My goal in this post is to detail a quick overview of how we 'Americans' started, what we've become, and how we can use that inertia to make our societies rich and ecologically lush. And while the bald eagles are surely stunning, and Hollywood films are compelling, the freedom fries aren't as tasty as they're cracked up to be...
One of the guiding principles of this 'United States' has been freedom and an unabashedly optimistic promise of the future. You could say we've been serving philosophical freedom fries to the world for generations, but leaving the world wanting for tangible sustenance. Of course we all know, at least intuitively, that there is a dark streak to the story of America. On one side of the coin, America is beautiful in it's optimism. It's almost as if we've become the magnet of the motivated and optimistic, people willing to overlook 'the negative'. We are so optimistic in fact we have an astonishingly difficult time admitting we have done wrong, or that our leaders can possibly conspire amongst themselves, for their own ends.
It's apparent to more and more of us daily that the promises we've been told are proving shallow and obsolete.
In the words of the revolutionary hip-hop artist Immortal Technique in his song The 4th Branch
"How could this be the land of the free, home of the brave. Indigenous holocaust and the home of the slaves."
TURNING THE TIDE
So while we haven't fulfilled the global need for harmony, we do have a population of optimists. And the best thing about optimists are their ability to activate themselves and their peers. So how do we go from corporate-statehood to a next level culture?
If I had to put it into a word - software. Software is quite literally the holy grail of decentralization. With the early adoption of the internet only starting in developed countries around 25 years ago. I would say we're still only in our teenage stage. And in another decade or so we can expect dapps and DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) to become the cultural standards in networking. One of the teams I am most excited about is the Bitnation group. As of two days ago they have initiated their ICO for their PAT token. Bitnation wants to update governance to a 21st century network. One where we can upload our own personal inputs on legislation and constitutions that get compiled by the entire community into something the 'bitnation' agree on.
Of course one thing we know from history is that 100% consensus is a utopian myth. But what we can do is structure our smart contracts in ways that adjust legislation based on all the members input. So in order to make this more tangible let me give an example.
Tom the marine biologist realizes during his field research in the Atlantic Ocean that tuna populations have dwindled to 20%! He further learns that this is due to too many companies exploiting the oceans. So Tom decides to upload a 'Tuna Limit Declaration' to the Bitnation blockchain (via a Steemit post?). If this declaration is heeded by the global community in substantial numbers a regulatory body could put pressure on businesses to stop selling tuna products. And if we were smart we wouldn't just wave our ''no-no'' finger at these companies, but also share with them formulas for revamping their industry towards permaculture design and aquaponics.
What happens when millions and billions of people begin participating in this two-way (7 billion way?) legislative process. Is a world without goofy judges donning wizard costumes possible? I think so. The appeal to authority fallacy is coming to an end. Bitcoin has begun to dismantle the hegemony of central bankers, and now Bitnation (Liquid Feedback, DemocracyOS, Follow My Vote, and many others) are going to completely transform how humans set guidelines and regulations. And the more we use these tools to respond to the ecological needs of each bioregion, the more we will be able to support our human needs on Spaceship Earth.
