The Objective

WHY WE DO THIS, WHY WE NEED THIS

One of the strongest human drivers present in everyday existence and within our social interactions is the conscious or subconscious assessment of fairness. This driver is the single most significant trigger for our emotional responses to daily life as we assess real or perceived inequalities. These emotional responses are the source of all conflict we experience on an individual level and within a global context. The separated evolution of cultures and now more recently the implementation of unsubstantiated ideologies guarantee this cycle to continue. At L.toW, we believe that, in time, humanity will evolve to an agreed common set of base human need values. Deviations from these values in life historically and today are due to extrinsic corrupting influences (religion, governance, economic & social stratification, race, hierarchy, ideology, nationalism, etc). Fair societies will evolve when the systems used to manage them have these values intrinsically built into them. 

Aspiration and associated achievement is a deeply social act. We pursue interests of self-development that we later or during the development, present to others. Ideally, aspiration most often encompasses collaboration where a shared goal is pursued, to produce a result to be shared or presented to society within the context of learning and growth. Aspiration incentivizes by those social objectives at its core for recognition of exceptional achievement. The trouble with the system today is that capital gain has replaced, misaligned and corrupted social recognition. Social recognition is now only guaranteed by capital gain, therefore truly worthy and necessary areas of work are often undervalued. Wealth brings power and a manipulated system runs without individual or social aspirations being met. The system today shapes and encourages very unnatural behaviours with divisive power structures having disproportionate control. An aspirational society will evolve when the systems used to manage societies have these values intrinsically built into them. 

Social cooperation is a defining characteristic of ours and some very many other species. We, along with primates, have developed a highly complex multilevel social dynamic with our species seemingly being the most complex. From collective memory and perceptions thereof, large narratives emerged as a tool to better understand our natural surroundings, eachother and the feared unknown. These undertandings were often not true, yet formed the foundation of social cooperation within isolated groups. Conflict has persisted throughout history as unaligned stories of the world hindered differing groups willingness cooperate, scarcity of resource also contributing heavily. As science has resolved most questions on our natural world and technology promises to end scarcity, conflict today is now only systemically supported and maintained. A cooperative society will evolve when the systems used to manage societies have these values intrinsically built into them.

Safety and the need for it is deeply rooted in our evolution. Increased control over our safety has aided in the proliferation of our species, against the challenges imposed by our natural environment. Once societies mastered relative safety within community by securing stable food sources, protection against external elements and accumulated technical insight into our natural environment, we began to look elsewhere for danger. In relative comfort, fellow humans then emerged as our greatest threat. Real or perceived, this fear has influenced the building and destruction of our most prominent civilizations. To become truly civilized, we will need to learn to manage or eliminate this fear altogether. Today, these inherited fears are being used against us to maintain control over populations and to retain outdated methods of social organization that benefit a small portion of society. A safe and fearless society will evolve when the systems used to manage societies have these values intrinsically built into them.

A wonderful contradiction in our nature is that we require a manageable dose of fear to keep us engaged and active in our communities and within our own lives. This is an equal and opposite essence to 'Safety" that further explains the proliferation of our species. We explore the unknown to create safe new environments, then we leave the known to explore and repeat. Having accomplished this now throughout most of our habitable world leaving permanent settlements along the way, we now channel these needs into our technical work, our relationships, our personal life paths. The human mind does not like to be stagnant. When it is, it gives rise to neurosis, boredom and discontent. An explorative and universally challenged society will evolve when the systems used to manage societies have these values intrinsically built into them.

Technological development has forever been the defining character of our species. From early hunting, farming and construction to the smartphone in our pockets. We always used our environment to make our lives safer, more comfortable and to assist in performing tasks. Today with our exaggerated confidence, we seem to have lost the insight of earlier civilizations. Those whom appear to have understood how vital it was to maintain environmental balance to assure their own survival. We have a new and unique opportunity held within our collective technical knowledge base. That knowledge could be open and accessible, which would help us collectively solve the enormous problems facing modern civilization and all life on earth. There is a future where balance will be restored and our impact reduced to a fraction of its current levels. Technology will take us part-way there, but the major shift in values underway and a replacement of our social ordering systems will be the path that takes us there. It it important to accept that Utopia does not exist and neither should it. In an achieved 'perfect world', we would lose the unknown and in turn a major part of our humanity.

