Today the sky is cloudy and the forecast is for rain. I’m never really sure of these things – these days. While I do have strong thoughts and feelings about what is true and right , thoughts and feelings do not make for strong rational arguments. I often jump to saying what seems to be practical and simple rather than waiting for what is well thought out and planned.
In our screenplay, The Gatherings, when Micah is confronted with the fact that some people in 2024 had no place to live, he says. “Why didn’t they just give them a place to live?”. We live in times where the belief that access to housing, food, healthcare, transportation, and abundant living should be considered a fundamental human right is considered a delusional dream.
Reality is heart wrenching. A friend of ours in California has friends who are being kidnapped from bus stops in their neighborhood. There is a rapid response team set up to let people know when kidnappings are happening near where they live. She gets as many as a hundred notifications in an hour.
In the meantime, here we are, talking about neighborhood Gatherings. Events where people listen and hear each other’s concerns and move toward a community action. Seems small, petty even. Working locally on simple things when reality as we know it is crumbling.
(By the way, the sun just came out).
Discovering Rosa Zubizarreta and Tom Atlee has been a godsend for me. Reading Tom Atlee’s blog on “Deliberative Democracy” is a gold mine for the future. For years they have been doing the research and work that Laurie and I have written into The Gatherings screenplay. They have written about the transformation we are going through now and the effect and power of A.I. in the future. Truly we are living through an existential shift. Reality is literally changing. We have no choice about this. The shift is already here producing a sense of unreality in many of us. The earth is literally melting along with our sense of well being, our sense of morality, our sense of purpose. Why are we on this planet anyhow?
We have also been thinking a lot about the concept of “Continuous Participatory Governance” as reflected in “The Gatherings”. We envision an interaction between the people who meet in Gatherings and the A.I. that collects, analyzes, and instantaneously organizes projects into a “mycelial network” connecting humanity.
We do have a choice however. We can choose whether to try to recreate the past (not what I want). Or to design and create a different kind of future, taking into account all the environmental, economic, and social factors, and using A.I. as a partner in creating our well being.
In doing research for the screenplay, perhaps the greatest discovery we have made is this shift has been going on for some time. Many people are working on the transition. Skillful people. We are not alone.
In the tradition of being practical and simple, we are the dream, and dreams are impossible until the moment they become real.
You are invited to read or listen toThe Gatherings screenplay.