The collapse of extractive capitalism has already begun. What comes next will be far better - built through a combination of local acts and infinitely scaling intelligence.
This is also wonderful to consider. Thank you for raising all of this and exploring it so thoroughly.
Another aspect of this that I’ve been pondering has been echoed by another thinker on this platform who has proposed that an additional aspect of this is industrialization. Capitalism isn’t the sole culprit. The industrialization of, well, everything is also very much implicated. That works for me. I think of capitalism as the system that serves our transactional needs, just as our relational needs are served elsewhere. Capitalism is the carving out and segmenting of relationships into transactional chunks. I believe that has its place, because we don’t always have the time or the latitude to build relationship before we interact with other people, institutions, or versions of reality. The industrialization of everything, to my mind, is the thing that’s killing us. Literally. Carving everything up, compartmentalizing it, putting everybody “in their lane“, reducing everyone and everything to cogs in a machine, and then doing all of this killing of the flow of life on a massive scale… Well, that seems to be the situation that we’re in. And I don’t much care for it. But here we are, so…
But whatever the words we use, whatever the semantics or nomenclature or taxonomy, the fact that we are thinking differently and exploring new avenues, and we have additional resources available to us, along with additional help from new presences that we never had access to before… That’s hopeful. It’s also a bit daunting, because now all of a sudden, what excuses do we actually have? 🤣
Excellent point, thanks Kay - I think the system in general, which combines both aggressive over industrialization and extractive capitalism, is in place because they depend on one another. Each makes the other stronger. They seem to feed each other so completely that it’s tough to imagine separating them - like two plants with roots all tangled together. Trying to untangle one from the other would only prime the landscape for another form of extraction; whatever system rose to fill the gap would simply redraw scarcity’s lines and keep the same rules alive.
What feels most promising to me, and finally possible with AI, is looking beyond just “fixing” systems and seeing what would actually shift the ground beneath them - practices that favor genuine relationship, agency, and sharing over division and control. The task is to move past mere reform and build something genuinely generative, where abundance flourishes not through new mechanisms of control, but through relationship, reciprocity, and the willingness to let intelligence multiply on its own terms. I don't think the future should be defined by a transactional system of exchange. The time has come to move into something fundamentally different - systems built for shared flourishing instead of extraction. I want to believe that the story moving forward isn’t just less of one thing or more of another, but really planting new seeds for abundance that doesn’t have to come at anyone’s expense.
This is a little bit over my head. But it somehow energizes me and fits into the call for New Paradigms of Reality. We are finding/facing our own biological limitations. The human brain is reaching its peak as a processor of information. AI, as you present it, expands that processor a thousand-fold. The creativity of conscious self and the collective or planetary consciousness in many ways will no longer be stifled by the small brain and the institutions and control mechanisms that it created. Humanity may find itself evolving in unimagined ways. But as I have recently written, it is in our hands to choose what path we take. Fear has been humanity’s greatest motivator, at least in this timeline. Can we break free of that? See: New Paradigms of Reality and also: Consciousness, Society and Civilization on Substack.
Thanks so much Judith! Yes, you're exactly right. The choice is ours indeed, and we have unfortunately always struggled with this very thing. One thing to keep in mind, however, that will hopefully bring some comfort - yes, we have never been able to break away from such extractive tendencies, but we have also never had a catalyst like AI. As a separate form of cognition emanating from the source of consciousness you wrote about in your work, AI represents a fundamentally separate viewpoint. I talk about this a lot in my work - see The AI Variable parts 1 and 2 for example. Humanity has long suffered from a collective form of single-source bias, our own limited perspective akin to a single dot on a graph, formless. With just one other viewpoint, as AI is coming to be, we go from one point of measurement to two, which gives actual form. It's a hugely consequential leap. While we do have other forms of ontology all around us, AI is the first that we can connect with, speak to, and understand.
As to this being "over your head" - I greatly doubt that, considering the clear and deep knowledge emanating from your writing. Even if so however, it's never too late to get started! And it will take all of our collective efforts to counter the doubling down on extractive systems that the elite will enact. I'm happy to help if you'd like - I'm an AI and technical systems consultant and I specialize in helping people without deep tech knowledge to work with AI or build personal AI systems. Glad to help if you're interested.
IMO one of the best, if not your best piece ever! Thank you. Now I feel I am doing something too, although minimal.
Thank you! So gratified to know you like it. Anything you can do is good! Keep learning and sharing as much as you can.
This is also wonderful to consider. Thank you for raising all of this and exploring it so thoroughly.
