FUTURLOGICS a system of prospective thinking:
by james n. hall
COPYRIGHT © 1983 BY
JAMES NORMAN HALL
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Chapter VIII
SYNTHETIC FUTURE
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THE CREATIVE MODE AND THE SYNTHETIC FUTURE
The key to the creative mode is the hand. The hand is the mind's
extenion. With it we can manipulate things around us. Civilization is
make possible through the things man has made. In the arts, the mind
and the hand become as one. The hand enables us to express and
change our lot. The capabilities is possesses in conjunction with the
intelligence we develop give us power to change even our future. All
our plans and preparations, goals and purposes, all our visions of
tomorrow could come true by our hands.
How does this mode compare with the previously described
modes? Notice how, in the theater, the play is created. The drama
brings insights into the first two modes, and also into the third mode,
the creative mode. There are at least three elements basic to the stage
presentation: the director/producer, the actor, and the audience.
Given the script, the actors perform the drama and the audience sees
the final production. The best plays are those in which the audience
becomes totally involved and forgets they are at the theater. The
actors often lose themselves in their roles and lure the audience to
suspend their disbelief in favor of the total involvement. The
director/producer functions to bring it all together--the lights, the
costumes, music, publicity, and other aspects.
The synthetic future as a product of the creative mode is similar
to the function of the director/producer of the play. The analogy
suggests that the future can be a product of our endeavor. The world
is a theater in which we can stage our play; however, we can be more
than the players.
Folklore substantiates this modal approach to the future. The old
saying: "the future is make, not waited for." "opportunity knocks
but once," "plan ahead and avoid waste and mistakes," "a stitch in
time save nine," and numerous others encourage us in our power
over our course in life. We need not be passive observers of the future,
or mindless robots to the will of our circumstances or of the single,
unchangeable "to be." We can change our lot, and because of this we
may look at the future as a resource rather that a role in a play. We
can write our own script.
The future seen through the creative mode is all that man will
produce, either by his action or his thoughts. From the time man was
conscious of himself, he sought to change things for more desirable
conditions--and not for mere survival but to overcome and to succeed.
As our ancestors learned to control their environment and to
prepare themselves against the uncontrollable, they made changes we
now take for granted. The built cities, life-styles, philosophies. The
synthetic future is therefore all things man will yet bring into
existence. Anything "observed" to occur less man is the natural future.
In the creative mode, the natural future and the absolute future are
viewed as resources to be drawn upon, to be built upon. They become
a basis for our guiding designs. All the desires and wishes of our hearts
work towards the synthetic future. However, we have a greater impact
upon the future than we know. Our very presence as man, and not just
our acts, influences the future. The definition of this future might be
more precisely described as the impact make upon nature by man's
presence and designs. Obviously, if there were no persons on the earth
there would be no possible synthetic future, only the natural future or
base will exist.
Life has been balancing itself to a harmony of extraordinary
complexity for eons of time. From virus to elephant, from diatoms to
whales, all have settled into a symphony of give and take. We are
learning now the results of the old saying that a "little knowledge is
dangerous." for the things we have manufactured in the developmental
stages or our learning are now upsetting the intricate balances
nature has built up into a stable min-max* live-sustaining program.
Only long-range prediction of the impact of the creative mode upon
the future can settle the effect of any newly applied technological
function of the environment. We must study the synthetic future to see
impact of man on the ecology of the planet's life support limits.
*A term which means that minimum conditions trigger a
change and maximum condition trigger a counter-change.
Man's impact upon nature began long before we were aware of
the ramifications of our acts and creations. It was felt generally that
nature would take care of any mistakes we made. Indeed, the corrosive
forces of nature were so great that it was a matter of constant
upkeep and maintenance to keep anything from reducing to the source
and materials of its creation. But now we produce synthetic
non biodegradable materials to such a perfected state, the opposite
problem of indestructible wastes exists. We make synthetic rubber,
plastic, oil, leather, wood, etc. We are even trying to make synthetic
man, as we see from the latest advancements of the medical field.
This approach to the future becomes a mode when man is
emphasized to the point that nature is secondary. For example, the
city dweller who says that mild comes from the supermarket, disallowing
the purpose of the cow in milk production, has lost sight of the
connection with nature. During the exercise of our powers to change,
we create a modal bubble that is burst when nature goes on a rampage.
Given a long-term drought we soon rediscover our dependence on
nature.
