Scope of the WORLD MODEL web site
This work is about what is possible to do.
It is not so much about what is wrong with the way we currently do things.
I think it would be a waste of time to enumerate all that is wrong with
our current lifestyle, political and social organization, the waste, and so on.
Besides, each person has plenty of ideas about what is wrong, and because it would be
nearly an unedning task. I have been to lectures by well-meaning people, where they spend the first hour being critical of the status quo, making jokes about how bad things are, only to see them run out of time, and say " and we're not going to make
that mistake". OK, so tell me what you are going to do! They usually
do better in the Q&A period when given tangible questions to respond to. So here, I intend to stick with tangible systems and concepts, and less with theory or whining.
(The only place I do "go wrong",
is where I compare this model to
the way transit is currently implemented,
for illustrative purposes.)
This work is about ways of doing things -- some may be similar
to the way we do things now, --- but doing them right instead of
spending half of our resources on hacked together complexes of agencies, lawyers, convoluted systems of laws, etc.
If we could take care of the mundane aspects of living on earth (the basic systems) in a strraight-forward way, we could use our remaining resources on
important human needs.
If you look at other cultures and countries, you will see some systems resembling those here. A compendium of such around the world would be huge.
Many issues can be addressed from this model, for example:
The Global Address
itself is a application
of the nested levels of organization of nature and culture.
If these patterns really do exist,
shouldn't our systems be designed around them?
Many issues cannot be directly addressed through this model:
-
Human foibles, such as racism, cruelty, dishonesty, laziness,
small-mindedness, greed (including frivolous lawsuits, speeding),
and so on.
-
Environmental issues such as destruction of old growth forests and native fisheries, air pollution, CO2 emissions, and so on.
-
Human conditions such as AIDS, cancer, hunger,
poor nutrition, drug abuse,
homelessness, poverty, population growth, unhappiness, and so on.
-
The current state of world affairs such as
the instability of the Middle East, wars,
United States ignoring the World Court,
and so on.
Food is distributed to starving people, but still people are starving.
However, indirectly, I think this world model could improve many such situations (for example):
- by supporting shelters in every community
- by allowing dignity villages for the homeless
- by unifying the management of forests, wilderness, parks, lands
- by providing a context for municipalites to share
revenue rather than give tax breaks to attract
new employers.
- by creating stability in every region and between nations on every continent.
- by [many other means]
- and so on.
You may think I am naive, but this is our "Great Work", to find a way to
co-exist with nature on the planet.
"Once we are clear on these issues we can move forward with our historical destiny, to create a mutually enhancing mode of human dwelling on the planet Earth."
--- THE GREAT WORK, OUR WAY INTO THE FUTURE,
by Thomas Berry
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John Miller Home Page
Created By: miller@lclark.edu
Updated: October 2002