Human-Scale
A Concept That Will Define The Future
There is an idea I have been working on for a little over a year now and until happening upon the term "human-scale" didn't really have a satisfying and effective way to express it. Let me give you a little background...
The acceleration of unrestrained technological integration with daily life is clearly not all upside as the large corporations selling these products and services would claim. In my efforts to talk about why, I have come to a few realizations
First, technology is power and we cannot forgo that power if we wish to stay competitive with the rest of the world. However, power can easily destroy those who misuse it and so must be used responsibly if it is to be used sustainably
Second, as I have written about in my Refuting Techno-Transhumanism article, natural is always superior to synthetic. This is because natural inherently considers all relevant dimensions where synthetic only considers the dimensions which those who create it are actively aware of
Finally, as I point out in my most recent article The New American CommonWealth, successful innovation is not simply limited by what technology can accomplish, but the limitations of humans themselves
So, while we must adopt technology to be competitive, successful technology will be inspired by and align as closely to the natural as possible and be built in consideration to human limitations
As I point out in The Fall of The American Kleptocracy, our modern systems are failing because they have become fixated on power and profit and completely lost sight of the necessity of the Human-Scale for sustainable systems
Modern businesses care only for the well-being of their stockholders. The customer can never hold the business accountable when the customer service is provided by an AI chat bot and the CEO is just an overpaid figurehead protected by a legion of lawyers
Modern politicians care only for their donors. There is no reason to appeal to the average citizens beyond making a few campaign promises leading up to the election as, once in power, even the most egregious corruption cannot be punished
Even our modern communities have no real cohesion. Neighbors have become strangers, either distracted by an endless supply of online entertainment or made apathetic by the easy come easy go nature of relationships in a society where most people relocate constantly for work
These systems are doomed to failure, collapsing under the weight of their own corruption and increasing incompetence, forcing people to look for viable alternatives
And those alternatives will be found in the rising revolution of Human-Scale systems. A return to in person communities, small businesses, and local government that can actually address the needs of people and not fall prey to proxy metrics of growth, profit, or GDP
The future is Human-Scaled