one.

Mississippi God Damn

The ongoing water crisis in capital city Jackson is torturous for those folks living there, and plenty hurtful to the rest of us who are paying attention.

It was a combination of a century of neglect, bad government and heavy rains.

The neglect stems for Mississippi being the racist, often hateful and corrupt state that it. Nina Simone said it best in her 1960s classic song. Jackson Mississippi is about 150,000 citizens, about a quarter of which live in the government’s definition of poverty. And it’s 82% black.

Their water system has been utterly neglected. They were already operating on backup pumps because of disrepair. Don’t drink the water warnings were regular, with so many pipes over a century old. And then a climate chaos fueled storm. So much neglect. And a state government who has fostered that neglect for a generation. A state government of white men.

As Natalia Marques points out… ““In order to fully repair the system the city needs more than a billion dollars in funding. On the state and federal level, the state has not received nearly that much.” “Meanwhile, the war on Ukraine has been bankrolled over the last 6 months to the tune of $54 billion. Biden’s newly announced ‘Safer America’ plan is giving $37 billion to bankroll 100,000 police officers. It is obvious what the United States values more than basic necessities for Jackson’s people: war abroad and policing at home.” Ouch.

So now is where I’m supposed to tell you about their woeful state government, but it could be any state, blue or red, yet especially in red states, the corruption is even more rampant and sickening. No doubt because of the added ideology of the religious right. But it’s everywhere. Pick a state. Pick a story.

So we need new stories. New stories that reflect our lives together here in Life. Stories about who will lead in our governments, because government needs to be the Great Balancer between commerce and community, and The Corporation has completely ruined that balance in our time. We need legislators of integrity.

The need for revolution is upon us, for transformation in how we live, work and play. How we choose to live and how we inevitably die. Will we choose to live grounded here in Life with everyone and everything, or succumb to old world goals of wealth, fame and power? One cannot be and do both. Will we die with grace or in terror of the unknown world that exists beyond and before biological life?

Now is when I’m supposed to recommend strategies and tactics that will actually impact and dismantle the old broke down, corrupt culture. That’s a tough one, but I know where it starts. UBU. Disengage from supporting war or any politician who supports it. Stop filling your brain with doom scrolling and distracting bull. Focus on a healthy mind and body. Focus on local issues and finding local solutions. Folks of integrity and authenticity are how we remake this ugly culture.

As the founder of World 5.0 I see a clearer way forward. It’s presented well enough on the site, world5.org. We currently have only a couple of thousand folks as subscribers, but one can imagine what we will be capable of if we have a couple of hundred thousand. And so we invite you to join us.

As we grow, and rise, we will indeed reshape our Earth to a home of health and happiness for us all.

Capitalism can not survive the Singularity

Super AI will finally teach us we don’t need money

There are four phases to the emergence of AI. The first incantation of simple artificial intelligence was what we call “expert systems” in the old IT lingua franca. An attempt to codify expert behavioral responses into a system that is trying to duplicate the capabilities of said expert. The ultimate demonstration of such an expert system was IBM Deep Blue’s chess series against the grandmaster Garry Kasparov, which successfully defeated the human world champion in 1996.

The second stage of AI was the development of machine learning capability, demonstrated in the creation of software-based neural networks that can reinforce learning in a method that works similarly to the ways our brain forms memories. The earliest demonstration of neural network concepts emerged in the late 1950s via Rosenblatt’s perceptrons, Kelley’s Backward Propagation model (1960), and indeed the term “machine learning” (1959) itself. But the practical application of machine and deep learning algorithms didn’t start occurring until the late 1990s.

We are now entering the third phase of AI where we seek to encode a human-capable AI or Artificial General Intelligence. An AI that would be indistinguishable from a human in a natural language conversation, whose software could recognize faces and images instantly, that would have the ability to learn any practical skill you could teach a human, and at least claims to be sentient. This is, and arguably always has been, the primary aim of AI-based research and development. An AGI would provide computers with the ability to automate any human-level activity in the workplace, and would build robot companions capable of broad integration into human society.

Incidentally, Science Fiction legend David Brin, has numerous times previously predicted that 2022 would be the year that the first claims of AI sentience would emerge — looks like he is right…

The final stage of AI development, from the perspective of the human race at least, is the emergence of super or hyper-intelligent AI or AIs. Even a single hyper-AI would conceivably have a higher order intelligence than the entire human race collectively. An AI that could unlock the secrets of the universe, but at the same time may regard humanity as simply superfluous, or as the greatest threat to machine intelligence. At least if the movies are to be believed.