BENEFITS OF CONTROL
We have raised ourselves above the animals in that we no longer
depend upon what we find or hunt. Farming animals and crops, we
have set ourselves free to expand our civilization by the cultivation of
the materials we need to survive and to raise our level of living. The
maximum number of people that can be sustained on this planet with
a given standard of living and a given technology to produce the
necessities of quality living is a figure that changes with each technique
of producing or needs syntheticly. Sometimes we outstrip our
science and we begin to talk of overpopulation. We may again learn
new methods that will make life easier at an even higher standard of
living; then it will be easier to accept the natural growth of the
population. This is proportional to our knowledge of farming the
earth and using its resources positively instead of squandering it and
ourselves on war. All of this can result from looking at the future
through the creative mode. The ability to adapt has given us great
freedom and power to maintain a high level of success. We may be
drawn to conclude that this is the best mode to approach the future.
Perhaps it is.
But along with the power to allow more populated levels of
civilization comes an even greater power to destroy it all. If we
exercise the negative side of our power to change the face of the earth,
it is possible that the synthetic future on this planet will be in the form
of our own charred remains. The natural future will be the sterile
remnants of our used-up elements. Proper control must be exercised if
the synthetic mode is used in dealing with the future.
We see now the conflict of the natural future and the synthetic
future. We might question who shall control this mode and how shall
it be implemented? Can we overcome our lack of control? With these
questions in mind, we see that the synthetic future and its mode have
drawbacks, also. It becomes very true that the meek will inherit the
earth only when the meek are those who do not trust that more brute
force is a solution. A wise, harmonious cooperation with the natural
forces is the best way to an economical use of resources. The age of
sensible use of energy is here and the meek, those who will not govern
other by force, but are teachers of freedom, will inherit the earth.
The key to comprehending the synthetic future is to know the
person who will produce it. Again, the unit of measure is man, himself.
What man does, and is, causes the synthetic future. "Know thyself,"
and "to thine own self be true." The first frontier that one
should explore is in one's self.
Our understanding of ourselves must be balanced, for we have a
tendency to evaluate ourselves in terms of our technological capabilities.
Let us consider a problem: If all the undeveloped countries on
earth were to be industrialized to the extent of the United States, the
consumption of raw materials would be multiplied many times the
possible output of the available materials. (The U.S. use per capita
more that all the other countries combined.) Technology is not
enough. We must learn how and when to apply the technology, and
acknowledge the related side effects in non-laboratory conditions,
but in free environmental test.
THE SOURCE OF OUR GOALS
What is the source of the goals, plans, and objectives that guide
our activities and produces the synthetic mode? when cities are
planned and laws enacted to change the existing status quo, from
when do the purposes of these actions come? The purpose of Futurlogics
is to find the source of the ideals, goals, futures, directing
forces, and "visions" that enable our leaders to shape our lives by
shaping our "futures." The Purpose of studying modes and the
psychology behind them is to bring an understanding the creation
of the mapped futures we seem never to question, but accept their
influence in our lives. Democracy demands each citizen participates in
shaping his country's future.
This is brought home when we begin to think about the emerging
science of social engineering and the creation of the synthetic man.
Not being aware of the side effects of our industrialization and
synthetic input into the environment, we learn too late that what we
once considered harmless has accumulated to danger levels. Non-biodegradable
and excessive waste concentration in small areas present problems
that were not foreseen. In New York City garbage disposal is a
major problem. A few decades ago it was ignored. The synthetic
future becomes a mode when we do not acknowledge the side effects.
War--the conflict between two sets of synthetic futures-- brings
out the last point at which the synthetic future becomes a mode, and
that we do not always create things for the benefit of our fellows. We
design machines and weapons to destroy. War breaks down both
natural and synthetic environments. War is not reality, it is antireality.
Therefore, if the synthetic mode is destructive, we lose touch with the
actual future. Modes do not lead us to a better understanding of
reality. They are substitutes we use in place of truth. Wars come from
our inability to produce all that we need; therefore they are a breakdown
in the synthetic future.
How much of what we are has come from the hidden forces of
those who try to shape us into the kinds of people useful to their
designs? what restraints are employed to control those who wish to
engineer us and our society? what portion of our personality is
synthetic and what part is a natural product of our own free choice?
To shape the future of a person is to control his motivations, and
thereby control the things by which he guides his life. The system of
Futurlogics will reveal the manipulations of unscrupulous persons
who will exercise the power to change the seat of our motivational
systems, Which ore the futures of the mind. When we are made
conscious of where we obtained our notions of the future, then we will
better plan, decide, prepare, predict, wait, motivate, choose, in short,
to do anything that is prospective and oriented toward the future. We
ensure democracy by being more knowledgeable of everything, including
the future that shapes our motivations and goals.
