A new age of digital freedom is on the forefront. As the internet has connected people from across the globe and expanded their notions of tribe from ethnocentric groups into a new, more global culture, the reasoning behind old ideas such as nationalism may well be forgotten by newer generations. Decentralization seems to be the newest philosophical take on the petty trust and control issues of society. The idea itself is a simple one, dating to 1846, according to Merriam-Webster, though now made much more possible by fairly new technology.
With technologies such as Bitcoin, MaidSafe, and decentralized education, technology is moving more toward this direction daily. As Moore’s Law has held reasonably true, mankind will soon be faced with an unfamiliar new Zeitgeist, in which common sense and common ethics will out-weigh traditional, errant value systems, which often echo an embarrassing history. Philosophy may be the most noble spiritual practice of the future, as “because I said so” will never eliminate the need to ask “Why?”, but only repress it. Philosophy has long been thought of as a means to no end, but with computers, we may be able to build a logical framework of ethics, which can almost universally be applied, using the best ideas of thinkers of the past and of today. The key is that no judgment should be passed, other than what is objectively agreed upon by most parties as true. This is evident in the Bitcoin blockchain, which exemplifies the no-trust model.
The cancer of ancient power structures is obvious at an essential level. We can look at our lopsided resource management. The fuels we use, whether to power our machines, or to feed ourselves, are balanced toward a small pool of what has worked and funded centric economies. This is not logically what works best. For instance, instead of growing native plants and harvesting native resources, we follow social norms, farming a small number of resources which are common in the grand scheme, though detrimental to a holistic ecosystem. This is part of the capitalist “illusion of choice.” If we worked with nature, instead of attempting to control it to suit our closed-minded ideas geared for profit and reflecting archaic value systems, we would in fact profit much more, both in the short and long terms.
For instance, as anyone who has studied herbalism knows, much of what we consider to be weeds are in fact useful herbs. This type of thinking has been shed as the industrial revolution and modern medicine have encouraged the use of only a handful of resources; a result of western military-mindedness. In the names of civilization and modernity, religious dogma, laws, and regulations have cast stigmas on a harmony with nature that had worked for thousands of years. How ironic that to be “civilized”, mankind has shot itself in the foot in the modern era.
So, in seeking a more healthy future for ourselves and our planet, the irony is that we must return to old, tried-and-true ways of thinking, which we had abandoned in the establishment of modern empires. Of course, modern civilization is not without its lessons, not only in mistakes but also in progress made, which will be crucial for our future growth. Living in harmony with the Earth was crucial to ancient man, as it is to modern man. The difference is that in small tribes, this was an easier goal to achieve. As a humongous one-world tribe, the lessons of Mother Earth will be enforced by independently and almost universally agreed-upon rules governed by computers, rather than power-drunk men.
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