At Last, The Future!. Syd Hickman
We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
Albert Einstein
Introduction
Our world is extremely complex. We necessarily understand it through generalisations, simplifications, and rules. This shared understanding is known as a ‘societal paradigm’. A paradigm - or big picture - is simply the shared understanding that enables a culture or civilization to function in a reasonably orderly way. While individuals will have their own ideas on the world and how it works, a paradigm provides a collective way to make sense of the myriad bits of information we process every day, and offers broad guidance on how to respond to events.
Paradigms are shaped by leaders and by prevailing realities. They are taught by parents and teachers, and disseminated across society in general. In any successful community the paradigm is widely shared and enthusiastically maintained. But during a period of rapid change the standard simplifications work less and less well, so confusion and disillusion start to spread. The paradigm becomes decreasingly useful as an explanation for events or as a guide to future action. At this point a new set of useful ideas and simplifications must be developed if a society is to function effectively. But the transition from one paradigm to the next, the paradigm shift, itself is usually - perhaps inevitably - extremely difficult. It can often be protracted and involve intense battles to decide which ideas and attitudes will prevail in the new era. The nations that become the happiest soonest are those that quickly recognise the new imperatives and opportunities, stop trying to prop up the past, and get on bravely with constructing the future.
We are now in the early stages of the most rapid, comprehensive and global paradigm shift yet experienced by humanity, as the age of the capitalist paradigm draws to the end of its useful life. The way we think of morals, the economy, society, and government is changing, as new events and realities show the old ideas to be out-dated. We confront economic, environmental, social, political and demographic crises, and all are interrelated. Governments are failing to provide solutions, and this is at least partly because the problems are different to any faced in earlier times, but also because many governments are in denial about the changes happening in the world around them.
Many people have already embraced new ways of understanding the world, but the lack of a comprehensive paradigm that brings all the new ideas together in a unified big picture means the old ways of thinking continue to be overly powerful even while manifestly failing to explain the present or predict the future.
The scale of change and the depth of the intellectual crisis that is underway means there can be no return to some old idea of ‘normal.’ Just patching up or reassembling old modes of thinking will not be enough. The challenge of coping with many rapidly developing problems has led some to take a pessimistic view about the future of our planet, but I take the view that we can actively take hold of our future and shape it within a new and positive paradigm. To demonstrate that the making of a new paradigm is both desirable and possible I will outline the course of various major paradigm shifts from history. This will demonstrate the way paradigms influence social decisions and behaviours over time, how they collapse and are replaced, and how success grows from apparent failure.
This book is obviously and intentionally a simplified overview of the past and a personal portrait of a possible future. It is an invitation to a way of thinking, and certainly not intended as an academic argument or the last word. Breadth, not depth, is the aim. I aim to combine ideas and analysis from many expert authors to bring economics, technology, environmental issues, new ethical choices, the global political situation and the social revolution together to create a coherent big picture of a possible post-paradigm shift world. Most of writings I draw upon are focused on the problems within one particular field of study, and many are advocating ways of saving the current paradigm rather than finding a replacement. The authors of these words can’t be held responsible for the uses I make of their ideas and information. For more detail or updates readers can go to the original sources or the many alternatives.
While the capitalist paradigm in which we currently live has delivered on its promise to make people materially better off, it has also created a new set of major problems along with some exciting opportunities. As a result we now have the option, and indeed the necessity, to build a better society, but it can’t be a patched-up version of the old one. It will have to be constructed within a new paradigm. Where capitalism has fractured society and isolated individuals, we can now choose to form a new social integration while retaining the material benefits capitalism delivers. We can create a world with more individuals developing to their potential, creating more meaningful relationships, and consciously constructing more fulfilling lives. The future can be sustainable, stable, scientific, social and secure.
I give the name ‘kosmos’ to this set of ideas, using the ancient Greek word to describe order and harmony across the universe. It is different to the term ‘cosmopolitan’ that has been used to describe any citizen of the world who feels comfortable and at ease across many different countries and cultures. In recent times cosmopolitan has come to mean open-minded, in favour of globalisation, and well-travelled. But a cosmopolitan person today can also be seen as a member of a global elite that has constructed a world-order that works very well for its own interests, but not for the majority. The paradigm constructed by capitalist cosmopolitans can be seen to be universal but it is neither orderly nor harmonious. Kosmos is more complex and reduces capital to just one of many important factors.
The conceptual framework of this book obviously lies in the use of paradigms. Thomas Kuhn proposed a theory of scientific revolutions, or paradigm shifts, in the 1960s. He took ideas from social and political revolutions and explained in some detail how scientific change occurred in big shifts, such as from the mechanical world of Sir Isaac Newton to the relativist system of Albert Einstein.
Kuhn’s description of change is relevant to the huge societal paradigm shift now under way. He explained that old paradigms break down when problems arise that the old methods can’t solve, and facts appear that do not fit with the established big picture. Then new ideas are proposed, placing these difficulties in a new picture that makes some sense of them. Younger people, and a few old hands, adopt the new way of thinking. They do this more because the new way offers better prospects for the future of their field than because it is logically superior. Kuhn describes this process as more like conversion than conviction by evidence. Adoption of the new path is based mostly on faith or hope.
With more work by many people the new ideas get stronger and attract more followers. Many older advocates of the previous paradigm never accept the new way but eventually they die out and the new ideas become the accepted paradigm
Through the process of change from one paradigm to another serious communication problems often arise. Specific words come to mean different things to each camp. People talk about the same factors in different ways, and come to speak what are effectively different languages. Many of the old ideas survive, but in a different framework. Newtonian physics continues to be useful within Einstein’s much broader big picture.
As Thomas Kuhn argues, once the paradigm shift has been accomplished, scientists can then get back to normal science. This involves a lot of detailed work in confirming knowledge and extending and broadening it in small increments. Ideas that were previously considered contentious become the accepted wisdom and go unquestioned.
If the shift to a ‘kosmos paradigm’ is to happen it can be expected to follow this path. When people have built successful careers on the old ideas there is no point trying to logically convince them that they must adopt new thinking. They are unlikely to admit that their deep knowledge is no longer working, despite their claims of personal open-mindedness and strict commitment to logic and reason.
Citizens should also recognize that it is not enough to change perceptions in the particular field that interests them. Until the big picture changes they will always be fighting a losing battle. When the new paradigm is strong, progress can be made more easily in the many specific parts of the big picture.
A period of transition must start soon, and any such time of crisis and dramatic change is stressful. Dark days of paradigm failure have always preceded a big step forward based on a new paradigm. Once