Technology will reduce the human energy required to run our collective civilization. It will provide us with unprecedented abundance freeing us up for self-realization. It will, and is already, helping us realign our values. A technologically sophisticated and efficient society will evolve when the systems used to manage societies have these values intrinsically built into them.

All human-made social ordering systems to date have assumed an infinite possibility for expansion. A testament to our species success (or threat, depending on how you view it) is in our populations increase over the past 200 years. We now know that exponential growth is impossible on a finite planet. The evidence of mass extinctions and changing weather patterns today, point directly to human activity, more specifically the assumptions made by our economic system. Our economies and financial methods hold no intrinsic values or preferred outcomes integral to its operation. It's only mechanism is unending growth. Law and legislation, the only methods for steering this system, are corruptible and have already been manipulated far beyond the interests of environments, societies and humanity as a whole. We like to believe that the democratic process is the mechanism for society to direct its leadership, but democracy as it stands has long been the illusion of participation. Populations now have negligible impact on societies direction, making it near impossible to manifest a fair and sustainable civilization.

Interestingly, millions across the world are reaching this realization. At this moment, an early algorithmic social outcome system is being developed and tested that presents a new method of social organization. At L.toW, we will test this system further through our projects and welcome your participation. Read more on our SYSTEM page or delve deeper by checking out COPIOSIS

Starting our civilizations as egalitarian, self-organizing groups of collective participation and cooperation, our societies later evolved into highly hierarchical groups led by powerful individuals or groups. Religions and ideologies were devised or manipulated to help increase the power of the few over the many, creating stratified societies and an incorrect perception of human nature. Science later gave way to clearer understandings, and for a while, some societies were headed back towards our original egalitarian routes through the principles of democracy. It is evident that these aspirations are beyond our reach in the current model. Is simply requires far too much specialized administration.

Recent technological developments now allow the possibility for a truly immediate, participatory, egalitarian democracy on a world scale. Governance, an institution so incredibly susceptible to corruption, would no longer be necessary. Self organizing systems and groups would naturally evolve according to need with deep personal incentives to participate. The first localized and worldwide participatory democracy will evolve when the systems used to manage societies have these values intrinsically built into them.

Capital accumulation has long stood within our perception as the facilitator of incentive, and in turn, the basis for human progress. We look back at highly complex, powerful and technically progressive civilizations and measure their wealth as evidence of their achievement. We also conveniently ignore the negative outcomes in this pursuit. History is saturated with violence and suffering, with capital often supported by ideological and religious belief structures and visa versa. From tribes to nations, from monarchs to corporations, we have chosen to be selective in our understanding of the progresses achieved throughout our species evolution. The evidence, however, shows us that highly engaged individuals make great leaps from from accumulated human knowledge without incentive. Capital and its representative, money, has only proven to help mobilize group participation when the group lacks the same interest.

The problem with this incentive mechanism, is that it is entirely removed from social values and responsibility. Anything can be incentivized, both positive and destructive. This has led us to the deepest crisis of honesty and transparency. Government as a concept, is one way we have attempted to oversee the process. Laws are used to reward and punish as society sees the need. We generally believe in the method of governance, but we also know that those 'democratically' elected entities are not beyond the influence of their own greed and powerful small interest groups. The public will question information they have access to, so standard practice has evolved to the concealing of information where beneficial to an objective. An open and accountable society will only evolve when the systems used to manage societies has these values intrinsically built into them.

Leisure and Beauty are deeply subjective and personal needs. A comparison of some of the worlds most celebrated creative thinkers shows incredible variations in daily routines. In a time when technology is freeing us from repetitive and physical work, creative solutions based contribution and systems oversight will be the majority of work undertaken by individuals. This will and is already having an unprecedented impact on the post-industrial model of work. The production-line model is fast eroding and new flexible collaborations are becoming the norm.

Industrialization offered humanity efficiency, accuracy, uniformity and quality, but too often at the expense of individual freedom, creative thought and the aspiration for beauty. You only need look at the expansive industrial and suburban zones and the constrained architectural language of our modern developed cites to see this. Is it any wonder that era's of great aesthetic appreciation remain the most desirable parts our sprawling human-made wastelands? Finance and capitalistic incentive only exacerbating the outcome.

To arrive at a society with adequate time for leisure and reflection whilst creating environments of inspirational beauty, we need a system that has these values built into it.