COMMITMENT
The volitive restrictions found in the absolute mode take another
direction in the synthetic mode. Here we find another technique that
avoids the conflict by rewarding it to submission. The objective that
produces this future places us in the position of sacrificing our will to
gain our will. We commit ourselves to the operations of a plan to
create a future that the synthetic mode will generate. In other words,
we voluntarily limit the range of volition by saying that we are
concentrating our efforts and thoughts to the accomplishment of the
design. Commitment is the point where we assign our activities to the
plan that will make the achievement of our goals and objective real.
Civilization is a commitment. When we look to the future with
the synthetic mode, we will be confronted with a commitment. The
persons who work under this mode will be captured by the mode itself.
City dwellers will be more subject to the demands of civilization than
the rural farmer, who is practically independent, producing to meet
most of his own needs.
LOOKING AT THE FUTURE THROUGH THE CREATIVE MODE
We must realize that there will always be things and events that
we can never create. There are limits. The ultimate limit may be man
himself. God, who seems to leave us to ourselves, may one day reveal
those limits. How much energy and power would it require to accomplish
all the dreams of the mind? If we learn to work with nature, it
may not require any energy at all, except that of intelligence. Making
nature work for us is the art of creating a synthetic future we can live
in. Brute force and exercising muscles in every direction with no
control or forethought may produce a synthetic future which no one
can tolerate.
Creativity separates man and animals. It is a great gift, but as
with genius, it can be misused. We must learn to farm the deserts and
the ocean, and control the weather. We must create a means of living
peacefully and with freedom for all the earth's citizens. The planet
becomes smaller as we gain more power to change, and as we make
devices to overcome the forces of nature.
The planetary society will be ushered in with forecasts of doom if
we continue to cheapen human life and rights. The potential, however,
is utopian in scope.
The variety of our physical environment is almost beyond comprehension.
Nature has both order and variety. As we learn more
about our earth we gain a better perspective of the synthetic mode and
Mother Nature working out her own problems. Her surprises are
evidence of how dependent upon her we are.
Yet, her surprise are really no surprise, for we have seen them
before. We expect most of what occurs even though precise prediction
still eludes us. Perfection of these skills necessary to prognostication
of time and date and place are till in the offing. Earthquakes,
floods, eruptions of volcanos, solar spots, hurricanes and such are all
still in the infant stage of prediction. Shark tooth replacement, bird
migration, etc., are familiar to us. Through we know these expressions
of her moods, we have yet to see what she has in store for us if we
tamper with intricate balances. It could be that such holocaust awaits
in the wings that fear and trembling are in good taste when we approach
her secret parts.
All that Mother Nature has done can only be guessed at. Her
mistakes are extinct and buried. The present balance is the result of all
the trial and error of the past, and long waits for renewal. The race of
man is a latecomer and we haven't learned all the mistakes possible.
With the threat of an unbalance ecology, the study of the natural
future has been emphasized. We have been forced to eat some of our
worst mistakes. A better understanding of the natural future will give
us a good chance to survive on this space-island earth.
We enact laws to limit our input into the natural order of things.
If we were eliminated from the planet, then everything would reduce
to a perfectly clean and orderly state of naturally occurring events. This
is the extreme vision of the "environmentalist" who wishes to preserve
samples of nature for grandchildren. But we will have to provide for
our children the best we can, taking from the environment only the
things we need to survive and progress. The balance between these
divided interests are discussed with strained relationships. The contest
between the preservation of natural order and the satisfaction of needs
is going to meet new heights in the future. Our laws are only as good
as our ability to control ourselves and the others we share with on the
earth. Our indiscriminate use of technology requires that we take a
second look. Balancing restraints will be a constant point of attention
in the developing synthetic future.
The long range effects of things we wire either unaware of or
unconcerned about are straining our ecological limits. Elk, buffalo,
and bear abounded in the grasslands of Kentucky. Today all the
buffalo in Kentucky are in the zoo. The life support zone is so critical
that most of its operations are being studied to prevent the ecology
from being upset to such an unrecoverable state that we may forever
alter the normal traits of Mother Nature.
It might be argued that man himself is a natural thing and as such
could be lumped into the whole concept of the natural future. If this is
the case, then the natural future takes upon it the similitude of the
synthetic future. Some of the distinctions of the natural future become
diffused in the merge. However, these divisions are for the sake of
making the study of the future easier and more manageable. When we
have studied all the pieces separately, we shall sum them up, and we
will find that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts--a synergy.
Life throws many variable into the computations which strain
the reaches of the physics and related fields. Once the element of life is
introduced, new complexities of infinite scope are impacted on the
relatively simple physical sciences. Bioscience introduced us gradually
to ourselves. The absolute, natural, and the synthetic futures can exist
only less the variables of man's introspections. The natural future
becomes apparent when we eliminate man or the self-consciousness
of man.
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