The Singularity is breakaway AI intelligence

The primary issue for humanity with super AI is coming to grips with an intelligence that is clearly superior and can outwit us at every turn because of its intellectual prowess. This form of AI will present massive challenges to humanity, not only technologically but philosophically. An AI that can answer the question as to whether god exists. An AI that could cure every disease on the planet and grant all of us immortality biologically or digitally. An AI that could transform every aspect of human life on the planet.

One of the first things that a Super AI would likely tackle is fixing the damage humanity has done to the planet, the impact we’ve had on other species we share the planet with, and ensuring the most efficient form of governance for humanity as a whole. In doing so, all of our existing political and commercial structures are essentially rendered obsolete.

Let’s look at just the primary aspect of human governance and both the political systems we have today, along with the economic systems, incorporating global markets, banking, commerce, and even money itself. The optimal form of government in the post-AI world will be governments that are extremely resource and cost-efficient, with extremely high levels of automation — smart economies if you will. This will make economies massively more efficient, and lead to broad improvements in quality of life with advanced healthcare, education, transportation, engineering, energy management, and agriculture. This then leads to post-scarcity economies; economies where the wealth of the world becomes effectively meaningless in the face of such massive philosophical changes, and the fact that a normal human can have access to virtually any experience, product, or service at any time because of the collective wealth and advancement of the human race itself.

The elimination of the economy?

One area that AI and engineering advances is already making eminently more affordable is space travel. Once we can set up a base on the moon, mining water ice from Shackleton Crater, the cost of exploration of the solar system plummets. The primary costs of space exploration today relate to simply leaving the Earth’s gravity well. Once we establish a lunar base, those costs largely disappear, enabling us to think very differently about the resources available to us off-world.

Asteroid mining could produce a single asteroid that would be more valuable than 100,000 years of global financial activity based on our current GDP. One Asteroid amongst millions. What happens when a single asteroid like that enters the global commodities markets? They collapse and are worthless overnight. Assets become worthless because we can now populate the solar system and beyond, and the abundance produced by these highly automated societies will eliminate scarcity, both core elements of capitalism and the monetary systems we live by today. AI will make such advancements achievable.

The post-scarcity world will produce a new collective action amongst the species globally, from repairing the biosphere we inhabit, eliminating hunger, homelessness, and poverty, and even terraforming our neighboring planet Mars. An action that transcends commercial incentives and is simply in the realm of the possible.

This is why capitalism and even the way we measure economics themselves are no longer productive mechanisms for incentivizing human growth in the post-AI world. The advanced computer power of just a single super-AI will essentially lead to a more advanced AI, etc., meaning that the intelligence of these classes of super AI would lead to infinite improvements in intelligence and capabilities, or at least to some universal limit on conscious intelligence. Any problem we have could be solved, and we would get to a state of optimal existence fairly rapidly, perhaps in just a hundred years or so. Although, there might be some constraints to human advancement and growth that could be imposed by the AI or by physics themselves, in the interests of stability versus runaway events that are too rapid or extreme for humanity to adequately adapt.

The further along the super-AI path we get and the more unrecognizable human society will get from that which we hold near and dear today. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Well, human history teaches us despite many incredible technological leaps humanity has made, that there are elements of our history we absorb longer-term naturally, or that we tend to commemorate in story or in practice. The aim of such growth is ultimately for humanity to reach some future form of optimal human existence with limitless opportunities. But Homo Deus, our evolved human brethern, will have long ago evolved into something superhuman, just like the AIs that gave birth to this new age. Some will say that will make us less human, less real. It may be that some of us then choose to live as natural humans that have deliberately slowed human evolution at some future point, so as to protect the core of what we believe to be humanity itself.

Big picture leaps and bounds. But it puts our life today in perspective, that today we are passing through an era of human history where the existence of money has been core to our existence, as opposed to say the early agrarian societies of the stone age before money existed. There will be a time, and we are in historical terms very close to the emergence of this new era, when humans will look back at our economic systems today as quaint elements of a more primitive time in human evolution.

Scary? I’m not sure why it needs to be. But any change to systems like those that define humanity today will likely produce resistance writ large before it eventually becomes inevitable, that’s the truly scary piece — that this change will produce heated conflict and disruptive shifts in society that itself we must first survive in order to thrive.

Welcome to a world of real possibilities, bought to you via a world of silicon chaos.

By Brett King, posted to Medium.com