I was inspired by several conversations that I had over the course of five days that I spent at the World Future Society conference in Chicago. One such conversation was with Katie (who was not even attending the conference) who I met in a pub in the Printer’s Row district. This was my first WFS conference and since I knew few people I spent a lot of time alone walking the streets and exploring the city (in futurist terminology I like to call this environmental scanning). Katie was gracious enough to indulge me with an evening of conversation that I found just as enriching as many of the seminars I attended at the conference. Like so many of us, she followed the most logical path to success by our culture’s standards. She studied accounting and law and is a practicing corporate lawyer. But her real passion was philosophy and she aspired to write a book. As a result of her occupation she has a front row seat to the ugliness of corporate culture and greed. I, as well, shared with her my dissatisfaction for the modern workplace and the values it imposes on people. Why do we continue to do this to ourselves? I cover this topic in the article True Value. But what I learned from this conversation, which converged on the values embodied in Ken Wilber’s Integral philosophy, was that there are people out there really wanting to change the world for the better who just haven’t found a way to arm themselves against the dominant (yet fatally flawed) system.
While waiting in the long line for coffee at the Hilton Towers, where the conference was being held, I had the distinct pleasure to meet Odette, the owner of a chain of 250 clothing stores. The most memorable and impactive point in our conversation came when I asked her how many stores she owned. When she told me I responded by exclaiming, “Wow, you are very successful.“ She turned and looked me in the eye and in a very serious tone said, “How do you define success?” Somewhat stunned, I paused and collected myself and responded with the one thing that means the most to me as a human being, “Happiness.” She replied, “You are exactly right”, and went on to express how meaningless it is to have money and not be happy. This is something that most of us intuitively know and have probably discussed before. Why then not put this into practice? Why is it our knee-jerk reaction to define wealth in quantifiable terms of counting money when deep down we know that happiness is the ultimate wealth?
The most inspiring session presented at the conference by far was a movie about the work of Jacque Fresco titled Future by Design. Jacque had it all figured out. He made what I believe to be very realistic plans for how we can make the world a better place. Through what he called sociocyberneering he designed cities and processes for building these cities that were compatible with the well-being of humans and the Earth alike. I wish everyone on the planet could see this movie. It was incredible. His designs solve both the water crisis and the energy crisis. His plans could be used to transform the deserts into paradises. He also thought of a new kind of economics called “Resource Based Economics” and his cities have universities at their center. It’s a wonderful dream to envision a future where knowledge and the health of fellow humans and that of the Earth are valued above money. I encourage everyone to learn as much about Jacque Fresco as they possibly can. Odette, who I mentioned earlier, saw the movie with me. She was also inspired and may even attempt to apply some of Jacque’s ideas to some property she was planning to build on. I hope she does and invites me to come see it.
Although consumerism will not end soon in America there is a trend emerging that may someday bring a better life. I believe that this group is the Cultural Creatives, a demographic group discovered by Paul Ray. This group is interested in environmental sustainability and the emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs of others while still being consumers of new technology and interested in style and good design. This group will be a major force in ushering in an age of new prosperity. This kind of prosperity is not entirely measured in dollars but also in happiness. Finding allies who are willing to engage the very deep and involved issues is the first step to creating this new prosperity. It is only a matter of time before disillusionment with the present culture sets in and the emptiness left in our souls, unfilled by material things, is realized and acted upon.