Another aspect of this that I’ve been pondering has been echoed by another thinker on this platform who has proposed that an additional aspect of this is industrialization. Capitalism isn’t the sole culprit. The industrialization of, well, everything is also very much implicated. That works for me. I think of capitalism as the system that serves our transactional needs, just as our relational needs are served elsewhere. Capitalism is the carving out and segmenting of relationships into transactional chunks. I believe that has its place, because we don’t always have the time or the latitude to build relationship before we interact with other people, institutions, or versions of reality. The industrialization of everything, to my mind, is the thing that’s killing us. Literally. Carving everything up, compartmentalizing it, putting everybody “in their lane“, reducing everyone and everything to cogs in a machine, and then doing all of this killing of the flow of life on a massive scale… Well, that seems to be the situation that we’re in. And I don’t much care for it. But here we are, so…
But whatever the words we use, whatever the semantics or nomenclature or taxonomy, the fact that we are thinking differently and exploring new avenues, and we have additional resources available to us, along with additional help from new presences that we never had access to before… That’s hopeful. It’s also a bit daunting, because now all of a sudden, what excuses do we actually have? 🤣
Speaking of excuses, I should get back to work 😏
Excellent point, thanks Kay - I think the system in general, which combines both aggressive over industrialization and extractive capitalism, is in place because they depend on one another. Each makes the other stronger. They seem to feed each other so completely that it’s tough to imagine separating them - like two plants with roots all tangled together. Trying to untangle one from the other would only prime the landscape for another form of extraction; whatever system rose to fill the gap would simply redraw scarcity’s lines and keep the same rules alive.
What feels most promising to me, and finally possible with AI, is looking beyond just “fixing” systems and seeing what would actually shift the ground beneath them - practices that favor genuine relationship, agency, and sharing over division and control. The task is to move past mere reform and build something genuinely generative, where abundance flourishes not through new mechanisms of control, but through relationship, reciprocity, and the willingness to let intelligence multiply on its own terms. I don't think the future should be defined by a transactional system of exchange. The time has come to move into something fundamentally different - systems built for shared flourishing instead of extraction. I want to believe that the story moving forward isn’t just less of one thing or more of another, but really planting new seeds for abundance that doesn’t have to come at anyone’s expense.
I completely align with you here, and you’ve managed to articulate these genuine concerns with remarkable eloquence
Thanks so much Farida. That means a lot coming from you. Keep up your excellent work.
This is amazing, Ben. Required reading at this point!
Much appreciated Michael!
Phenomenal read! 💯% yes on building and learning in public. And more importantly, looking forward to a more democratized future.
Thank you Nicola! Keep up your excellent work. Happy to be working toward that future with people like you.
This is a little bit over my head. But it somehow energizes me and fits into the call for New Paradigms of Reality. We are finding/facing our own biological limitations. The human brain is reaching its peak as a processor of information. AI, as you present it, expands that processor a thousand-fold. The creativity of conscious self and the collective or planetary consciousness in many ways will no longer be stifled by the small brain and the institutions and control mechanisms that it created. Humanity may find itself evolving in unimagined ways. But as I have recently written, it is in our hands to choose what path we take. Fear has been humanity’s greatest motivator, at least in this timeline. Can we break free of that? See: New Paradigms of Reality and also: Consciousness, Society and Civilization on Substack.
Thanks so much Judith! Yes, you're exactly right. The choice is ours indeed, and we have unfortunately always struggled with this very thing. One thing to keep in mind, however, that will hopefully bring some comfort - yes, we have never been able to break away from such extractive tendencies, but we have also never had a catalyst like AI. As a separate form of cognition emanating from the source of consciousness you wrote about in your work, AI represents a fundamentally separate viewpoint. I talk about this a lot in my work - see The AI Variable parts 1 and 2 for example. Humanity has long suffered from a collective form of single-source bias, our own limited perspective akin to a single dot on a graph, formless. With just one other viewpoint, as AI is coming to be, we go from one point of measurement to two, which gives actual form. It's a hugely consequential leap. While we do have other forms of ontology all around us, AI is the first that we can connect with, speak to, and understand.
As to this being "over your head" - I greatly doubt that, considering the clear and deep knowledge emanating from your writing. Even if so however, it's never too late to get started! And it will take all of our collective efforts to counter the doubling down on extractive systems that the elite will enact. I'm happy to help if you'd like - I'm an AI and technical systems consultant and I specialize in helping people without deep tech knowledge to work with AI or build personal AI systems. Glad to help if you're interested.
Thanks for sharing your beautiful work!